Tuesday, February 5, 2013

style

Several weeks ago I saw a friend post about a company called Stitch Fix on Facebook. As soon as I saw their business plan I knew I was smitten.

Stitch Fix is a personal shopping company for the average woman. They take all your sizes, fashion preferences, and price point then send you 5 items in the mail. You decide what to keep and what to send back (free shipping!). There is a $20 fee upfront on each "fix", but it's applied to anything you buy in that shipment. The idea is that with all your preferences in writing, you'll like at least one thing. If you like all five, you get a 25% discount.

For me, someone who was shopping-challenged even before children, this is a blessing. I'm tired of dragging at least one kid, if not three, to the store to try things on. And with my keen eye for fashion, I typically walk out of Marshall's, TJMaxx, or Target, having talked myself out of everything except a new t-shirt. Believe me, I have enough t-shirts to clothe an army. I'm tired of spending $15 here and there on things similar to what I already own or that don't wow me. I'd rather spend a little extra to get a go-to piece.

When I filled out my profile, I asked my stylist to dress me for date night or book club. You can ask your stylist to send you clothes appropriate for any occasion - work, play, cocktail parties, or other special occasions.

Then I waited with baited breath until this arrived:




When you open it up, it's all wrapped in nice paper:



One of the things I like best about Stitch Fix, is that they each have a card attached to each item with suggested ways to wear it.... sometimes pulling in the right accessories is what trips me up the most.



In my first package I received: earrings, a pair of skinny jeans, a silk shirt, a printed blouse, and a black sweater. I decided just to try everything on (except the earrings) without making any snap judgments.

I paired the black sweater with jeans, a striped shirt, and black boots. I can imagine this also with black ballet flats, but with all the snow on the ground right now, I went with the boots.



I tried on the printed blouse with jeans and white pants and decided the jeans were a better blend. I added a skinny belt and cowboy boots that I own.



This is a great example of something I would never pick to try on in the stores. I'm not drawn to pattern at all. And although this doesn't blow me away, I think it's a solid blouse for date night or book club. It makes me step out of my comfort zone a little and stretches my wardrobe.

The silk shirt and jeans were okay. Not my favorite, but since I told them I live in jeans and t-shirts I can see why they maybe wanted to dress it up a little.



After trying everything on, you log into your profile and rate your fix. Each item has a list of questions like overall fit, right size, right style, etc. There's also a comment box by each item giving you plenty of room to give your stylist feedback.

Stitch Fix is an invite-only, referral-based company. If you'd like to get your own fix, click on the link to fill out a profile.


Happy shopping!


7 comments:

  1. so interesting! do you mind sharing your total cost for this package? love the middle picture outfit - love that blouse!

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  2. I'm only keeping the print shirt out of this fix. It's price is $58, a little higher than I would normally pay, but the more I look at my picture in it, the more I like it! The sweater was $48 and I would have kept it if the sleeves were full length. Two other things were $48 and the most expensive was $88. When I rated my fix I was able to say $88 was too high for me and $48 is perfect (the lowest range is $50-100). Hopefully that means in the future, my stylist will keep things on the lower end. And like I said in the post, I might splurge on something at Marshall's for $29.99 or even $49.99, but it's typically similar to something I already own. This forces me to have fresh eyes when looking at an item. I think I'm going to give it another go.

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  3. it's a great concept! i bet the stylists on the other end love their job, too!

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  4. thats really very neat! And I love the printed blouse on you. Do you ever wear your hair up? Before there was facebook, me and alot of my girlfriends had this forum and we played a weekly game of I'd give them each a "budget" and they'd have to put together an outfit by shopping online and showing us what they got in their "budget" given. It was fun to see everyones style pics and if they had that much money, what would they buy... Even if we all aren't a size 2 or whatever, you could see what people would actually pick out. It was a really fun game.

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  5. I love the printed blouse on you! If we were shopping together, that's just the sort of thing I would pick out for you. Side note: our purses our very, very similar. Same model, slightly different fabric.

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  6. That seems like a really cool idea. So is the printed blouse the only one you are keeping?

    I need that list app today. Gotta run so many errands hehe

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