https://www.economist.com/business/2022/09/08/the-ugly-truth-about-young-beauty-brands-business-model

As it happens, just a few minutes ago I was looking for some new running clothing... granted, those are not "beauty" or "fashion" brands, but they are startup clothing companies trying to go toe-to-toe with the big players by carving out small niches.

Mostly they are direct-to-consumer in order to hang onto as much margin as possible so that they don't have such low cost of goods and overhead. Based on statements on their About Us pages, most are self-financed/bootstrapped.

Again, not beauty and very different model, but I think it's interesting that we live in a time when there is larger divergence of business models than, say, 20 or 30 years ago. Now, a small group of people who can put together some tens of thousands of dollars has access to all manner of high-end design and engineering and textile development and can start a business that just stays on its feet as the flywheel picks up speed, through the classic company that needs bigger startup funds and might lose money for a few years but ultimately needs to make a profit in short order, to the companies in the .com bust model - lose money on every customer and make it up in volume, using perpetual infusions of VC money until they go bust or, in a few unicorn cases, make it stick.

I'm surprised that after 2000, model #3 still seems to work pretty well if you can just keep getting VC money. But I'm also surprised at the high-tech, super advanced product model #1 produces now, products that 30 years ago would have required millions of dollars in backing.