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VOXPRO CO-FOUNDER DAN Kiely has backed a crowdfunding bid by a Kim Kardashian-approved online marketplace for vintage fashion items.
Open for Vintage, which was founded in 2016 by Irish entrepreneurs Colin Saunders and James Loftus, provides a platform for independent vintage boutiques to sell clothing and accessories online.
The London-headquartered startup recently launched a campaign on UK equity crowdfunding site Crowdcube to raise £150,000 (€167,000) to grow the business.
Kiely has contributed to this round in return for shares in the company. Members of the public can also take part in the crowdfunding campaign.
Kiely recently sold Voxpro, the Cork-based outsourcing firm he set up with his wife Linda. The couple shared a cash windfall of around €40 million as a result of the sale.
A spokeswoman for Open for Vintage told Fora that a “big chunk” of the funding so far had been committed by Kiely.
Open for Vintage will only receive the funding from the Voxpro co-founder and other investors on Crowdcube if it hits its investment goal within 30 days of launching the campaign.
If the crowdfunding campaign is successful, the cash will be used to upgrade the Open for Vintage website with new features and to promote the online platform in new markets.
The startup has claimed that current and former executives from Apple, Burberry, H&M and Tesco have also previously backed the business. The company would not reveal any further details about other investors.
Celebrity interest
Since the website was first launched last year in the UK and Ireland, Open for Vintage has expanded into 12 new countries.
The startup, which has five staff on its books, now has 65 boutiques that sell goods through the online marketplace.
The company has over 10,000 items for sale on its website, including pre-owned clothing, jewellery and watches.
Earlier this year, a stylist for Kim Kardashian used the website to buy a selection of fashion items, including a vintage 1980s Escada skirt.
Fashion models Hayley Baldwin and Daisy Lowe have also sourced vintage items using the service.
Written by Killian Woods and posted on Fora.ie
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This country is sinking in debt and us the taxpayers are fed up.
@James: Does this include Eamon Ryan’s “special appointment” Cara Augustenborg? She’s doing some amount of posting photos from fancy hotels on social media. Wonder if these are going down as expenses?
Great. More tax
@Shaun Gallagher: Green policies cost I’m afraid. We can try and ignore climate change but it won’t save us from the inevitable economic crash that will follow increased temperatures
@Mickety Dee: Green policies, what does that mean exactly? More tax on fuel when there are no alternatives will not save the planet.
@Mickety Dee: increased temperatures will have very little direct effect on ireland or Irelands economy. The effect it may have on the world wide economy is a different matter but since no matter what we do will have any impact on climate change then we should be the last people to make the changes not the first. It’s like two people at the top of a cliff looking at doing a dive, one says you go first I’ll follow, first person jumps and splats on a hidden rock under the water, ends up paralysed for the rest of their life. The second person looks on and says nah, I’ve changed my mind and decides to walk down to a much lower level on a different part of the cliff that they know to be safe and then jumps.
Our government are so eager to be seen to be best in class we are foolishly handing over energy security, driving up costs of homes with rolls Royce building regs for every new home meaning most can’t afford them, on the verge of handing over food security by destroying our aggri sector. We are jumping off that cliff recklessly for no discernable benefit
@Anthony Guinnessy: I think you’ll find the Irish economy is heavily correlated with the world economy. We are a long way from leaders in green policies and even then way behind on targets.
@Steve: An example would be subsidies on wind energy which translates into a tax on your electricity bill. Without subsidies and carbon tax there would be no wind generation on the island. The same would apply to recycling. It is still far cheaper to extract raw materials than recycle them.
It does seem crazy. Just six years ago the doors were thrown open on dairy sector deregulation which drove up investment and quotas and flattened prices. How was the ‘green’ impact of that decision not factored in at the time? Simon Coveney has questions to answer about wildly contradictory policy
@Eoin Roche: there is no plan or long term strategy that planning must align with. There are lobby groups who get what they ask for and over time we end up with a patchwork quilt of lobby appeasing policies that are fit for nothing. We get rid of sugar beet production and increase our dairy herd. Its mind boggling how short term and self serving (for a few) that we have allowed our system to become.
I for one am in favour of the jobs the comet will create.
Irelands headlong dash to be first to the climate action post at all costs no matter who it hurts will have very serious consequences for the economy and future generations
The Irish government practice of showboating on the world stage continues, and we, the people are the ones to suffer.
@Ciaran Maher: yep well said
@Ciaran Maher: yep showboating aptly described it
@Ciaran Maher: Are you really suffering? Doubt it. And certainly not as much as people who live in the areas directly impacted by climate change.
@Paul Whitehead: And these measures will relieve their plight, while China builds more coal fired power stations every week.
have your say