Meet the Multimillion Dollar Silicon Valley Fashion Startup You’ve Never Heard of #Fashionlaw

I read this article a little while back and I have been meaning to share it with you all. It is a very good read and contains some interesting tidbits for you the Fashionentlaw.com. I also enjoyed reading it because it took me back to fond memories, growing up, of time  spent in Los Gatos with friends. Ah, those college days.

Enjoy.

Cheers,

Uduak

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“”It’s 6:30 on a Thursday evening in the ritzy Silicon Valley suburb of Los Gatos, and about a dozen women have already gathered to talk over champagne at the upscale clothing boutique Bella Rosa.

The main event is about to begin: A trunk show for Burlingame-based fashion startup Ruby Ribbon, which melds the old school model of Tupperware parties with the growing e-commerce field.

Ruby Ribbon has raised $11.5 million in venture funding after a $3 million seed round led by Trinity Ventures in May 2012 and an $8.5 million Series B round led by Mohr Davidow Ventures in early 2013.

Founder and CEO Anna Zornosa‘s mother really was “an Avon Lady,” selling makeup to friends and family at small gatherings.

Now, Zornosa and her team of 200 independent sales associates, or stylists, sell patented shapewear at in-person trunk shows. The sales operation is augmented by e-commerce stores run by each stylist.

“If my mom had Facebook or a smartphone, what would her business have looked like?” asks Zornosa, a veteran of tech and media companies like Yahoo and Knight Ridder Digital who has also served as an adviser to several startups.

In addition to the booming e-commerce and retail startup field (read more about that here), Ruby Ribbon is seeking a piece of the $10 billion shapewear industry brought to the masses by the company Spanx. Zornosa and her Chief Merchandising Officer Patti Cazzato hope to meld shapewear garments like camisoles and slips with more fashionable active wear in the sphere of yoga titan Lululemon.

“Active wear is very functional, and so is shapewear,” said Cazzato, a former yoga apparel company founder and veteran of Levi Strauss & Co. and Gap Inc. “It seemed very natural to bring them together.” . . .”

Bizjournals has the full story.