The wardrobe will change the way you look at your wardrobe

Clothing is one of the most complicated and perhaps the most fascinating discussions about women. Women’s special attention to elegance and beauty Dress Theirs is not hidden from anyone, especially in ceremonies. Days and hours pass and a woman may still be busy buying only one dress, and for this, she walks miles in the markets with tireless energy and spirit. One of the most important points of this discussion is that clothes become repetitive after wearing them only in a few events, and after a while, women face a wardrobe that they can neither wear nor throw away. This is the point that attracted Sana Khalasi’s mind and is the reason Launching a startup the closet will be Continue with Ecomotive’s interview with Sana Khalasi.

Introduce yourself and briefly explain your experience before starting the closet.

I am Sana Khalsi. I studied academically in the field of English literature and creative writing. By writing an interdisciplinary thesis at the age of 21, I got into Oxford University. After graduation – and since most writers in the world could not pay for water, electricity and gas just from their art and pen – I worked for two years as a designer and art director at the English company Active Communications International. At the same time that I had taken my world skills to the business world, some of my English poems were printed and published in a book collection at the University of Virginia in the United States, and the University of Zurich held an exhibition of my photos and poems. Three years as a copywriter and consultant Marketing I was working at Upstream Systems, which was active in 45 countries with 23 different languages ​​and 100 million users. The world of e-commerce became attractive to me during this period.

How did the idea of ​​the closet come to your mind?! When you started, was there a similar startup? (Explain in detail about the principle of the service and the value you create for the audience)

I always had this question in my mind, why we ladies wear each outfit only once in a group and the issue of being present somewhere is always prioritized with “what to wear”?! During the investigations that we held in several meetings called Komoday every Friday, where we talked about various cultural and social concerns, I realized that due to being judged by appearance, diversity, the amount of unworn clothes stored in the closet, many They solve this problem in two ways:

• Consumerism and high cost to buy new items
• purposeless giving and throwing away the clothes we love; But they are not practical for us (they don’t have the size, we got souvenirs and gifts, so-called “doesn’t fit” and…) to make our closet more spacious.

Some women even preferred not to be present in social gatherings and situations where they are invited, just because they don’t have a new and different look. This problem is not limited to Iran, and on a global scale, women use only 20% of their wardrobes continuously. There was no such thing as a dedicated sharing platform in the field of fashion and clothing and exclusively for women. The only solution was to use the wall service, which was not a suitable environment for women to interact: an amalgam of objects, from cocks to houses and cars. 80% of users are men. Notification is only in the form of classified ads. There are problems in moving the sold items, payment and how people communicate with each other, and in general, it does not create a good and safe feeling for women who love fashion and clothes. “Comeda”, a social platform and a combination of ebay and Instagram Is. You can search through three categories: Brand New, Brand New, and Craft – which are related to personal brands or crafts related to home businesses – follow the closets of people who have similar tastes to you, follow items you like save it from your closet, put it up for sale, buy at a reasonable price and discount, and leave everything from zero to a hundred, from payment to transportation and coordination and post-transaction services, to the closet and enjoy the experience of buying and selling. Have a stylish and friendly environment.

Based on what criteria did you form the Komda team? How many of you are there now? What specialties are involved in your business?

In the first place, the core of the team was formed based on sympathy and compassion, interest in working in a completely floating and startup environment. Parvaneh Javadinjat as the financial and support manager and Payam Pirouzbakht as the executive director were the first people who accompanied me in this way. after MVP The application was designed and made available to users. It was important for us to separate people in separate fields and the absence of similar specialties in the selection. Currently, the team consists of 10 people: technical people, digital marketing and marketing, graphic and UI/UX design and public relations. We are making wheels for Komoda to move it from Shiraz to Tehran. In order to reach our goals and concerns as soon as possible and other cities in Iran, we lack several hands (perhaps hearts and brains too!). We want professionals and experts who are interested in Komda’s activities (especially in technology) to join our team and even build wings for Komda.

How long did it take you to get to the initial version of Komda’s product?

If you mean the launch of the application, almost a year.

How did you enter the market? What marketing method did you consider for Komda?

In the first two years, Komeda’s capital was provided personally. Due to the limited budget, the activities (especially advertising) were not targeted and we focused more on achieving an acceptable product in a small market. Due to the strong interest of users and making 93% loyal users, word of mouth advertising played a key role in the development of Komda. NPS The closet was always above 60. Because of the environmental and philanthropic concerns that it has at heart, Komeda implemented effective campaigns and involved different sections of the society. Along with the items, “comdatank” was sent, which was a short story about that item from the sender’s language, and instead of focusing on income, he believed in making users happy and creating useful products and services with love and passion.

What methods did you use to get feedback and improve the closet?

Komeda attracted 800 users organically within a week of presenting the initial idea. These people were with us almost all the way through the product design process and we advanced the structure, features, pricing, delivery method and almost every issue related to the early adopters with the consensus, suggestions and criticisms of this group. After the initial version, a user survey and A/B testing were conducted.

You have predicted other services to be provided on Komda platform?

Yes. Komeda is known for his creativity and being a pioneer in changing social habits, and unfortunately or fortunately, he has new ideas in his head every day; But he has not had a Pivot yet. We even tested the items that were compatible with Komeda’s culture. Such as recycling and changing the use and application of clothes that are unusable and turning them into products called “comokif” which are fabric bags. These bags are used instead of plastic and are environmentally friendly. Of course, due to the fact that we are expanding to Tehran and other cities, we prefer to focus on the main value of Komda for sellers and buyers and scalability and think about the rest of the services in the next phases.

From the aspect of facilitation, has there been any cooperation from the government and other institutions for the development of Komda?

To be honest, because of the bureaucracy and the long process of decision-making and follow-up by government institutions, we did not make any requests, except in the phase of attracting capital. In a meeting we had at the university with one of the active managers of the startup business field regarding the pursuit of investment options, he frankly ignored our efforts and replied to me: “When you failed and you came here, I hired you, you will understand. !” Nevertheless, we would like to be able to cooperate with the Vice President of Women’s Affairs, Education, Municipality, and Student Affairs of Universities and Higher Education Centers in order to promote the dressing culture and the decisive role of women – both in society and in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. bold Of course, in the winter of 1996 with a venture capital company Smart-up met. The founders of this company and the powerful team they have, regardless of stereotypes and gender perspective, provided us with equal opportunities and experiences in a professional manner, except for financial resources.

What challenges did you face in developing your business? How did you overcome them? What are the problems that still exist and who do you think can solve these problems?

Our first challenge in the research and analysis phase was the lack of accurate statistics of social layers and classes, as well as the lack of reliable figures and data related to clothing and fashion, which complicated the process of targeting customers and market size and share. Other problems include:

• Changing tastes, judgments and culture of consumerism and bourgeoisie.
• Demarcation of Iran to “Tehran and the city” even in commercial cooperation.
• The lack of specialists outside the capital and the lack of consultants who have practical and scientific experience in the startup field and create synergy without geographic prejudices.
• The selfishness of some key people who, in practice, cannot accept the role of women entrepreneurs as leaders of an institution or business in the system, or are only looking for monopoly and financial gain.

Of course, this process will not be adjusted and smoothed all at once and it needs time to mature. Mass media are very effective in promoting new ideas. It is not enough to share successes and knowledge and experiences in failures and unsaid and clarification Startup space It can be the catalyst of this trend without any frontalism and factionalism.

Download PDF of the interview