Lady LUX

Derek Lam is going with the people’s choice: He has decided to crowdsource his collection on eBay. After being exhibting at New York Fashion Week, 16 of his dresses were available for the public to choose their favs. After more than 100,000 votes, the five winners were a black evening gown, a shift with a peplum back detail, a denim sundress and two dresses in floral chiffon, reported WWD.

“I want this to be fun and interactive and do something out of the box,” Lam told WWD. In fact, the whole idea of crowdsourcing was his.

The project, according to CEO Jan-Hendrik Schlottmann, begs the question: Will the public buy what they vote for? The answer is uncertain.

“We’re testing a new model of selling — who knows what we will learn,” Schlottmann said. “Maybe everyone will vote and nobody will buy it.”

But the company still walked away with around 20,000 new e-mails from voters.

The concept behind the eBay collection is classic summer dresses every woman should own. Although some of his favorites were chosen, Lam believes that the winning dresses, such as the Black Tie Dress, may not be the ones that sell the best.

While the connection between votes and sales is uncertain, the company has altered its production based on which dresses drew the most votes.

The results of the votes were not quite in line with the company’s plans. In preparation for selling the line, they had purchased greige products that are able to be dyed as needed. The winning dresses, however, did not quite match the type of fabric bought – leaving them with extra fabric on their hands.

“We took a little bit of a position according to what we thought would happen,” Schlottmann said.

To find out more about Derek Lam, visit his website at dereklam.com.