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Streetcanvas is bringing the concept of crowdsourcing to Japan. The Harvard Business School startup launched a couple of days ago and can best be described as a "Threadless for the Japanese market." Their e-commerce company hosts ongoing t-shirt design competitions that enable the crowd to vote and choose the best design. Winning designers get to see their designs put into production and sold exclusively on the website.

Threadless spread like wildfire in the US because it provided consumers with a new model and experience of designing, choosing, and purchasing clothing that matches their interest and styles. Although, I don't know too much about the Japanese market, I do know that they have a booming art scene. Anime characters, pop prints on luxury labels and eclectiv fashion styles are all popular. However, the co-founders explain that there are still many "captivating, but unreconized artists and art with the aesthetic, culture, and detail peculiar to Japan." One of their goals is to enable these artists with a platform to communicate and gain recognition both in local and international markets.

Crowdsourcing can produce very attractive and effective business models for several reasons. The first being that it enables the consumer to get involved in the actual design of the product, fostering a sense of ownership and pride for the product that would otherwise be lacking in a traditional pre-packaged product. Since the community chooses the desirable product, or design in the this case, the platform is able to match demand and supply more effectively. For example, every one of Threadless' t-shirts have sold out. What other company can boast that type of success with all of their products. (O.K. Apple comes close...but, there's not many.)

Here's our quick interview with one of the co-founders, Oren Mor.

What characteristics of the Japanese market do you have to take into account that may be different than the American market?

The Japanese market has different characteristics. We researched the differences in social networks in Japan vs. the US and implemented our main insights in Streetcanvas. There are also differences in Internet consumption - while PC is the prevalent method for Internet surfing in the US, in Japan the mobile phone os is the main platform.

What is your vision of crowdsourcing and how do you think it will shape the future of business?

We are bringing this very popular and successful model which has been implement so well in the USA in different products, to the Japanese market. Being the 1st of something that will no doubt grow in Japan in future years. I think that we will continue to see crowdsourcing becoming more and more significant in our web experience, probably in ways no one can predict now. I think that traditional brands will start taking more advantage of this business model as it is aligned to their needs (since they can get a customer survey integrated together with the product development, so the result is the most likeable by the customers). 

Why did you choose Drupal as your platform of choice to build on?

The main reasons for choosing Drupal were the vast number of modules and speed of development. We knew that we will have the flexibility in altering our website quickly with changing needs. Also, working with such a widely used platform ensures future support in changing technologies.

Is StreetCanvas funded?

Streetcanvas is funded by Harvard Business School.

How will you differentiate yourself from Threadless if they enter the same market?

We are different from threadless in many ways – focusing on the Japanese designs we focused on creating a community without language barrier with built-in translation. In adjusting to the Japanese market we also have more social features on the website. Also, a prominent part of StreetCanvas is the design school, designed for people to develop and learn, as well as share works that are not suited for the competition. Streetcanvas.com is more similar to a gallery, with the main page focusing on the community and design school, and not the shop.

What role has Harvard played in helping you develop/launch your start-up?

Harvard played a significant role in Streetcanvas as our business plan was examined and revised by HBS professors. We got valuable business and legal advice as well as connecting us with others who were able to help us.

Posted by Alex Lindah @ http://www.collegemogul.com/content/hbs-startup-streetcanvas-brings-threadless-concept-japan