Why designers are obsessed with this new fashion app

A New Era for Design: Soucie Horner Design Collective and Rodeo

This year, the design firm Soucie Horner Design Collective celebrated its 25th anniversary. For principals Shea Soucie and Martin Horner, one of the top priorities was expanding their reach to a new audience. This goal led to an unexpected connection at an event where Soucie met Lindsay Perper, founder of Rodeo—a fashion app that offers users a shoppable experience. The app blends elements of Pinterest and Instagram, allowing users to explore and purchase items directly from content they engage with.

For Soucie, Rodeo represented a fresh, younger consumer in the design space. “As you build a company, your clients continue to evolve unless you turn around and start to look at who the client of the future is,” she explains. “Rodeo could be that audience for us. They could help us understand the younger economy and appetite for design.”

What is Rodeo?

Lindsay Perper’s journey into the world of fashion began with her work at Ralph Lauren, where she spent nearly eight years. During the pandemic, she gained a following on TikTok, which sparked her vision for Rodeo. “I had a lot of conviction that content would be at the center of the future of shopping,” she says. “It didn’t have to be driven solely by influencers. If you have a best friend, then you are a really big influencer.”

The app aims to create a “mall of the future,” where users can explore trends and experiences similar to what they used to find in physical malls. Rodeo is fueled by anyone—shoppers, influencers, interior designers, and creative individuals with a point of view.

Officially launched last year, Rodeo has quickly gained traction, with 50,000 monthly users primarily between the ages of 20 and 28. The app allows users to post images and videos, and Rodeo uses AI to identify items in those images and provide shoppable links. Users can also create mood boards with shoppable links for easy access.

Expanding Reach Through Partnership

Soucie saw this as the perfect opportunity to tap into a new audience. She and Perper first met in September, and by the end of 2024, the firm had signed a yearlong contract as a brand partner with Rodeo. For $3,000 a month, the firm gave Rodeo full access to its archive to reinvent the rooms into new content for the app.

“This was a top-of-funnel awareness channel for Soucie Horner to reach the Gen Z audience,” says Perper. “We’ve reinterpreted rooms into horoscope quizzes or created mood boards in the same vein of a beautiful living room the firm designed. It’s been a creative exercise on our end, and I think it’s been fun for the design team to see a fresh interpretation of it as well.”

The firm sends the assets, and the Rodeo team handles everything else. Included in the contract are monthly features such as horoscope quizzes and posts to Rodeo’s Substack, like one connecting users’ favorite TV shows to a Soucie Horner-designed room.

Benefits for the Design Firm

While a $3,000 monthly partnership fee may seem high, Soucie sees long-term benefits. “I’m using it as a way to understand an audience that I don’t understand, that I’m not as close to. That’s the value to us,” she says. Earlier this year, the firm collaborated with Rodeo on a lunch in Los Angeles where the design team presented to influencers, tastemakers, and creatives a 2025 study with the University of Southern California on what millennial consumers want from luxury design.

The study found that younger luxury consumers prioritize comfort, as well as the story behind the items they live with and the people who made them. This insight helps Soucie stay relevant with a younger audience and look toward the future.

Other Designers Using Rodeo

While Soucie uses Rodeo to understand a new audience, other designers are using it to interact with their current clients. Madison Napier, a designer based in New York, L.A., and Paris, started working with Perper even before the app was launched. Napier uses the mood board feature to share items and ideas with clients.

“With Rodeo, I’ve started taking on virtual consultations,” she says. “Before, when I would take on a virtual consultation, I would just send them a Google Doc with the links. We started incorporating [the mood board feature], Edit, and so whenever a virtual client comes to me or a full-range project really needs coffee table books [for example], I have an Edit with coffee table books where they could click on it and shop directly. It’s so much more streamlined.”

Future Goals for Rodeo

Perper hopes to one day go head-to-head with Amazon or Google Shopping while continuing to grow the interior design presence on the app. “I think that [it’s about] driving awareness and using it as another kind of portfolio that reaches an audience that’s focused on looking for that inspiration, versus just your marketing site,” she says.

For Soucie, the partnership with Rodeo is just the beginning. “For the younger designer, Rodeo is just part of their environment where they can aggregate and build their own taste or use it with a client,” she says. “For somebody my age and position with our business, it helps me understand and stay relevant with a younger consumer, which helps us look to the future.”