Unknown and Unfamiliar: A Marketplace

UNK+UNF: An Online Marketplace

Unknown and Unfamiliar a.k.a. UNK+UNF was founded in 2020 by a group of women who met working in the fashion industry. We shared love and passion for fashion so we first began by building an apparel brand. While working on our brand, we came across many different small businesses that were launched during the pandemic. Our hearts went out to these independent and local businesses and we wanted to help. So here we are, working to grow a platform where different local brands and artists can tell their story and have the opportunity to be exposed to a bigger audience.

UNK+UNF is an online marketplace dedicated to curating a platform where one can shop and support independent and local small businesses as well as artists in one place. Most, if not all mainstream platforms make it hard for small businesses to get discovered. A lot of products tend to end up at the bottom of an extremely long list and in many cases, never get found. We wanted to build up a community of small business owners and the many supporters and create a space that gives these businesses a spotlight and a look into their stories along with their brand and the products they offer.

With the help of our contributors, we would be able to bring out our vision to life in a more efficient and effective way. Marketing is a huge part of growing a business and you, as a contributor, can also help our partners gain more attention and the spotlight that they deserve.

The Impact

As founders of UNK+UNF, we have goals and a vision for this marketplace. We want to provide a space where small businesses can gather more supporters. We want their products and services to be shown and not hidden. The competition amongst the number of existing businesses can be very intimidating for many, so we want to give these businesses a chance to help them unfold their vision and their stories. 

This community will not only help give these businesses sales but also a group of supporters that will encourage them to keep going. You can be a part of that community by contributing to our cause, and also by following and being a part of our online community. 

Risks & Challenges 

Anything you do will come with risks and challenges. There is no room for improvement if you are afraid of that. The real question is what can you do to overcome the risks and challenges that present themselves and push through to move forward. As a young platform, we do not have a cult following like other mainstream marketplaces such as Etsy or Amazon. However, with our unique purpose and vision combined with the drive and hard work, we believe that we can grow our business to be a place that benefits all of our partners.

What We Need & What You Get 

We are aiming to raise $50,000 to start with. It will help us fund many different parts of this business including but not limited to:

• Website Maintenance

• Professional Photography for Website, Social Media, and Marketing Contents

• Advertising of Our Platform (Instagram, Facebook, Google, and etc.)

Being able to fund the above will allow our platform to reach more people which will not only help our partnering small businesses make sales, but also grow our community of small business owners and supporters.  

As a thank you for contributing to the maintenance, growth and improvement of our business, we would like to send you a special thank you package. We appreciate your support and love for small businesses and hope that you will continue to #shopsmall. Even if we do not reach our goal through the generosity of our contributors, we will put what we raise towards funding all that we mentioned. Any contributions will tremendously help the improvement and growth of our platform, which will also be very beneficial to our partnering small businesses.

Finances are not the only way for you to be a part of the community. We need all the exposure we can get through word of mouth, social media, and any other forms that share about our marketplace. You can follow us on our social media accounts and ask your friends and family to follow as well. You can also share with your communities about the existence of UNK+UNF marketplace. All of the followings, likes and comments will help us tremendously and show a lot of support for the brands that partner with us. 

Instagram: @unknownunfamiliar

Facebook: www.facebook.com/shopunknownunfamiliar

Tiktok: @unknownunfamiliar

Website: www.unkunf.com