Fashion startup Atorie announced Thursday a $9.5 million seed round with investors including a16z speedrun, Night Capital, and Lightspeed Ventures’ Jeremy Liew. Shoppers can visit the Atorie website and buy handbags or clothes made from the same materials and factories as high-end goods, but at reasonable prices—an Italian leather handbag costs just a few hundred dollars versus thousands from brands like Prada or Louis Vuitton.

The startup arrives as dupe culture grows and luxury faces backlash over post-pandemic price hikes. Young consumers increasingly seek cheaper, near-identical alternatives, making dupes a status symbol. Atorie’s co-founder Redouane Ramdani insists his items are not dupes: “It’s the same material, same craftsmanship. It’s coming from the same factories.” He also rejects the fast-fashion label, saying, “It’s slow.”

Ramdani, who previously built creator platform Snipfeed (acquired in 2024), grew up in France with family in luxury manufacturing. After selling Snipfeed, he noticed factories had evolved—they now had their own design and product-development capabilities. Traditionally, brands like Ralph Lauren brought designs and materials to factories, which produced goods. But factories faced risks from large minimum orders and dependence on few big clients.

Atorie, co-founded with Luis Angulo, connects luxury manufacturers directly to consumers. The AI-powered brand helps factories predict demand, reduce overproduction, and diversify customers. On the consumer side, an AI agent builds outfits based on inspirations and learns shopping habits to suggest future purchases. Ramdani reports an increase in sale referrals already.