SF FashTech» Adelle

Weekly Reading 12/28: Get your own MacGyver moment with Inventables. A temporary reprieve from comprehensive online sales tax. A bleak future for brick & mortar, and more.

Adelle — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 14:30:57 +0000

Why Malls Are Getting Mauled (All Things D)

Social Selling Finding Niche With Polyvore (Women’s Wear Daily)

Fab Achieves Mobile Commerce Goal With 56% Of Xmas Day Revenue From Its Apps (TechCrunch)

A comprehensive online sales tax appears dead for now, but will resurface in the 2013 legislative cycle (The Next Web)

Inventables raises $1.65M to make your wildest MacGyver fantasies come true (Pando Daily)

Photo via

Weekly Reading 12/21: Square partners with Burberry. New Pinterest competitors, and more.

Adelle — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 14:30:15 +0000

Square to announce payment trial with Burberry, its first luxury brand partner (The Next Web)

Facebook Brings Back Pinterest-Style “Collections” Feature In Test With 11 Retailers Like Fab And Etsy (TechCrunch)

Once Proudly Web Only, Shopping Sites Hang Out Real Shingles (New York Times)

Tapiture raises (at least) $450K to prove “Pinterest for bros” critics wrong (Pando Daily)

Google’s Head of Shopping Says Company Has No Plans to Become a Retailer (All Things D)

Badgley Mischka Launches E-commerce (Women’s Wear Daily)

On Instagram, a Thriving Bazaar Taps a Big Market (New York Times)

Photo via TechCrunch

Weekly Reading 12/14: Nike’s new accelerator. The rise of re-commerce. New mobile apps for beauty, and more.

Adelle — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 14:30:29 +0000

Nike Launches A Tech Accelerator, To Develop Nike+ Apps (Fast Company)

Everyone’s an Editor With Glossi (On the Runway)

Fashion Marketplace Material Wrld Raises $780K Seed Round Led By Warby Parker, Bonobos Investor Great Oaks VC (TechCrunch)

eBay Has Turned Into A ‘Fast Fashion Graveyard’ (Business Insider)

J. Crew, Tumblr Hosting Blogger Event (Women’s Wear Daily)

Trying on a Look? You Can Ask an App for Help (New York Times)

How Mobile Commerce Is Shaking Up the Retail Landscape (Mashable)

Walmart’s Evolution From Big Box Giant To E-Commerce Innovator (Fast Company)

Five Years In And Profitable, Gilt Refocuses On New Leadership, An IPO In 2013 And More (TechCrunch)

Consignment Shopping, With Confidence, on the Web (New York Times)

HauteLook Cofounder Launches Styloot.com (Women’s Wear Daily)

Photos via TechCrunch, New York Times

Weekly Reading 12/7: Google Shopping and Amazon Kindle play nice. Storenvy socializes online shopping. BRIC countries adopt U.S. holiday shopping habits. Etsy lands on the Android, and more.

Adelle — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 14:30:02 +0000

Etsy launches slick Android app to buy crafts on the go (VentureBeat)

Storenvy brings the mall experience to online shopping (Pando Daily)

Google Shopping now includes the Amazon Kindle (and why that’s a big deal) (All Things D)

ShopKeep POS banks $10M for iPad register system (VentureBeat)

Clutch’s mobile shopping app is chock full of features, and Big Brother (Pando Daily)

ComScore: Brazilian e-commerce saw a 368% spending increase on Black Friday (The Next Web)

Google teams up with 50+ retailers to give India its first Web shopping day: 12/12/12 (The Next Web)

Pinfluencer: Pinterest better than Facebook for followers, impressions, and sales (VentureBeat)

Photo via Etsy

Weekly Reading 11/30: Cyber Monday scores big, mannequins as spies, a new “Pandora for Fashion”, and more.

Adelle — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 14:30:01 +0000

Black Friday beats Cyber Monday for mobile shopping (VentureBeat)

Bionic Mannequins Spy on Shoppers to Boost Luxury Sales (Bloomberg BusinessWeek)

Another Record Monday: Cyber Sales Hit New High (Women’s Wear Daily)

Shoppable Films: Fad or Future? (Huffington Post)

On Cyber Monday, Mobile — Not Social — Takes All the Glory (AllThingsD)

The Joys and Cautions of Online Integration: Wix and Shopify Join Forces; Stitch Solves Inventory Problems (Business Insider)

Net-a-Porter CEO: It’s no secret we’re launching a major fashion magazine (Wired)

Introducing StyleUp, the ‘Pandora of Fashion’ (Fashionista)

The Privilege of Paying More (New York Times)

Photo via

Shopping the World of Street Style: Kaleidoscope Review

Adelle — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 14:30:52 +0000

The other day I was on a call with the founder of a fashtech mobile app, and he told me something very surprising: a very large percentage of people make purchases through their smart phones. I wish I could remember the exact number – 60%? Maybe more. In any case, I found it to be some staggeringly high statistic. Especially given that I consider myself pretty tech-savvy, yet the only mobile purchase I’ve ever made is buying a ringtone from iTunes. In fact, having left my computer behind over the Thanksgiving holiday I found myself scrambling when my favorite online store announced their huge end-of-year sale on Black Friday. I pulled it up on my phone, but the thought of studiously shopping a website on such a small screen – and with potentially limited navigation in the mobile app – was deeply unpalatable. Thankfully somebody nearby had an iPad which I promptly scooped up in order to make my purchases. It’s not that I don’t participate in mobile commerce sites – I’ve listed clothing on several re-commerce apps – I just have not been able to bring myself to buy. And it seems like I’m in the minority. But I may have found my match.

What

I recently tried out a new app called Kaleidoscope, which bills itself as a “combination of Pinterest and ShopStyle”, although it seems more accurate to describe it as a shoppable Pinterest – for fashion – powered by ShopStyle. The app is easy to navigate – the main page has a scrollable feed of street style photos (men as well as women!), and you just tap the one you like. Once you’ve pulled up the photo you can choose to “shop the look”, which loads doppelgängers of the pieces that caught your eye. A simple click and ShopStyle routes you to the appropriate site to buy the item.

Yea?

As a mobile commerce skeptic this feels more fun and natural than any of my previous mobile shopping options. Neither am I constrained by seeing what other people have uploaded, nor am I worried about missing out in the mobile version of a larger site. You really can’t go wrong with offering up inspirational photos, and it’s great that you can browse similar pieces within the app. Speaking of Pinterest, it’s super easy to pin looks. That was a fun bonus.

Nay?

Yet out of 30+ photos, I only found one that I truly wanted to shop. Most of the photos of women were around the same age range (younger than me) and in the same aesthetic (not one that I share), so it wasn’t as inspiring as I would have liked it to be. It makes me wonder how Kaleidoscope chooses the looks; there’s no mention of that process in the app. In the look I did shop, there was a fifty percent success rate when it came to suggesting similar items. Again, I’m not sure what the behind-the-scenes process is here, but if I’m looking for a loose, bright red, waffle knit sweater, I’m probably not going to be interested in a fitted, dark red, cashmere version.

Tl;dr

The most palatable version of mobile clothes shopping experience that I’ve had, thus far, but more inspiration and better matching is a must.

Note: this is my last review of the year for SF FashTech. I’ve hope you’ve enjoyed reading my perspective on all these fashtech apps and websites as much as I have enjoyed sharing!

Weekly Reading 11/16: WWD bullish on social media. Pinterest sows seeds of monetization. Moda Operandi to add traditional ecommerce. New fashtech trend: managing email from retailers.

Adelle — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 14:30:45 +0000

As much as I appreciate when media outlets are bullish on the power of social media, they can also be guilty of implying causation when correlation will suffice. This week Women’s Wear Daily ran a story about high end retailers reporting that several expensive items leaped in popularity among buyers after being posted to social media. The argument seemed to be that social media was uniquely helping to increase sales; however, I read that differently. Maybe these super wealthy people just now discovered social media? It’s not that the social media content was so compelling it converted browsers into buyers – the audience may have been ready to buy, regardless. I’m sure the correct answer lies somewhere in between… In other news, Pinterest finally has dedicated business accounts. Maybe a plan for monetization is next!

Social Media’s Impact on Spring (Women’s Wear Daily)

Pinterest Removes Ban on Commercial Use as It Adds Business Accounts (All Things D)

Oh Look, Another Marketplace For Used Clothing. Here’s Why Forewillow Is Different (Pando Daily)

Moda Operandi Launches In-Season E-Commerce (Women’s Wear Daily)

Shopbop to Unveil Men’s Site (Women’s Wear Daily)

TheCorner.com Partners with the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund (the Cut)

Email Is Still Effective As Hell: Hipti Consolidates Shopping Emails and Highlights the Sales (Pando Daily)

Sift Turns All Of Your Retailer Emails Into a Personalized Mall on Your iPad (TechCrunch)

NY-Based Clothes Horse Expands With 12 New Retail Partnerships to Help You Find Clothes That Fit (The Next Web)

Shopping App Connects Users with Similar Body Types (Springwise)

Google Announces New Shopping Experience Coming to Europe, Australia, Brazil, and Japan (The Next Web)

Photo via Women’s Wear Daily

A Full Service Fashion Site: Buyosphere Review

Adelle — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 14:30:56 +0000

The Buyosphere tagline is “fashion suggestions from real people”. I cringed a little bit when I saw that, because I’m not sure what kind of fashion advice I’d be interested in from complete strangers. Thankfully “fashion suggestions from real people” is only a fraction of the story – and it gets much better. It’s hard to draw an apt comparison because there’s nothing similar to this right now, but it comes across as a crowd sourced, grassroots, version of an established media property that might feature content around fashion, style and shopping. Buyosphere seems less like a place to get on-demand fashion advice and more like a destination for reading about fashion, possibly being inspired to buy something, and getting your question answered – if you have one.

Approved Style Editors put together “Style Guides”, which consist of a couple of lines of copy introducing a slideshow. The format reminds me of Refinery 29, and like Refinery you can also click to buy an item. None of the items for sale live on Buyosphere – there is no e-commerce component. Rather, choosing to buy an item redirects you to the site where that item was originally hosted, so I assume Buyosphere earns money off of the affiliate link – and hopefully the Editor who compiled the Style Guide does as well. Users can suggest items for the collections as well, which is great for people who want to participate, but don’t want to go through the process of becoming a Style Editor. Unfortunately, I was able to add a coat to a collection full of shoes… It seems like there should be a mechanism to guide people towards adding items that will fit with the collection, otherwise this feature is ripe for trolling.

The site is optimized far more for the fashion content than for the fashion advice, but there is a dedicated space to ask your question (most of them of the “where can I find x?” type) and any user – not just the Style Editors – can answer. Even though this advice component seems to be Buyosphere’s calling card, the website is definitely better served by appearing to be a place to consume content. Or maybe I should put this to the peanut gallery: which is more attractive to you, a destination to consume fashion-based content, or one where you might get your fashion question answered? Content preferences aside, the good news is that you can find both at Buyosphere.

Weekly Reading 11/9 – The Seedier Side of the Internet. What’s faster than fast fashion? And other stories…

Adelle — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 14:30:09 +0000

Reading about Coach’s battle against online counterfeiting was a sobering reality check this week. So much about the intersection of fashion and technology feels new, exciting, and fun. But not every innovation is a good one. Counterfeiters have been around just as long as brands have, but when fake websites use images from legitimate sites, non-internet savvy customers aren’t even able to detect fakes. Coach won the latest round, and hopefully the good guys keep winning. On a happier note, a new startup is making it easier for fashion-conscious shoppers to keep up with trends without buying into fast fashion – or buying anything at all!

Coach Wins $257 Million In Internet Counterfeit Case, Seizes 573 Fake Domain Names (Fashionista)

Le Tote: Like Netflix or Airbnb for Fast Fashion (And Better Facebook Photos) (Fast Company)

Twitter Dress: Nicole Scherzinger Debuts Electronic Outfit by Cute Circuit (Huffington Post)

7 Cozy Clothing Items With Built-In Headphones (Mashable)

Prada Debuts iPad App (Women’s Wear Daily)

Photo via Fashioning Tech and Fast Company

Your Crowdsourced Shopping Guide: Snapette Review

Adelle — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 14:30:44 +0000

The world of fashtech is burgeoning and within it several sub-trends are emerging. Some of those less talked about trends are dedicated photo sharing apps, and sites that help you manage alerts so you know when favorite stores or brands are running a promotion or just made markdowns. Snapette does both.

Have you ever had an experience where you’re out shopping, you see something cool, and whether you intend to buy it or not, you’d like to show it to someone? Maybe it’s just me, but sometimes I’m out and I might not even like an item for myself, but it’s so cool I want the world to know about it. Well no, I know I’m not the only one. Pinterest is full of this; so is the Fancy. But sometimes you want to upload photos on-the-go. Sounds like Instagram? But what about when you’re shopping and you want to be inspired, or you’re looking for cool items near you, or promotions happening at your favorite stores? That’s where Snapette combines all of the above.

Inspiration

Snapette helps you see what others are seeing, in real time. Browsing the app (or website) you see a feed of items other people have uploaded. Whether it’s stores (or brands) showing what’s new or individuals just posting what they like, it’s easy to build a mental wish list of pieces to look out for, the next time you’re on the hunt. Building the physical wish list is just as easy – and a useful way to aggregate things you may be looking for.

Perspiration

Once you’re ready to shop, Snapette helps you apprise your options before you set foot out of the door. With physical stores uploading their new merchandise, instead of making an in-person trek you can let your fingers do the walking. Unfortunately this feature is not available in every city, but while six major global cities are prominently featured, several boutiques across the country are also featured – including those in Texas, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Massachusetts.

Information

Just want to find a good sale? Snapette lets you see which stores are running a promotion – whether online or IRL (in real life). What’s more, they’ve negotiated special deals where you can only access the promotion through Snapette. With exclusives such as 20% off at Cynthia Vincent and reminders that Anthropologie is having an extra 25% off, you’re equipped to find what you want and see if it’s on sale in a few swift taps.

Besides the above, one of the most unique things about Snapette might be its ubiquity: it’s available on both the iOS and the Android platforms. This is one of the few fashion apps Android users can experience! Unlike similar sites Pinterest, the Fancy, or Instagram, it’s one that probably only fashion people will get a kick out of. But if your pinboards are full of apparel (like mine are), this is an app you’ll want to try. Snap to it!