The Lolita Collective

The Lolita Collective
Founded	2013
Country	USA
Founder(s)	Emma Bottari
Website	https://www.lolitacollective.com
Webshop	https://store.lolitacollective.com/
Twitter	lolitacollectiv
Blog	blog
Instagram	lolitacollective
Current status	Active

The Lolita Collective is a lolita fashion co-op/consignment shop based out of the United States that sells at conventions in the US and overseas.

Concept

The Lolita Collective describes themselves as:^[1]

The Lolita Collective was created by a group of American Midwest-based designers in 2013 as a way to sell their hand-crafted items together at conventions. With time, the concept has expanded to include over 80 indie designers and clothing producers from all over the world. You can shop our collection of Lolita and Japanese street fashion style clothing and accessories here online or in person at an event near you.

History

In 2013 a group of Midwest USA seamstresses joined together to sell as a group at a small convention in Atlanta as a cost-saving method. This expanded into the Lolita Collective. ^[2] The company name is Ick Construction LLC.^[1] In 2014 they sold at Acen, Anime Midwest, Rufflecon and Youmacon.^[3]

Initially, the collective accepted applications on a rolling basis and made the application widely available on their website.^[4] As of 2015, the commission rate taken by the collective was 15%.^[1] In December of 2016, citing increasing expenses and decreased sales, the Lolita Collective restructured and changed their rates for 2017. A re-application form was sent out to all of the partnered indie brands, and they also outlined the requirements for online sales, which would be separate from in person sales. Lastly as part of this restructuring plan, they moved from accepting new applications on a rolling basis, to only taking applications in January and June, which is still their model in 2022.^[1]^[4]

Notable Figures

Emma Bottari - Designer of Ick by Industrialkitty, currently runs the Lolita Collective

Locations/Sales Model

The Lolita Collective sells online and in person at various events and conventions. Items are sent to the Lolita Collective by their partner designers and put out for sale at events. When the item sells, the Lolita Collective takes a percentage (not currently published) and then the remainder is given to the designer in a periodic check. Sales booths at events are managed by a mix of people which include some of the designers that they partner with.