Seattle’s Loomerang platform completed its inaugural T-shirt transaction under 12 hours after launching in June. The buyer, based in Houston, purchased a design created by Joe, a freelance artist from Japan.
Four months later, the company has 40 artists from 15 countries and recently expanded to India. Loomerang works by handling everything but the art, allowing artists to open storefronts for free, set their own prices, and get 60% of what’s left after manufacturing costs.
How Loomerang Works
The company prints, inspects, and ships every order, currently out of co-founder Matt Koyama’s garage. Koyama described Loomerang as an attempt to run a more responsible business in a capitalist system, one built around people who spend their lives working on a craft.
“How can we reward them for that rather than making them feel like they’re being pushed to the margins constantly?” he said. Loomerang was started in early 2024 by CEO Vijay Roy, a nearly 11-year Amazon veteran, who had worked with Koyama on Amazon’s print-on-demand book business.
Founding and Mission
Koyama joined as a co-founder a few months later and went full-time this spring after leaving Xbox. A third co-founder, Arka Majumdar, leads design. The company is bootstrapped, with its 14-person team spread across Seattle, Minnesota, and Kolkata, India, and the founders aren’t taking salaries.
Koyama sees the same pattern across creative industries, where the best work comes from independent artists willing to take risks and invent. Loomerang aims to connect people with the artists and stories behind their clothes, allowing artists to launch apparel brands for free and keep most of the profit.
Challenges and Solutions
Starting an apparel brand is expensive, requiring inventory, a manufacturer, a storefront, and a way to reach customers. Most talented artists can’t take that risk, and those who license their work to big brands usually get a small cut. Loomerang wants to flip that by removing the upfront cost and handling production with care, ensuring the artist keeps most of the profit.
After talking to customers, the company found that almost nobody knew who designed their clothes, except for luxury pieces or items bought directly from an artist. Loomerang is trying to give every purchase that same feeling, by making the artist and their story visible.
When it comes to AI, Loomerang is intentional about its use, as it can be a threatening presence for many artists. The company uses AI behind the scenes in its code and operations, and in tools that help artists with practical work like upscaling files.
Goals and Advice
Loomerang will know it has made it when an independent artist’s first thought for launching a brand is Loomerang, not a big platform that pays them a fraction of what their work is worth. The company hopes to see artists in Seattle, Pune, and everywhere else make a real living through its platform, and for “who made this?” to become a normal question to ask about clothes.
Loomerang’s expansion to India is a significant step towards achieving its goals. The company is working with local artists and designers to create a range of products that showcase Indian talent and creativity. This expansion is also an opportunity for Loomerang to learn and adapt to new markets and cultures, and to refine its business model and operations.
Product Development and Artist Support
The company is holding off on new products to prioritize its artist roster and quality promise.
Loomerang wants to ship fewer products that it can stand behind rather than a wide range it isn’t fully prepared for.
The goal is to create value for people instead of taking it from them, which is a slower and harder approach.