Tribeca pop-up manager hits fundraising site for help with new shops

A classic case of bad timing has the group behind a series of Tribeca architecture and fashion pop-up shops, BOFFO Building Fashion, running to fundraising website Kickstarter for help.

DNAinfo reported that BOFFO needs to raise at least $20,000 to see its planned series of five pop-up shops to fruition. The pop-up retail shops were to be a collaboration between five emerging fashion designers and architects running from Fashion Week in September through the end of the year. The stores served as art for the public, retail space for under-the-radar designers and provided a boost for young architects’ portfolios.

But a wrench was thrown into the scheme when BOFFO’s space at 57 Walker Street wasn’t going to be ready in time for Fashion Week, the planned date for the launch of a shop by Nicola Formichetti, Lady Gaga’s stylist. So BOFFO secured a space twice as big across the street at 50 Walker Street, which nearly doubled the cost of the space’s interior design.

While two more pop-up shops have endured without a problem at the original 57 Walker Street location, the organization has virtually no money for the final two collaborations. A week into its Kickstarter campaign, 83 people have donated more than $6,800 to BOFFO on Kickstarter. [DNAinfo]