Dolls Kill is a global online fashion brand. The company was named the "Fastest Growing Retailer" in 2014 by
''Inc.'' magazine, which also included Dolls Kill as one of the "top companies in San Francisco".
Dolls Kill operates a retail website that sells clothing, shoes and accessories and features six collections showcased by "Dolls", models that embody character personas for each collection's style.
Dolls Kill is known for featuring
kawaii
''Kawaii'' is a Japanese cultural phenomenon which emphasizes cuteness, childlike innocence, charm, and simplicity. ''Kawaii'' culture began to flourish in the 1970s, driven by youth culture and the rise of cute characters in manga and anime ...
,
punk
Punk or punks may refer to:
Genres, subculture, and related aspects
* Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres
* Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...
,
goth
Goth or Goths may refer to:
* Goths, a Germanic people
Arts and entertainment
* Gothic rock or goth, a style of rock music
* Goth subculture, developed by fans of gothic rock
* ''Goth'' (2003 film), an American horror film
* ''Goth'' (2008 f ...
,
streetwear
Streetwear is a style of casual clothing which became global in the 1990s. It grew from New York hip hop fashion and Californian surf culture to encompass elements of sportswear, punk fashion, punk, Skateboarding#Culture, skateboarding, 1980s no ...
and
festival
A festival is an event celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, Melā, mela, or Muslim holidays, eid. A ...
fashions.
Since 2018 it has also licensed and operated the 1990s brand
Delia's
Delia's, Inc. (stylized as dELiA*s) was a lifestyle brand of apparel and accessories, primarily targeting girls and young women.
From its founding in 1993 through the early 2010s, Delia's was an independent retailer and direct marketer, and in ...
as a sub-label.
History
Dolls Kill was co-founded in 2011 by Shoddy Lynn, a former
DJ who went by the stage name DJ Shoddy Lynn,
and her husband Bobby Farahi.
[ Previously, Farahi was the founder and CEO of Multivision Inc., a broadcast monitoring service that was sold to Bacons Information in 2005.] After Farahi sold his first company, the couple started Dolls Kill and it has reportedly been profitable since its launch. Lynn originally entered the e-commerce
E-commerce (electronic commerce) refers to commercial activities including the electronic buying or selling products and services which are conducted on online platforms or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile co ...
business by selling clothing on eBay
eBay Inc. ( , often stylized as ebay) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that allows users to buy or view items via retail sales through online marketplaces and websites in 190 markets worldwide. ...
. Later, Dolls Kill was launched as an online marketplace for eccentric accessories such as colorful fox tails before expanding its business to a full clothing and accessories online store. The idea for the company stemmed from Lynn's experiences as a DJ while traveling to music festivals
A music festival is a festival, community event with music, performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock music, rock, blues, folk music, folk, jazz, classical music), nation ...
on tour.[
In 2014, Dolls Kill secured $5 million in a Series A round of funding from ]Maveron
Maveron is an American venture capital firm that invests in consumer-only and early-stage companies, with offices in Seattle, Washington and San Francisco, California. The firm was co-founded by Dan Levitan and former Starbucks chief executive ...
,[ a Seattle-based venture capital firm who has also invested in companies such as ]Shutterfly
Shutterfly, LLC. is an American photography, photography products, and image sharing company, headquartered in San Jose, California. The company is mainly known for custom photo printing services, including books featuring user-provided images, ...
, eBay
eBay Inc. ( , often stylized as ebay) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that allows users to buy or view items via retail sales through online marketplaces and websites in 190 markets worldwide. ...
, zulily
Zulily is an American e-commerce website with operations headquartered in Midvale, Utah. Its target audience are young mothers interested in brand-name goods for their children.
Months after its website closed, all of Zulily's intellectual prope ...
and Pinkberry
Pinkberry is a franchise of frozen dessert restaurants headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona. There are currently over 260 stores in 20 countries. The first store was opened in January 2005 by Hye Kyung (Shelly) Hwang and Young Lee. The restaurant ...
. After the funding round, Betsy McLaughlin, former CEO of Hot Topic
Hot Topic, Inc. is an American fast-fashion company specializing in counterculture-related clothing and accessories, as well as licensed music. The stores are aimed towards an audience interested in rock music and video gaming, and most of the ...
, joined the company's board of directors.[ Dolls Kill was the fastest growing private company in the ]San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...
based on revenue percent growth in 2014.
In the summer of 2017 Dolls Kill opened its first pop-up shop
Pop-up retail, also known as pop-up store (pop-up shop in the UK, Australia and Ireland) or flash retailing, is a trend of opening short-term sales spaces that last for days to weeks before closing down, often to latch onto a fad or scheduled e ...
in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury
Haight-Ashbury () is a district of San Francisco, California, named for the intersection of Haight and Ashbury streets. It is also called the Haight and the Upper Haight. The neighborhood is known as one of the main centers of the countercultu ...
.
In 2018, the brand licensed and re-launched the Delia's
Delia's, Inc. (stylized as dELiA*s) was a lifestyle brand of apparel and accessories, primarily targeting girls and young women.
From its founding in 1993 through the early 2010s, Delia's was an independent retailer and direct marketer, and in ...
brand with a 1990s-throwback theme. In December of that year the brand raised $18 million in a funding round.
Controversy
In 2020, Lynn shared a photo of a line of police officers in front of a Dolls Kill store in Los Angeles with the caption "Direct Action
Direct action is a term for economic and political behavior in which participants use agency—for example economic or physical power—to achieve their goals. The aim of direct action is to either obstruct a certain practice (such as a governm ...
in its glory", along with the Black Lives Matter
Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a Decentralization, decentralized political and social movement that aims to highlight racism, discrimination and Racial inequality in the United States, racial inequality experienced by black people, and to pro ...
hashtag, on her Instagram
Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...
page. This prompted backlash from some internet users, including celebrities SZA
Solána Imani Rowe (born November 8, 1989), known professionally as SZA ( ), is an American singer-songwriter. Known for her diaristic lyrics and genre explorations, she has been credited as a prominent figure in influencing contemporary R& ...
and Rico Nasty
Maria-Cecilia Simone Kelly (born May 7, 1997), known professionally as Rico Nasty, is an American rapper from Prince George's County, Maryland. She began Self-publishing, self-releasing while in high school, and had released five solo mixtapes by ...
, and calls for a boycott of Dolls Kill.
In a recorded video Lynn explained that the caption of her post "Direct Action" was meant to show solidarity for the movement. The company also pledged $1 million to purchase products from black-owned fashion brands and designers for their site.
Dolls Kill has also been accused of stealing designs from small creators. In 2016, Dolls Kill listed an item that featured a design that was identical to one made by independent designer Nicole Orchard.
Marketing methods
Dolls Kill is an e-commerce
E-commerce (electronic commerce) refers to commercial activities including the electronic buying or selling products and services which are conducted on online platforms or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile co ...
apparel website that uses social media marketing
Social media marketing is the use of social media platforms and websites to promote a product or service. Although the terms e-marketing and digital marketing are still dominant in academia, social media marketing is becoming more popular for b ...
to promote its brand and clothing. Similar to companies such as Hot Topic
Hot Topic, Inc. is an American fast-fashion company specializing in counterculture-related clothing and accessories, as well as licensed music. The stores are aimed towards an audience interested in rock music and video gaming, and most of the ...
, Spencer Gifts
Spencer Gifts LLC, doing business as Spencer's, is a North American mall retailer with over 600 stores in the United States and Canada. Its stores specialize in novelty and gag gifts, and also sell clothing, brand merchandise, sex toys, room dec ...
, Nasty Gal
Nasty Gal is an American fast-fashion retailer that specializes in fashion for young women. The company has customers in over 60 countries. Founded by Sophia Amoruso in 2006, Nasty Gal was named "Fastest Growing Retailer" in 2012 by '' Inc.'' ma ...
, Wanelo, or ModCloth
ModCloth is an American online retailer of indie and vintage-inspired women's clothing based in Los Angeles.
History
Modcloth was founded in 2002 by Susan Gregg Koger and Eric Koger. Susan and Eric were students at Carnegie Mellon University an ...
, Dolls Kill operates various accounts on social media platforms showcasing its products and collections. The company also uses social media to turn customers into brand ambassador
A brand ambassador (sometimes also called a corporate ambassador) is a person paid by an organization or company to represent its brand in a positive light, helping to increase brand awareness and sales. The brand ambassador is meant to embody the ...
s. When users share images of themselves on platforms such as Instagram wearing the site's apparel, Dolls Kill will in turn feature the photo on the site with links to the product's purchase page.
Dolls Kill offers clothing products, such as tops, bottoms, dresses, swimwear, outerwear, and lingerie. The company also provides accessories, including bags and belts, beauty, hats and jewelry. In addition, it offers shoes, tights, and socks. Registration is not required to shop on the Dolls Kill website, but users can create accounts to save billing and shipping information. The site is shut down for six hours before Black Friday.
Dolls Kill features six collections represented by characters known as "Dolls." Each Doll is a model that embodies the style of the collection's theme:
*Coco, the feminine and girly collection referred to as "frilly Kawaii
''Kawaii'' is a Japanese cultural phenomenon which emphasizes cuteness, childlike innocence, charm, and simplicity. ''Kawaii'' culture began to flourish in the 1970s, driven by youth culture and the rise of cute characters in manga and anime ...
"
*Mercy, the dark, mysterious goth collection or haute Goth
*Willow, the laid-back, vintage collection for festival
A festival is an event celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, Melā, mela, or Muslim holidays, eid. A ...
fashion
*Darby, the punk-rock
Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...
, alternative collection[
*Kandi, the ]Electronic Dance Music
Electronic dance music (EDM), also referred to as dance music or club music, is a broad range of percussive electronic music genres originally made for nightclubs, raves, and List of electronic dance music festivals, festivals. It is generally ...
(EDM), raver collection that lives a lifestyle of PLUR
Peace Love Unity Respect, commonly shortened to PLUR, is a set of principles that is associated with rave culture, originating in the United States. It has been commonly used since the early 1990s when it became commonplace in nightclub and rave f ...
.
*Mia, the collection that stays on top of online clothing trends.
References
{{reflist, 2
Clothing brands of the United States
Companies based in San Francisco
Retail companies established in 2011
Internet properties established in 2011
2011 establishments in California