Meet Zady, the New York-based shopping platform for consumers who want to know how and where the items they buy are made. Peddling a variety of apparel and housewares from candles to cotton socks, weekend satchels to slippers and shiny baubles, Zady’s e-commerce presence looks as polished as some similar conscious-minded online retailers such as OfAKind and Honest By. The difference is that Zady launched just three months ago and already made the leap to brick-and-mortar by opening a pop-up shop in New York’s LaGuardia Airport.
For cofounder Soraya Darabi the move wasn’t bold, it was as organic. "It has always been our vision to open permanent locations for Zady,” she tells FORBES, “The airport is our first foray in that direction." Her cofounder Maxine Bédat adds,"We wanted an opportunity to meet with people from across the country, the airport provided a unique opportunity to do that."
Indeed, the two are interested in storytelling just as much as they are at selling consciously sourced products. The website is filled with mini missives on the artisans behind the wares, the sources of the raw materials and a plethora of content that pushes (gently) the idea that we need to seriously rethink how and what we buy.
It’s a story that the two cofounders are uniquely qualified to tell. Bédat’s bio tells of time spent in Zambia, Nepal and Tajikistan as founder of the Bootstrap Project, a nonprofit which works to promote and retain centuries-old crafts and customs and bring sustainable economic development to communities around the world. Five percent of every sale from Zady’s pop-up shop will benefit Bootstrap.
For her part, Darabi’s work in social media at the New York Times provided fertile training ground for promoting the site, the shop and the goods. Darabi also learned a thing or two about startups as she cofounded Foodspotting, a photo-sharing app that sold to OpenTable for $10 million this past January.
Together, they have come up with a way to facilitate transactions as well as the consumer’s concern to purchase products they can feel good about. For example, the site has an interactive map that takes visitors across a map of the world, dropping a pin in each place an item originates. That large leather tote is from Detroit while that handmade hat hails from Lima, Peru. Every product on its site also sports an icon to denote why “it’s special.” Handmade, made in the U.S. or sourced and manufactured in the same or nearby location.
For harried travelers making their way through the terminal --or languishing on layovers-- Zady may just be the kind of outlet they need as they shop for last minute gifts. A new study was released today by NCR, which works with airlines and airports worldwide, found one in four US travelers (24%) are likely to buy a gift at the airport.
So far, it’s working for Zady. “Our holiday sales have quadrupled since we first opened. We are seeing more foot traffic,” says Bédat of the first weeks of official holiday shopping.
Though many consumers are much more inclined to shop online during the holiday rush, Bédat says Zady’s staff is making an effort to make in-store experience as convenient as possible. “We help shoppers in the store pick up the smaller items and are happy to send the larger pieces directly to their home,” she says.
