Many are familiar with the price levels maintained by brands such as Prada and Louis Vuitton for their leather handbags. The fashion startup Atoire has chosen a different path. The company offers bags and clothing produced in the same factories as the fashion houses, but the products are sold completely without branding.
An Italian leather handbag therefore costs a couple of hundred dollars instead of several thousand.
Now, the company has closed a funding round of $9.5 million, equivalent to 90 million Swedish kronor. The funds come from investors such as a16z Speedrun, Night Capital and Jeremy Liew from Lightspeed Ventures.
The concept is based on selling directly from manufacturer to customer, without intermediaries or markups for the brand itself. Co-founder Redouane Ramdani emphasizes that these are their own products and that nothing they manufacture is a copy of existing designs.
Increased Sales
Last year, Atoire generated $5 million in revenue, equivalent to 47 million Swedish kronor. This year, sales are expected to increase by over 1,000 percent. The annual revenue run rate is expected to exceed $55 million, corresponding to 520 million Swedish kronor in the future.
To manage the volumes, the company has built a network of suppliers on several different continents.
We are growing incredibly fast, says Redouane Ramdani, explaining that the team now collaborates with over 40 factories worldwide.