What is Threadflip? Threadflip Review, Features

Founded in 2011, Threadflip is an e-commerce website that focuses on high-end clothing, shoes, bags, accessories and jewelry. However, Threadflip officially ceased operations on January 14, 2016.

About Threadflip

As a clothing trading platform, Threadflip aims to help users deal with idle second-hand clothing, facilitate the replacement of second-hand clothing, and make the sale of these second-hand items easier.

Threadflip's website design is similar to the social photo-sharing site Pinterest, and the product images displayed on the website are all of professional photography quality. To facilitate user searches, Threadflip allows users to prioritize preferred brands, sizes, and styles, and will make similar recommendations based on the products that users click "favorite" on the website. Users can also use the Facebook Connect function to recommend products to their friends on Threadflip.

In terms of shipping goods, Threadflip provides White Glove service, where sellers can order free exclusive packaging materials and pre-printed postage barcodes. After packaging, they can immediately notify the courier to pick up the goods, which naturally eliminates the inconvenience of self-packaging and shipping. In addition, sellers can also choose to send the goods they sell to Threadflip, allowing it to handle the logistics and financial flow steps. The unified and exquisite packaging of the website can make it easier to sell second-hand fine products at a good price. Of course, Threadflip will charge the seller a 15% handling fee for each transaction, which includes postage and packaging costs.

Advantages

1. Excellent pain points. Threadflip targets the female market. Most female consumers are used to impulse consumption. If something looks good, they will have the urge and desire to buy it, but sometimes they will regret it. If the return period has passed and they cannot return it, it would be great if they could sell it to someone else. Another type of female consumer sees something they like and wants to buy it, but because of the price, they start to struggle. They struggle over and over again, and they are still struggling even after the product is off the shelves. It would be great if someone else could sell it to them, so that the price can be much lower.

2. A novel model. The White Glove service not only saves the shipper’s time, but also increases Threadflip’s own profit margin. Moreover, if the seller chooses to entrust Threadflip with full authority, Threadflip will help them wash, iron, and disinfect the clothes, improve the quality of the goods, and make buyers feel more assured.

Financing

-In May 2012, Threadflip completed its seed round of financing, successfully raising $1.6 million in seed funds, mainly from venture capital firms such as First Round Capital, Baseline Ventures, Forerunner Ventures, and Path CEO Dave Morin.

-In June 2012, the company announced that it had received $6.5 million in first-round financing, led by Shasta Ventures, with participation from Lowercase Capital, First Round Capital, and Baseline Ventures.

-In 2014, Threadflip completed a $13 million Series B financing.

Platform closure

The San Francisco-based startup Threadflip says it has 1.5 million registered users, but that's not enough to support the company's operations. Co-founders Manik Singh and Jeff Shiau sent a notification to users to update them on Threadflip's status: "We have decided to discontinue Threadflip and join Le Tote as a fashion platform. By partnering with LeTote, our community will have the opportunity to access Le Tote's unique and exciting fashion experience. Threadflip will officially cease operations on January 14, 2016, when all buying and selling activities will cease."

The notice also said that Threadflip users can enjoy a 60% discount on their first month's fee when using Le Tote by entering the discount code "THREADFLIP". Le Tote, which calls itself the "Netflix of fashion", is a clothing rental website where users pay a monthly fee and receive some clothes and accessories every month.

Reasons for Threadflip's closure

1. Second-hand clothing has become a red ocean. In the US, the buying, selling and leasing industry of second-hand clothing is already very competitive. A large number of powerful companies are doing it, such as The RealReal, Tradesy, Le Tote, Vinted, Depop, etc. What is more fatal is that eBay has also joined in and seized a large share. As an emerging market, the second-hand market has an unknown market share. With so many companies coming in to share this market, the result is that everyone is having a hard time.

2. No outstanding features. In the huge market of second-hand clothing, what everyone competes on in the end is service, features, and heritage. Although Threadflip is very creative in White Glove, it is not enough to keep buyers and sellers on the platform, and this model will increase labor costs.