Retaissance: New B2B platform launched for independent brands and buyers

A new B2B fashion platform for independent brands and buyers has entered into its ‘soft launch’ stage this week, with its full launch scheduled for the first week of August.

Retaissance is a platform for industry professionals to connect across all product categories. Brands can create online profiles to showcase themselves, while buyers can browse the site and build a portfolio of products based on preferences such as stock availability, product categories, lead times, price-points, features, and sustainability and ethical credentials.

The site will also host a community framework called ‘The Lounge’ shortly after launch which will be a hub bringing together retail news, forecasts and contributions from industry-leading figures.

Brands can now sign up and prepare their profiles, while buyers can apply to join ahead of the August launch. The service is free to buyers and available to brands for a monthly subscription.

Supporting independent businesses

“Wholesale models are changing across retail, low MOQ’s, short order, ‘never out of stock’ and ‘in season, stock available’ models will be in greater demand. Retail buyers in all categories have lost resource and have increasingly difficult targets to meet and need to find the ‘next big thing’ efficiently and repeatedly,” Retaissance founder Cathie Osborne said in a statement.

“People’s lives have changed and this will prompt changes in their approach to purchasing. Communities have rediscovered local, and this renewed sense of community and desire to support local businesses will see the consumer re-look at independents.

“Our namesake is the Renaissance period - it also followed both a pandemic and economic crisis. It was a fervent period of cultural, artistic, creative and economic rebirth. Retaissance aims to be more than a network, we’ll be supporting independent businesses to help them navigate the changes to buying cycles, sustainability, global market expectations and consumer behaviour during these turbulent times.”

Photo credit: Retaissance