I'm a pretty big fan of Kickstarter and it's great to see there are not only cool tech projects, there are regularly also fashion/design projects that a worth supporting. Some of them I find while just browsing around Kickstarter, others I find because the founder of the project emails me - as was the case with Howard, who is behind the Howard Flacke Luxury Eyewear project.
What is it all about? In Howard's own words:
It's called Luxury Eyewear For Everyone, I'm trying to make the elite in eyewear - genuine buffalo horn - accessible to the average consumer. Horn is better since it offers stunning one-off patterns, that are unrivaled by any other material, it's lightweight, and hypoallergenic among other benefits.Horn frames typically cost $1,000+ a frame (see Morgenthal Frederics, Hoffmann Horn) however by eliminating bogus markups and selling direct to consumers we're offering top-notch quality frames at a fraction of this.. We're offering them now exclusively on Kickstarter for $199.
In essence, they do what many did already with different products. Crowdfund the first production run and cut out the middlemen that make most retail products expensive. Pass on part of the margin to the customer and make a previously very expensive product more affordable. What's my impression? The designs look good, and $199 is a good price for a genuine buffalo horn glass.
The campaign will need a boost to reach their $20.000 goal within the next 14 days (they are 50% there). According to Kicktraq, which gives you an estimate if a campaign will get funded or not, they are 93% there, but will need a little boost.
Remember that if you decide to pledge and the campaign fails, you won't have to pay. So it either gets funded 100% or no one pays, so that part is not risky for you.
What do you think? Worth $199 of your hard earned money?
Howard Flacke Eyewear on Kickstarter:
As a small disclaimer regarding Kickstarter projects: If you decide to support a campaign, you have to understand that the project might fail, even if it is funded successfully. Delays in production, unexpected issues with shipping etc. there are a lot of barriers. All the projects I present here look interesting, but I don't have any involvement with those projects (unless specifically mentioned). Use common sense with the projects you support and understand they could fail and you might lose the money. By the way, I have supported maybe 20 projects so far and only one failed, so the risk is not extremely high.
