Amidst thousands of online clothing retailers, Market Publique has found its niche. Based in Brooklyn, it aims to attract premium sellers and buyers of vintage fashion. Goods are sold both through auction sales (eBay-style) and fixed prices. Potential sellers fill out a brief application form before joining. Besides selecting those that offer great vintage clothing, Market Publique also ensures they possess necessary skills such as correctly taking measurements. Once a seller is accepted, there's a USD 0.25 charge per listed item, plus a 5% commission fee for each sale.

Buyers and sellers receive monthly itemised bills from Market Publique, making it easier to keep track of purchases and sales. Sellers also benefit from the site’s active blog and promotion through advertising in print and on the web. Currently, only women's clothes and accessories are on offer, but men's items and housewares will follow soon.

By focusing on one niche and creating an appealing storefront for carefully selected vendors, Market Publique takes the standard online marketplace model and makes it more attractive and reliable for both buyers and sellers. (Related: Online marketplace focuses on mid-century design.)

Website: www.marketpublique.com

Spotted by: Bonnie Sandy

Should marriage really be celebrated with pots, pans and food processors? Aiming to offer a less dreary alternative, New York's nAscent Art has launched a registry service. The service, dubbed ArtWish, gives couples the chance to create a registry from art works showcased by the company. nAscent Art will then email the couple's friends and relatives explaining how they can purchase works from the list outright, or make a partial contribution as a gift. Customers have work from over fifty emerging New York artists to choose from, with pieces ranging from silk paintings to steel sculptures. Says nAscent co-founder, James Wallace: "We really bring art back from the stratosphere to prices within the reach of ordinary people. ArtWish is just one more way to reach that goal."

Recently married themselves, co-founders James and Jennifer Wallace wondered why art wasn't available on their own wedding registry. This formed the inspiration for the service. However, it's not necessarily limited to couples. With the holiday season on its way, some families might be spared the high-street frenzy by an invitation to chip in for a piece of art online.

Website: www.nascentartny.com
Contact: info@nascentartny.com

Spotter: Cecilia Biemann

Pop-up retail is a concept we've been covering for years, generally focusing on a store that opens for a limited time in an otherwise unused space. Turning that notion on its head, in some respects, is Planeshop, a permanent store opening soon in the Glasgow Airport that will be periodically taken over by a different brand.

The brainchild of the founder of Vacant —which was probably the first pop-up store way back when—Planeshop is billed as a permanent shop with a flexible retailing concept. Brands will take over the store for a limited time, including changing the shop's exterior graphics to match their identity. Currently, consumers are invited to vote for the brands they'd most like to see in that role. No word yet on how long each brand will stay in place, but once that time is up, another brand will move in and take over, ensuring that there's always something new to see in the store. Also available at Planeshop will be Planemix, a downloadable selection of global digital music tracks that rotates each month, and "Foodflight," a selection of tapas and sangria for takeout or in-store dining.

Planeshop's flexible retail concept is patent-pending, the company says, and it seems safe to assume that brands are currently lining up for a spot in the store's rotating roster. One to watch—or get in on early yourself...? (Related: Retail space helps brands collaborate — Store perpetually reopens.)

Website: www.planeshop.net

Finding a convenient, healthy snack can be difficult in workplaces and schools where fruit trees are long gone and the best on offer now comes from a vending machine stuffed with junk food. Back in 2007 we picked out YoNaturals, a company that responded by supplying vending machines filled with organic produce. Now a Barcelona company—Lof (short for 'Lo Fresco')—has brought a similar service to market in Spain. Sidestepping the debate over whether organic food is all it's cracked up to be, Lof's emphasis is on solid nutritional value. Their machines, which are supplied, installed and maintained for free, sell nuts, prepared fruit, ready meals and Spanish speciality, gazpacho soup.

Novel uses of vending machines are a staple of the Springwise diet—we've dispensed reports on vending machines for everything from bathing suits to hot pizzas. By using them to promote healthy eating, Lof has latched on to two key trends: convenience and organic foods, with a model that creates social value as well as profits.

Website: www.lofresco.es
Contact: info@lofresco.es

Spotted by: Joandó Reverter

Regular Springwise readers may remember Ponoko, the company that turns consumers' creative ideas into real-world, manufactured goods. Some 30,000 products have been made a reality using Ponoko since its launch back in 2007, and now the company has kicked off yet another initiative: 100kGarages, a site that connects creative consumers with small-scale, local garages that can do the manufacturing for them.

Soft-launched in May through a partnership between New Zealand-based Ponoko and North Carolina-based ShopBot Tools, 100kGarages is a community of workshops distributed around the world that are equipped with the digital fabrication tools needed to precisely cut, machine, drill or sculpt the components of virtually any creative project. "Makers"—or those with ideas—can post jobs on the site for items they'd like to get manufactured, including their ideal purchase price and delivery deadline along with sketches and details about colours, materials, measurements and so on. The site is powered by Ponoko's online "click to make" system, and makers can search for a workshop by location as well. "Fabbers"—the small-scale workshops with the necessary tools—can then bid on those jobs with their offer to do the manufacturing. Makers negotiate directly with fabbers on the details of the transaction; once the maker sends payment, the fabber produces and delivers the product. After the work is done, makers can rate and review the fabber in question.

Enabling anyone with an Internet connection to get almost anything custom-made and delivered from thousands of local digital manufacturers, 100kGarages aims to use "grassroots enterprise and ingenuity" to help "modernize school buildings and infrastructure, develop energy-saving alternatives, or simply produce great new products for our homes and businesses." One to put to work for *your* next big idea...?

Website: www.100kgarages.com
Contact: info@100kgarages.com