Meet Eugena Delman: Fashion tech entrepreneur

We had the good fortune of connecting with Eugena Delman and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Eugena, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I started Revvie in the early days of the pandemic. At the time, I had my own fashion brand called Ava James NYC that focused on size-inclusive women’s clothing. We were direct-to-consumer but, like many small emerging brands, we were heavily reliant on in-person events like pop-ups and trunk shows for our revenue. When COVID happened, all of that stopped. My digital business was basically non-existent but I was now forced to focus on online. Moreover, as a woman shopper, I realized that buying clothes online is really difficult. Unlike other products, fashion is unique in that a product that works for one woman doesn’t necessarily work on me. There’s a lot of mental gymnastics that goes into figuring out whether something will look good on my body type. I realized that having photo reviews was critical in my own purchase decisions and that was the lightbulb moment: why not create a photo review platform specifically for smaller fashion brands that’s all about establishing brand trust and making it easier for women to shop from small, local brands.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
We are building a photo review platform for emerging fashion brands that’s designed to make it easier for women to buy clothes (and fashion in general) online. I co-founded the business with my long-time friend and college classmate, Hiba Awad. We knew exactly the problem we were trying to solve: make it easier for women to shop from smaller, lesser-known brands online and in turn, improve digital conversions for fashion brands. The problem we were solving was pretty simple but figuring out the right solution took a lot longer than we had anticipated. One of the mistakes we made right out of the gate was trying to find a complex, bespoke solution and it turned out that going for a much simpler (and cost-effective) platform was the better way. We made a lot of product mistakes but I always think that mistakes are great opportunities to learn. As long as the mistakes aren’t so big that they sink your business!
We aren’t just a review platform. We’re creating a community of emerging fashion brands, many of which are women or minority-owned with a focus on premium fabrication and small-batch production to limit footprint. We think the designers on our platform absolutely deserve recognition and we’re building a platform so that new customers can appreciate and trust what these designers are building.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I live in New York City and have been for the last 13 years. It’s an incredible city. And trust me, I grew up in Hong Kong so I know all about big cosmopolitan cities! Here are some of the highlights: – Hudson River Park: there’s a super long green esplanade along the riverfront in Battery Park City and Tribeca that is really gorgeous.
– Garment District: obviously since I’m in fashion, this area is very special to me. It’s also right by Times Square so I SUPPOSE we could swing by Times Square too.
– Upper West Side: I live here and I love showing people how livable it is. It’s a quiet oasis with tons of families and kids. Plus we have fantastic food in the area.
– West Village and Greenwich Village: it’s a very “cute” part of town and also great for people watching.
– Flushing: I’m Korean and some of the best Korean and Chinese food I’ve had is here.
– Rockaway Beach: I learned how to surf here!
– Williamsburg waterfront: you get the best views of Manhattan across the river. Speaking of which, we would do a couple of ferry rides, including the Staten Island ferry to get a close up view of the Statue of Liberty.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My husband, Jeremy. I don’t think a lot of people realize the emotional (and financial) roller coaster involved in having a start up. It’s also a very lonely journey. Having gone from working on a huge trading floor to all of a sudden spending a lot of time by myself was really challenging. It was a huge source of support to have another voice telling me to keep going and supporting me. Plus, it’s no fun to have great moments if there isn’t someone to share them with!

Website: https://www.revvieit.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/revvieit

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/revvieit

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/revvieit

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/revvieit