Recently launched for iPhone, Swipecast is an app created for putting models in contact with stylists, photographers, retailers, designers, marketing agencies…and basically anyone in regular need of modelling talent. Where there’s a need, there’s an app, and this one is probably making model agencies sweat quite a lot.
If Airbnb has done it in the hospitality sector and Uber in the transport one, is Swipecast going to revolutionize the modelling industry? The opportunity is certainly there. Models were already using social media and apps to promote themselves. Marc Jacobs, for instance, used Instagram last year to cast his AW14 campaign, inviting users to upload photos with the hashtag #CastMeMarc. No wonder the model Rachel Finninger described Swipecast as “Facebook-meets-LinkedIn-meets-Instagram.”
The creator of this revolutionary app is Peter Fitzpatrick, a businessman with great knowledge of the industry (he actually owns a model agency in the heart of New York). As he explains, “Agents have favourites and certain girls fall through the cracks. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a way for a model to network and access opportunities in real time, in a safe environment?”
While agencies take a 33 % cut of a model’s earnings, Swipecast takes just 10%, and it also gives models control over the jobs they book.
What do you think Swipecast will mean for the modelling industry?
