It’s not really a secret anymore, but celebrities, especially in LA, get hooked up with more free gear and high-end garb than they even
know what to do with. Seriously, it’s almost criminal how much free swag gets thrown at them at charity events, award shows, launch parties, you name it. Thankfully, for the rest of us, there’s a new web series called Gift Bag Robin Hood from which tries to share some of that trendy booty. The Stylit.TV site had been in a private beta until it launched to the public this week. Founded by , who also mugs a little on-camera hosting time in the series, the site is half web series, half e-commerce startup. I talked to Feldman about the site launch and his plans for the web series crossover business model that he’s banking on. The concept of the Robin Hood series is essentially autobiographical, I’ve learned, as Feldman himself turned into quite the gift bag giver through his years in commercial production. “I was going to all these fashion shows and getting all these gift bags filled with makeup and clothes and I was just giving them away to my girl friends,” said Feldman. Apparently the celeb-hungry brands aren’t that miffed that some of the gear is ending up in the hands of the common folk. “All the brands that we’ve been working with are happy,” Feldman noted. “The love it, telling us ‘wow, you guys are giving this to an ordinary person.’” The latest episode (below) gets inside the HBO Luxury Lounge and scores a bag valued at over $2300—sunglasses, watch, t-shirts, Guitar Hero, makeup—you know, all in a days work for LA’s chosen few.
“We are e-commerce as entertainment,” said Feldman. “It’s the merging of ecommerce with web shows.” There’s also an upcoming tech gear series, TechStyle, with techno-host which premieres on September 1 in conjunction with Apple blog TUAW.com. Another series, Designer Showcase, that highlights different fashion designers. “Some of them are contest type shows like Gift Bag Robin Hood, but all of them will have a way to purchase [the products] on site or through an affiliate,” added Feldman.