Im working on a taste-based discovery app for fashion and I'm stuck on monetization.
The main problem is that with small brands/designers you can't search for a brand you don't know exists, so every tool out there is just a better search box, which is useless for people like me who are looking for new brands. Instead of typing a brand name, you feed it pieces and brands you already like and it finds similar pieces/styles across every marketplace, including Japanese marketplaces like Yahoo Auctions and Mercari that suffer the same issue mentioned above.
The options I can see for making money are a subscription for the more complicated things:(Japan coverage, price history so you know if something's overpriced, more saved taste profiles), affiliate cuts from eBay/Grailed which seem thin, and commission from small independent stores that actually need the distribution. The brands themselves are a dead end since a Japanese designer earns nothing when a piece resells. I also think the subscription model could be hard to sell, but correct me if im wrong.
If anyone has advice, please let me know!