25-year-old’s startup is making fast fashion even faster

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A model dons a Choosy dress, inspired by Rihanna’s Christopher Kane gown
A model dons a Choosy dress, inspired by Rihanna’s Christopher Kane gown

We obsess over the couture gowns and custom jeans that Hollywood darlings and runway models flaunt on the red carpet. But they’re all unattainable to regular people like me. Yes, print and digital magazines constantly push features like “shop this look,” “fashion finder,” or “ look for less.” But, rarely do the so-called replicas bear any resemblance to the original design, and you can’t really trust the quality of the items on the sites you’re redirected to.

Jessie Zeng, 25, is hoping to make the latest female fashion trends accessible and affordable with her new startup Choosy.

Think of it as ultra-fast fashion on-demand. Here’s how it works — each week, a team of “style scouts” will identify the top 10 fashion trends (with the help of social media). Users then pre-order any of the items and Choosy will design and manufacture the items in-house within 48 hours, and get them delivered in as little as two weeks. All items are priced under $100 (free shipping included) and available in sizes 0-20. Most of the items are not unique in the marketplace, and they are not copying anything from smaller, independent designers. The site goes live on July 24.

Choosy announced Tuesday morning a $5.4 million round of funding led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA). Forerunner Ventures, Innovation Global Factor and XFactor Ventures are among the other investors in this seed round.

A former investment banker at Citigroup, Zeng recruited her former coworkers Sharon Qian and Mo Zhou to be Choosy’s chief technology officer and chief strategy officer, respectively, and help build the company. “We started Choosy as a way to deliver the latest clothing in this new era of commerce to the consumer who wants to shop as she sees trends in real time,” Zeng told Yahoo Finance.

The inspiration board

Zeng grew up in China but came to the U.S. for high school. After getting a dual degree in urban planning and economics at MIT and Wellesley, Zeng pursued banking at Citi for two years. Then she took three years off to return to China, working for the family business and dabbling in venture capital investing.

During this time she noticed that fashion bloggers in China with massive followings were starting their own direct-to-consumer fashion brands.

The inspiration for Choosy’s red dress
The inspiration for Choosy’s red dress

“These influencers post anything they’re wearing on their social media accounts, and being so close to the supply chain, they can take pre-orders and create the product right away,” she explained.

Zeng tried out this model in the U.S. through a beta test in January. She and her team noticed that a pair of ripped, pearl-studded jeans that Gigi Hadid had posted on Instagram was trending, with many followers commenting “where can I buy them?” Along with three other items, the Choosy team received 1,000 pre-orders over the course of four hours.