social-first-brand
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Cider
Cider is a Los Angeles-headquartered, social-first fashion brand built for Gen Z. Launched in 2020, it uses a data-driven 'smart fashion' supply chain to read trends off TikTok and Instagram, produce in small batches, and ship trendy, affordable women's apparel to customers in more than 130 countries. Backed by Andreessen Horowitz and DST Global, Cider became a unicorn roughly a year after launch and is widely framed as a leaner, more curated challenger to Shein.
Michael Wang
Michael Wang is the cofounder and CEO of Cider, a Gen Z fashion brand he started in September 2020 during the pandemic and grew into a billion-dollar, social-first company selling trend-driven womenswear to more than 100 countries. A UC Berkeley applied-math graduate and former KKR and IDG Capital investor, Wang built and ran market strategy for YCloset (often called the Rent the Runway of China) before founding Cider. He installs his own software inside factories, releases new styles daily on a near-zero-inventory model, and treats Instagram and TikTok as the storefront. He was named to Forbes 30 Under 30 in 2018.