Looks like there is more investment in the direct selling industry coming from the venture community. And it’s happening for one of our favorite companies too – Chloe & Isabel! Our take? The company’s modern, social-based approach to direct selling makes the difference. According to an article from TechCrunch …

“When many people think of direct-selling, they envision Tupperware parties or pink-suited women lugging cases of cosmetics door-to-door. New direct-selling companies, however, are using social media to disrupt the industry. Chloe & Isabel is part of the new wave of startups currently re-defining direct selling and giving people with an entrepreneurial bent–in particular young women–a way to leverage their social medial contacts into a business.

Launched in 2011 by Chantel Waterbury and based in New York City, Chloe & Isabel stands out with a strong focus on branding, a selling platform with data analytics that integrates social media networks, and a business model that gives the company’s hand-picked merchandisers opportunities to move into management roles.

Waterbury’s first experience with direct selling was during her freshman year of college when she sold Cutco knives door-to-door to pay her tuition. She became one of Cutco’s top sales representatives on the West Coast, selling almost $30,000 worth of knives in three months, and kept the gig for three years.

After graduating, Waterbury spent 14 years working in the fashion industry, developing jewelry brands for retailers including Target, Macy’s, Gap, LVMH, and Kenneth Cole. While on maternity leave, Waterbury began working on a business plan for a direct-selling startup that would target Generation Y college graduates, who were hit with particularly high rates of unemployment during the global economic crisis.

Thinking back on her own direct-selling experience, Waterbury realized that the industry could offer new opportunities for social media-savvy entrepreneurs.”

To continue reading the full TechCrunch article, click here.