Amid what seems like unlimited choices, a key way for retailers to stand out is to try to offer products no one else has. For a small boutique, that could be exclusive access to a bespoke clothing line, say, but creating and manufacturing one is typically cost-prohibitive except for the largest of retailers. Enter MakersValley. The New York-based startup has developed a Web platform to connect individual businesses with clothing manufacturers based in Italy at inventory numbers far below what is typically required of these kinds of orders.

“They usually have minimum orders of 5,000 pieces,” says Tiffany Chimal, MakersValley’s co-founder and COO. “That’s a lot of capital.” Instead, smaller boutiques and designers can, through MakersValley, tap into unused capacity at these Italian factories. “Now, they can make something that’s totally unique and their own so that people have to come to them to buy it,” she adds.