Dark Designs From Independent Brands: Futrimare

Although it sounds like some sort of course, it is not, it’s the name of an amazing independent alternative apparel shop online. The name comes from the two words Future + Nightmare, and it’s a tribute to the owners passion for dystopia themed movies (I am a great fan myself, but I would have never thought of naming a shop after it!

www.futrimare.com

I can hear you say, what’s the news in all of this? Don’t we already have a plethora of websites selling “alternative” stuff?

Well,
this one is very, really different. Zellain, the owner of The Morbid Fashion blog, has a great sense of style and a penchant for dark and minimal disturbing designs. Just the sorts of things that we go bananas about. It is very promising, and it grows every day with new brands, so it’s a wonderful new shopping experience, a place where you can fulfill your darkest cravings  all at the same time! Inthe owner’s words:

To be listed on the website you have to be an independent brand, and blink an eye to dark, minimal and gothic (maybe both eyes haha). Smaller and bigger brands coexist on Futrimare, and they all pursuit the same thing: quality and originality.

But let’s dig deeper into this idea with a couple of questions to the minds behind it!

First of all, how did you come up with and online shop idea?

The idea for Futrimare came to me during a two hour drive to another city to take a pre-employment drug test, of all things. I’ve been blogging about this sort of Gothic style for three and a half years now and it’s something that I can’t seem to let go of. My husband had been nudging me in the direction of turning it into some sort of business for a long time now.
Another big plus with Futrimare is I finally have a store that I can send people to when they ask me where to find clothing, jewelry and accessories that fit the sort of style I blog about.

How long have you been thinking about it? Did you already know you wanted to do this when you created The Morbid Fashion, or Futrimare came along the way?

I’ve been wanting to run an online store for years now, I just couldn’t figure out what I wanted to put the energy and money into. I had no idea when I started The Morbid Fashion that I would be doing this store. My husband, and business partner, says that he knew a long time ago that I would end up doing this he didn’t think to mention it to me though.

Which brands would you like to include in the future?

I want to include some harness designers, more men’s/masculine clothing, more jewelry and anything that makes me giddy when I see it. I really look forward to selling those pieces that I don’t know I am looking for yet. I would also love to work with independent cosmetics companies to get makeup, perfume and soaps in there as well. I do have a specific wishlist of designers I would like to work with, but I’m keeping that to myself unless they agree to work with me.
My big plan for the beginning of 2013 is to work with some of our designers on collaborations exclusive to Futrimare.

What if I wanted to sell on your website? How does it work for brands?

You can read all about thaton our Sell With Us page!

Are you going to implement the shop with an affiliate network?

I don’t have any plans to do that at the moment. I’m not sure how it would fit into the way the store works at the moment.

What suggestions do you give to young business starters?

Research as much about the type of business that you want to do as possible. Read blogs, books, watch webinars and all of that. Learn about marketing in the internet age and don’t be afraid to reach out to people. Think about what you can offer to teach people, what you can do differently than other businesses out there and how you can use that difference to put a spin on your business.

How do you manage the shipping fees if you’re using drop shipping? I mean, is there a standard rate/ everything is shipped from us so it’s the same rate?

We charge a flat rate per order at the moment of $8.00 USD. We have adjusted the prices on some of the items that designers know cost more to ship. The majority of our customers have been the USA so far and we’ve not run into issues doing this so far. It is something that we will probably have to revisit in the future, but it works for us all right now.