Is my startup worth pursuing?

[thaile]

Hey, I set up a landing page for an idea I've been thinking about: http://fabricfit.com/. The basic idea is that people have clothes that fit them great, but it's hard finding clothes that fit you just as well and are stylish. So, you send the clothes to us, we measure your clothes, and send you your clothes and others that are similar in style and fit to the original one you sent us. What do you guys think about this idea?

[jeffmould]

It's a good idea. A couple things:

1. Sizing can be tough. For example, I have several pair of jeans. All the same brand and all the same size. At least 2 of the pairs absolutely do not fit, while the others are extremely comfortable. When I bought all of them they fit perfectly, but over time with wear and washing the fit on some has just gone out of whack compared to the others.

2. This would be a difficult business to scale though. If all of your customers are sending garments in to be measured and then you are sending them back out along with other garments that are curated, it could be a labor intensive business.

Overall though I like the idea. I hate shopping, I hate having to go to a store and try things on. Then usually I get home and half the stuff I bought I never wear because, as @rbcoffee pointed out, there is some quirk that annoys me.

A feature you may consider adding would be that clothes a customer doesn't like could be sent in, you either buy them back or offer them a credit towards new clothes sent back out to them in the same style, but a different size.

This idea kind of reminds me of http://www.belloverde.com/ or Astor Black which are online custom tailors.

[thaile]

Good points, I was thinking about starting initially with jeans, so I didn't spread myself thin. I would ideally want the product to be open to everyone, but perhaps charging a high premium and focusing on a small number of customers would be the best way to scale. I like the feature you suggested as well.

[jeffmould]

Actually if you did a subscription based service, almost like a BirchBox, that may work better. The customer sends in the first set of clothes, you get measurements, and now you know size and style. From there each month you send them a clothing package with suggested items. They can either wear them for a bit and return (Netflix type model) or purchase at a discounted rate from you.

[thaile]

This is essentially the model I wanted to start off with; Having the measurements and style of certain customer in a subscription business, gives you the luxury of continually learning a customer's taste and sizing creating a nice hedge to competitors and a healthier customer lifetime value.

[jeffmould]

You may also have a look at: http://www.verisize.com/

[thaile]

Interesting website. This is similar to the idea I expressed in another comment of having a lot of data and giving it to companies.

[rbcoffee]

It's a good idea, as I prefer to try on clothes in a shop rather than buy them online. The weird thing about clothes is that even if the size is correct, the clothes sometimes don't fit, or just don't hang right. Most people don't feel satisfied after buying clothes from the net because there's always some quirk in the 'fit' that annoys them and the effort of sending it back proves too much.

TL;DR Size is a bullshit metric and people also look for 'hang' and 'comfort'.

[thaile]

This is exactly the problem I'm trying to solve. I'm a skinny, lanky guy and trying to find jeans my size is a headache for the reason you stated.

[aladdinw]

I don't like the idea of sending my clothes to some company, plus it will cause a logistics headache for you. you can just show a guide on how to take precise measurement of the user body and enter it online.

[thaile]

These are two problems I definitely saw coming. The trust element is a big one, and I've thought about doing what you suggested so as to avoid the logistics, but different jeans and clothing brands fit differently. I think if I have people send in clothes and perhaps have a spreadsheet of how brands fit, I would eventually have an heap of data where I wouldn't need people to send in clothes.