Stitch Fix Prep Work
As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts (the one about –
spoiler alert – the ugly sweater), I don’t really enjoy shopping. Pretty much the only time I go shopping is
when I visit my best friend Toni (or vice versa) or when Mom gives me a Macy’s
gift card for Christmas/birthday. Trust
me – this doesn’t upset me; in fact, I can think of roughly 1 million other
things that sound better on any given day.*
I’m pretty sure the only reason I can tolerate it with Toni is the fact
that it allows us to spend time together, which is something we (sadly) don’t
have as much chance to do these days, living across the entire country from
each other and whatnot.
Here’s a gratuitous picture of my god-daughter, Juliet, and I. She belongs to Toni, so posting a picture of
her here is technically related to the content of this post. Either way, she’s totally cute, so if you
have a problem with a picture of her, you might be a horrible person. Just sayin’.
Okay - focus, Olsen. So,
when one of my buddies at work, Charity, Facebooked about her recent experience
using Stitch Fix, an online personal shopper website, I was intrigued. I took some time to read reviews and pick
Charity’s brain, as well as read the FAQs on the site itself. Essentially, when you sign up, you fill out a
detailed style profile with your likes and dislikes, budget, the types of
clothes you may need or choose to avoid, what you consider your “problem areas”
(unfortunately, there was no box to check for being a Type A control freak who
loves penguins), and so on. Seriously,
the style profile goes on for quite a while, but it’s all really great
information, and it helps the stylists at Stitch Fix have a base of knowledge
to use when picking out clothes for you.
You decide when you wish to receive a Fix – a box containing
five different apparel or accessory options, chosen by the stylist. You can sign up for an automatic monthly box,
but you can also just choose to schedule one on your own whenever you
wish. There’s no commitment to sign up
for a certain number of Fixes or to buy a certain number of items. When the box ships, you are charged a $20
styling fee, which includes shipping, both to your location and back for the
items you decide you don’t like.
Additionally, if you choose to keep any items, the $20 styling fee comes
off your total. Thus, if you decide to
keep a $50 shirt, you would apply the $20 stylist fee to the shirt, making the
additional amount you would pay only $30. **
You have three days to try everything on and
make the decision whether you wish to keep the items. The things you don’t like get sealed in a
postage-prepaid envelope, dropped at the post office, and mailed back to San
Fran, where Stitch Fix lives. Also, if
you keep everything in the box, there’s a 25% discount on the total (from what
I’ve read, if you like 4 of the items, you might as well keep the 5th
one, as doing so nets you the 25% discount and often makes the entire thing less
expensive than just buying the 4 items outright).
For me, all of this seems cool. When I get dragged into a mall, I pretty much
look for the same styles, colors, and items I already have and love; although
I’ve been trying to push my boundaries a bit, I find it difficult to branch
out. I’m really poor at visualizing, so
it’s hard for me to see an item on a hangar and know how it will work on my
body. When I do step outside of my box
(or Toni buys me something that pushes me out there), I generally like it, and
I tend to get tons of compliments on it, both at work and from Chris. Also, by sending me the items, I can try them
on in my own house at my leisure (well, with three days of leisure), and I can
surely get dog hair all over them!
Wonderbar!
My understanding from reading blogs and the like is that the
cost of the actual clothes ranges from $40 to $70 for most shirts, $60-90 for
pants, and more for items like dresses, coats, blazers, etc. When I filled out my profile, I had the
option to choose “the cheaper, the better” as a setting for all items, which I
selected for accessories, tops, and something else that eludes me at this time
(brainfart). I chose the next option up,
the $50-100 option, for dresses, outerwear, and pants, but there are a few more
options above that.
My first Fix is scheduled to come next week (when I signed
up, there was about a month of waiting time to get on the styling list), so
I’ll report back then with pictures. In
the meantime, if anyone is interested, here’s my referral link to the site - https://www.stitchfix.com/referral/3223908. If you end up scheduling a Fix, I get a $25
referral credit, which would be delightful.
Regardless as to whether you schedule a Fix, I thought it was cool to
just go on the site and look around at the FAQs, blogs, reviews, fill out the
style profile and the like.
That’s all for now, but more later…
Amy
* Sample tasks include
teaching a wolverine to floss, tagging fruit flies to study their migratory
patterns, and re-reading Crime and Punishment. I know it’s a classic, but I
just can’t do it.
** Look, math! This footnote was completely unnecessary, wasn’t it? That’ll teach you to read them all. Muhahahahahaha.
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