Kickstarter Backers Are on Fire for This Startup's Cheap

Kickstarter Backers Are on Fire for This Startup's Cheap, Designer-Quality Dresses

When last fall we first caught wind of Brass, a women’s clothing brand based just outside of Boston, we were intrigued. High-end pieces without the high-end prices? Though it may sound too good to be true, founders Jay Hallstein and Katie Doyle figured out a way to offer quality, timeless basics that aren’t marked up beyond affordability by cutting out the middleman and selling directly from the factory to the customer exclusively online. And now they’ve launched a Kickstarter for their Spring/Summer collection.

Brass claims all of its designs have several things in common: quality fabrics, an effortless silhouette, a neutral palette and a lot of versatility. The new collection appears to be no exception, featuring five pieces in total that have been constructed with warm weather in mind but can easily be layered during the cooler seasons.

Since the duo — who met while attending Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School — aim to make garments that women will get a lot of wear out of, they run polls with customers to decide on the silhouettes and colors for each season. Hundreds of Brass customers participated in the Spring/Summer 2015 survey, for example, allowing them to have a say in shaping the line to meet their style desires.

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Apparently, paying attention to what women are looking for in terms of their wardrobes is paying off. Within 72 hours, the Kickstarter was over halfway to its $20,000 goal. Now, the campaign has reached $13,950 from 152 backers with 23 days to go. All funds raised will be used to facilitate production of the Spring/Summer line, and all supporters are pre-ordering dresses from the collection. For example, a $70 pledge gets a charcoal T-shirt dress, $75 or more gets a pale sky tunic dress and $90 or more gets the storm blue band dress, while $345 or more grants the whole collection. A supporter who commits to $5,000 not only gets the whole line, but also the chance to participate in the design process for a Fall 2015 garment. Brass is also offering a deal for the first 250 backers: any dress of their choosing for only $65, including domestic shipping.

"We decided to use Kickstarter to fund our new line because we love including our customer in the production process," Hallstein told BostInno in an email. "From the beginning, our customers have filled out polls that determine our next styles, fabrics, and colors. We wanted to continue this tradition and felt Kickstarter would be the best avenue."

Already, Brass has come up with a few stretch goals: If they reach $50,000, they’ll produce the fan favorite chambray shirt dress, and they’ll make the popular black tank maxi dress if they reach $75,000. Reaching $100,000 means they’ll roll out the Spring/Summer line in two colors, and supporters will get to choose the alternate hues.

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