The fashion industry is jumping into the crowdsourcing fray with the launch of JUSTPROUD, a community-driven fashion brand that will enable members to contribute to the design, the modeling of clothes and the photographs for eventual ad campaigns.
Developed by California-based Ballsmedia, the portal is true to the collaborative concept of crowdsourcing - which is based on the premise of an idea or product developed by and voted on by community members: JUSTPROUD members will vote on the contributions with the most popular designs produced and the most popular models and photographers chosen.

This site is available in eight different languages and will have the first items ready for co-development and sale by January, 2010.

Trend to Watch

Fashion is already deeply entrenched online  and is increasingly attracting the most luxurious and exclusive of brands.  Adopting crowdsourcing to design the clothes, however, is a new twist, and more initiatives may well follow in this industry as well as in others.

Increasingly organizations will mobilize the passionate special-interest groups to not only carry a message but also to lead and take part in activities on their behalf next year, according to the digital experts at Last Exit. From political canvassing to software development, from people journalism to environmental activism, various industries should expect to see huge growth in crowdsourcing models provoked and led, in large part, by digital social media strategies.