Popbasic, is a service based in San Francisco that allows you to purchase a micro-collection each month featuring clothing items and accessories for under $100 without making you subscribe to their service. Their first beta collection launched January this year featuring a long sleeved polka dot shirt, and two necklaces – a collection I stupidly did not jump in and purchase because now I’m regretting not having that cute polka dot shirt in my collection!
The Polka Dot shirt from their Beta Collection
Ever since then (except of the Lost collection) I’ve jumped in and bought their various collections. Easy-to-wear pieces and easy to mix and match with whatever I’ve already got. My favourite so far? Hmm..that’s a hard one because I do genuinely love the ones I’ve bought so far. The grey t-shirt from their Sherwood collection is so comfortable and versatile that I’ve worn it so often. That collection also featured my favourite maxi skirt in a gorgeous emerald green. Then there’s the Le Breton top – a striped top that I would never have bought had it been in the shops because I’ve always been wary of stripes. But because I did take the plunge and buy the collection, I’m happy to say that I’m glad I did because goodness knows the number of times that top has been worn! I could go on and on but I think you get the idea. 
Their current collection is Rubi, which features a grey marle dress, a “ruby” jewelled necklace and a tan leather belt. What’s great about their collections as well is the fact that you can interchange the basic pieces in each collection with the previous collections. For instance I can wear the tan belt from their Rubi collection with the black dress from their Serendipity collection. Being such a huge fan of Popbasic (and having missed the chance to meet up with Madeline – the one half of Popbasic on my trip to San Francisco), I thought I’d do a little interview to find out a little bit more about the idea behind Popbasic.
Madeline Veenstra from Popbasic
Who is the brainchild behind Popbasic?
I’m (Madeline) the co-founder of Popbasic and look after all of our marketing, product development and customer service. I’m also very lucky to have a fantastic co-founder, Coen Hyde who looks after the technical side of things.
Tell me the concept behind Popbasic.
Popbasic designs and manufactures limited edition micro collections. We release three pieces of clothing and accessories as a set for under $100, with free worldwide shipping. Our aim is to create beautiful basics and trend pieces for each collection so that you can build your style effortlessly.
Popbasic Salut Collection
How did the idea come about?
The idea came about back in May of 2012, I was working on Wikifashion and completely jealous of all the girls in the US with access to online stores with innovative business models, like Birchbox, Rent the Runway and Of A Kind. The idea originally began as a subscription service for clothing and we quickly dropped the subscription part of the brand. Fashion is far too subjective to force anyone to purchase everything from an entire range.
I understand that you’re NOT a subscription service, so people won’t have to lock themselves into buying what they don’t want each month, and yet your collections are sold out each and every time. Not to mention very quickly too. Why do you think this concept has worked so well for Popbasic?
Each of our micro collections is limited edition and we really focus on creating the highest quality products that we can every month. Also, I make a huge effort to involve our community in the buying process, so everyone is really anticipating our pieces and is excited about our releases. Everyone has been so supportive of our concept and have spread the word via social media which really helps us to sell out quickly.
How do you decide what to include in each collection?
As I mentioned above I’ll ask the community what basics and pop items they’d like to see every month and try to work around that. Usually I’ll start with a basic and then move onto a theme and decide on the trend pieces that fit with the theme. Our pop pieces are not usually based on ‘of the moment trends’, but rather pieces that are versatile yet still colourful and fun. Happy basics, if you will!
Popbasic is now an international sensation – let’s face it, being based in San Francisco, you’ve managed to reach those in the U.K, Australia and who knows where else. Was this what you expected to happen when you first launch Popbasic?
Thank you, you’re too sweet! I didn’t at all expect the success we’ve had. I get so excited when a new customer tweets or emails lovely feedback. We’re really lucky that we’ve had such a supportive, not to mention lovely community supporting us from the beginning.
I LOVE how Popbasic promotes their next collection via video. Why that medium?
It’s really important to us to sell our micro collections via a beautiful experience and video is the easiest way to do this.
I’m excited to see where Popbasic will go next. So what’s next for Popbasic? Will there be an online store for those who have missed out on past collections?
We definitely have a few things up our Le Breton sleeves (hint hint)! We’re keeping our micro collections, but we’ll also be launching something next year, which is a slight twist on our current model but will allow everyone to enjoy our most popular pieces more frequently.
Thank you for having me on your blog Norlin! M xo
Thanks so much Madeline for sharing the “secrets” behind Popbasic! Can’t wait to see what your next collection is and in the meantime, be sure to snap up their latest Rubi collection! You can follow them on Twitter and/or like their Facebook page where you get to share ideas for their future collection.
Popbasic Rubi Collection
*I wasn’t compensated to write this post, I genuinely LOVE Popbasic and have been purchasing their collections (except for their current one which was gifted) and thought I should share my love of Popbasic with my readers and why I love them so much! 
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