The community-marketplace dedicated to independent and emerging designers from all over the world Not Just a Label (Njal), founded in 2008 by the South Tyrolean entrepreneur Stefan Siegel and constantly growing since then, has decided to launch a round of 5 Series-A funding. -10 million dollars.
The funds will be used to grow B2C and B2B retail platforms, invest in customer acquisition and further development of the operational team, as well as build the first iteration of the proprietary marketplace dedicated to Intellectual Property rights: in 2023, in fact , Njal will launch the first marketplace in the world for intellectual property in the fashion & luxury sector, relying on the ever growing community of designers (which today has reached 50 thousand members, from 150 countries) and the over 4 million creations available. By allowing fashion brands to buy intellectual property rights from designers to reproduce their items, Njal will provide a digital solution to the creation of intellectual property for stylists, guaranteeing them an anonymous income stream and at the same time offering the most important brands a new creative resource.
Njal has also already launched its own B2C online shopping platform, which allows designers to sell their products directly to end consumers, especially the younger groups: in the first year since the launch, over a thousand sellers have been involved, with a value $ 600 average per order and a low return rate of just 2%. Among the designers who started their careers on Njal are Mary Katrantzou and Damir Doma
Gen Z, sensitive to sustainability issues and digital natives, appreciates the possibility of purchasing ethically made clothing, handmade by skilled artisans in their ateliers and with maximum transparency on the production process.
Since 2021, Njal has also invited major retailers to access its platform, which today contains over 4 million different garments designed by its community. In the same year, a five-year partnership was launched with the German retailer Zalando, which allows each season to purchase unique garments from over 100 designers, making Njal one of the largest showcases for emerging designers globally.