Sources: Fab co-founder Bradford Shellhammer's shopping site, Bezar is running out of money just 10 months after launch
Jason Del Rey / Re/code :
Context & Ripple Effects
Bezar was meant to be Bradford Shellhammer's redemption arc: a year after Fab collapsed from a $900M valuation toward a fire sale, he launched a curated design-sales site in January 2015 as a leaner second act. PCH then bought Fab itself as a hardware sales channel, closing that chapter.
Ten months later, sources tell Re/code the new venture is running out of money and may be close to shutting down — a much faster failure than Fab's multi-year slide, and one that lands on a founder whose e-commerce track record is now two for two on distress.
First-order effects
- Shellhammer faces a second failed consumer commerce company inside two years, with Bezar potentially winding down before its first anniversary and its designers and suppliers left holding unsold inventory commitments.
Second-order effects
- Investors in flash-sale and curation-driven shopping sites get fresh evidence that the model Fab pioneered doesn't support standalone ventures, pressuring funding for any remaining lookalike startups.
Third-order effects
- The pattern — a celebrated founder relaunching after a high-profile collapse only to fail faster — feeds a broader investor skepticism toward founder-brand e-commerce, where the CaaStle near-collapse shows the same fragility extends well past design retail.
The trend: Curated flash-sale e-commerce is proving structurally unviable as a standalone business, with even marquee founders unable to sustain it beyond launch.