The Folklore

The Folklore operates an all-in-one commerce and marketing platform for small and emerging consumer brands with international growth ambitions. From a single dashboard, brands can sync catalogs from Shopify or WooCommerce (or bulk upload products), list items across consumer and wholesale marketplaces, social platforms and search engines without setting up separate accounts, and manage and fulfill orders, including in markets where some platforms are not directly accessible to the seller. The platform adds multi-channel analytics covering product performance, orders and revenue, plus wholesale order management and Retailer Connect, a database of verified wholesale buyer contacts with AI-generated outreach emails.

A second product area covers AI marketing: generation of product and campaign photos, SEO-oriented product descriptions, and social media photos, videos and captions that can be published directly from the platform, alongside a "Smart Ad Promotion" feature that allocates part of a member's subscription fee to advertising across sales channels. Membership benefits include discounted shipping with DHL, FedEx and UPS across more than 220 territories, access to vetted freelancers and manufacturers (The Folklore Source), a resource library of business guides, videos and templates (The Folklore Hub), webinars, mentorship, members-only digital channels and events. The Folklore Capital, delivered through partners, matches brands with working-capital and purchase-order loans of up to $1 million, with pilot borrowers typically taking $10,000–$30,000.

The company serves fashion, beauty, home, wellness, kids and baby, and lifestyle brands, and states that its tools save a typical brand roughly $2,000 and 100 hours per month.

Founding story

Founder Amira Rasool, previously a freelance writer and editor for outlets including TIME, Vogue, Teen Vogue, i-D, PAPER, Glamour, InStyle, V Magazine and WWD, was inspired after a trip to South Africa where she found no easy way to buy online from the small brands she discovered there. She started The Folklore in 2018 to solve that problem.

Business model

Subscription software and marketplace model: brands pay a membership fee starting at $39 per month (with a 7-day free trial) for access to multi-channel selling, AI marketing tools, wholesale management, discounted shipping, talent sourcing, community and education. Part of the subscription fee is reinvested by the platform into advertising for members' products. Capital is offered through partner lenders rather than on balance sheet.

Recurring membership subscriptions starting at $39/month; the platform also operates B2B/consumer marketplace transactions and wholesale order flow between brands and retailers.

Traction

The Folklore Connect wholesale management software and B2B marketplace launched publicly in 2023 and, as of April 2024, had 400+ users and had driven millions of dollars in wholesale revenue for them. The company says it serves brands and entrepreneurs across 40+ countries and cites member outcomes such as a brand growing from under $5,000 to $20,000 in monthly revenue.

Latest developments

The current platform offering centers on multi-channel selling and fulfillment, AI-generated product and social content, Retailer Connect wholesale lead generation, multi-channel analytics, discounted global shipping and vetted talent sourcing, sold as a membership starting at $39/month with a 7-day free trial.