Runway Fashions for Sale, Sooner Than Ever

Fashionistas willing to pay thousands of dollars for a dress shown on the runway at New York Fashion Week can now get it in record time. During shows held in early September by Herve Leger and BCBG Max Azria Group, a downloadable Instagram tool created by startup RewardStyle let users following the shows buy some of the modeled items with a couple of clicks.

Online sales of high-end designer clothing before it hits the stores have been around for a few years now, most notably through Moda Operandi, founded by a former Gilt Groupe executive. Those clothes, however, can take half a year or longer to ship. MO estimates delivery of an Alexander Wang dress from September’s Fashion Week to be sometime from January to April. RewardStyle’s tool, LikeToKnow:It, promises users they’ll have the runway pieces—such as a $1,300 white embroidered motorcycle jacket by Max Azria or a $7,000 bandage dress from Herve Leger—in about a month. For customers, “the best service isn’t teasing them with a product they can’t get for another six months,” says Amber Venz Box, RewardStyle’s co-founder and president.