Ashton Kutcher-Backed Startup Fashism Shuts Down

Fashism, a website and mobile app that lets users solicit community feedback on style, announced that it is officially closing down on Friday, making it the latest casualty in a tough year for social media-focused fashion startups.

The New York-based company was founded in 2009 and attracted a community of fashion-interested American teenagers looking for feedback on the outfits they were putting together for school. In late 2010, it raised $1 million in Series A funding from a number of high-profile investors, including actors Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore, Project Runway judge Nina Garcia and Highline Venture Partners.

See also: 11 Startups Reshaping NYC's Fashion Industry

By 2012, it still had enough money to attempt a pivot into ecommerce, but success there was limited, and Fashism struggled to find additional investment. As of this summer, co-founders Brooke Moreland and Ashley Granata had moved onto other projects, Moreland at another fashion/tech startup, Fashion GPS. (She is now consulting for Guest of a Guest.)

Fashism's struggle is not unique. Between 2009 and 2011, a range of other startups in the category — Pose, Snapette and Go Try It On — were able to raise six and seven-figure rounds to launch their ideas. But they struggled to turn their ideas into real businesses. Go Try It On folded, its founder now employed by another fashion startup called Rent the Runway. In August, PriceGrabber acquired Snapette for an undisclosed sum.

Pose is small but still running, monetizing through a nascent advertising business. The startup is also reportedly in the middle of raising more funding. We'll have to wait and see whether it can carry the torch forward.

Image: Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty Images

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