Award for ETH developers of customised jeans
The ETH spin-off Selfnation, which offers women’s made-to-measure jeans over the internet, impressed the jury of venture kick’s young entrepreneur competition and won one of two sponsorship awards worth CHF 130,000.
A great honour for the ETH spin-off in venture kick’s young entrepreneur competition: Selfnation won one of two main prizes worth CHF 100,000, taking its total prize money to CHF 130,000 when combined with other support from the competition. The company was founded by Andreas Guggenbühl, who completed his Master’s in Mechanical Engineering at ETH Zurich this year, and Michael Berli, ETH computer science student. Selfnation offers tailor-made jeans for women (see ETH News article). Customers enter eight body measurements on the external pageSelfnation website and a mathematical algorithm calculates the ideal fit of a pair of jeans. Users can view the custom-made jeans as a 3D visualisation, as if they were standing in front of a mirror, before ordering. The young company makes the jeans based on the pattern calculated by the software and then delivers them by post.
The two spin-off founders are pleased with their award from venture kick. The capital will enable the company to carry out its first expansion phase just a year after it was founded, says Guggenbühl in a press release: “This week we will be celebrating the sale of our 100th pair of jeans.” After this success in Switzerland, the jeans will soon be available in Germany and a shop in Berlin is planned. Furthermore, the ETH graduates intend to extend the range to include men’s jeans. “Women love our service and men have often complained that they are not catered for. We’ll be ready to do so in November,” says Guggenbühl.