Backing a designer

How backing a designer works:

The funding programme raises 50,000 GBP for your favourite designers to use in creating a new collection. When items from that collection sell, the profits are shared between you, the designer and us.

To back a designer, you purchase one or more ‘shares’ for 11 GBP each. When 5000 shares are sold, the designer gets to work on the new collection and the funding is used to produce and distribute it.

About 6 months later, when the new collection’s on sale, all the profits are shared three ways equally. You can also sign up to our affiliate programme and earn 10% of the profits of any items that are sold through adverts on your personal web pages.

Back to the top

Frequently Asked Questions about backing a designer

How much does it cost?

It costs £11, of which £10 gets invested (the extra £1 covers our processing costs).

What's in it for me?

If your designer hits the target and their new collection goes on sale you get a share of the profits, proportionate to your share of the funding.

If you buy 5 shares in one designer, you get 10% off all their current products on Catwalk Genius for the following 6 months.

However, it’s mostly about the satisfaction of owning a stake in your own fashion line – since there are no guarantees that your favourite designer will hit the funding target.

Can I buy more than one 'share' in the same designer?

You can buy as many as you like, up until all 5,000 are sold. The more you buy, the greater your share of profits will be once the collection starts to sell.

Can I buy shares in more than one designer?

Yes, as many as you want.

Will my credit card details be safe when purchasing shares?

You pay for the shares using Paypal. That makes the transaction as secure as any you’ll find on the internet.

What happens if I change my mind?

Right up until your designer reaches the funding target, you can switch your shares to another designer’s funding.

Otherwise you can click ‘refund’ on the same page and ask us to return your cash, which we’ll do within 2 weeks of that date. We charge £1 to process refunds, so you’ll get £9 back for each share you withdraw.

Once the designer hits the target though, your shares are locked in and you won’t be able to move or withdraw them.

What happens if the designer doesn't reach their funding target?

Nothing - the funding stays where it is indefinitely.

This only changes if the designer withdraws from the programme or their account with us becomes inactive. When this happens, we’ll contact all their supporters to ask if they’d like to switch or withdraw their shares.

What do you do with the funds supporters have contributed?

They stay in a deposit account right up until the designer reaches their funding target.

What happens when the designer reaches their funding target?

The funding becomes locked in; no-one else can buy a share and supporters can’t touch the shares they’ve purchased.

The designer has 6 months to design and commission production of a new collection. They have full creative control of designing 4-7 items – but they must stick to the 50,000 budget.

They must also produce enough stock to have a good chance of hitting a retail value target that would more than pay back their supporters when sold.

When the new collection starts to sell, the profits are shared equally between the designer, their supporters and us.

There’ll also be an affiliate scheme, where people who advertise the collection’s goods on their personal web spaces may earn 10% commission on the profits.

As such, the profit split will take the form of one of the two models below, depending on how the goods are sold:

Pie chart showing breakdown of revenue

Sale not generated from an affiliate's advert
Sale generated from a click through an affiliate's advert

How will I get my share of my chosen designer's profits?

Each month after the collection beings to sell, we will issue each supporter with a statement that shows the value of sales so far and how much of the profits are owed to you.

All of your profits will be listed in your Account’s balance. You can request a withdrawal at any point and we will pay you the requested amount within 2 weeks.

How do I make more profit by selling the designer's work on other Internet sites?

If you sign up to our affiliate programme, you can earn extra cash by placing an advert on your personal web pages and social networking spaces.

For each sale that generates from a click-through on one of your adverts, you’ll earn 10% of the profits.

Back to the top