Crowdstar has done very well with its line of mobile and social apps for young girls, including titles like Top Girl, Mermaid World and It Girl. Crowdstar’s games have been installed more than 250 million times, and the company estimates that girls spend over 25 million minutes daily with its titles. Now Crowdstar is going after an older female audience with its new title Covet Fashion. The [a]list daily spoke with Crowdstar CEO Jeff Tseng about the game and its unique relationship with fashion brands.

Crowdstar felt that a fashion game for women was a logical extension of the product line. “We strongly believe the female audience hasn’t had that much focus and core games, besides casual games,” said Tseng. “Consoles are very much focused on a male audience. Women have tablets and smartphones, and they’re ubiquitous. The opportunity was there to create this genre of products for the audience.”

The key feature of Covet Fashion is its integration with fashion brands. The app is all about trying out new fashions and discovering what you like and what you don’t like. “The brands all know their audience is moving to mobile, but they don’t have a great way to reach that audience,” Tseng noted. So Crowdstar came up with the idea, and reached out to fashion brands to see what they thought. “We were confident in the value and fun we provide. We did a significant amount of outreach to validate the idea, and almost unanimously people loved it,” Tseng recalled.

The cooperation from fashion brands was outstanding. “There are over 60 brands we’re working with right now, with over 1000 items and we’re working towards more,” said Tseng. Brands signed up include names like Rebecca Minkoff, Cynthia Rowley, Hudson Jeans, Yigal Azrouël, Joie, Nanette Lepore, Erin Fetherston, Dannijo, Fallon, Halston Heritage, Sigerson Morrison, and Mara Hoffman.

Digitally rendered illustrations of each brand’s in-season collections are presented on Covet Fashion for users to buy with virtual currency. “You can learn about fashion, interact with fashion and use it as a stepping stone to purchase fashion,” said Tseng. “We’re bridging different worlds here. You’re styling, you’re sharing and you’re shopping.”

One of the important benefits for a brand that’s used in the game is the data Crowdstar collects. “The data we get is very extensive, and of course we aggregate it to remove personal information,” said Tseng. “We see what items are paired together, the most popular colors, it’s a huge amount of information. We collect a billion data points a day.” This sort of data is invaluable to brands, which usually have limited insight into how their products are combined with products from other companies.

Crowdstar has also enlisted the help of fashion maven Rachel Zoe to boost the visibility of the app.”We met her through one of our investors, it’s been a great relationship,” said Tseng. “She’s had a lot of people asking her to participate, but when she saw our product she got really excited.” Zoe has given Crowdstar feedback on the app as well as helping to promote the title.

Zoe loves the realistic results of the app. “One of the things that impressed me was the aesthetic of the game and how real the products look. It’s a very intelligent game “” it doesn’t dumb down fashion,” explained Zoe in an interview with Women’s Wear Daily. Zoe is also marketing her own Rachel Zoe Collection label on the app.

Tseng sees a bright future for this concept of blending games and shopping. “I think there’s potential for other themes,” Tseng said. “We’re trying to rethink fashion for the medium of mobile and tablet, though tablet is really our main focus. I think that model is very interesting because that tie-in to e-commerce is there. We’re creating a really fun way for you to see what’s out there to buy. We’re taking shopping and making it a fun experience — some see it as the gamification of shopping. There’s huge potential.”