New online retailer myShape Inc. has come up with an ambitious plan to help women find clothes that fit and flatter them.
The boutique, which will open its virtual doors in beta mode later this month, matches outfits with customer-supplied information such as measurements and color and style preferences. A shopper begins by measuring herself and filling out a questionnaire, including bust, height and shoulder width. The company’s ShapeMatch software assigns her a shape and recommends items in its inventory based on her measurements and manufacturer-supplied production spec measurements for each garment, as well as the shopper’s stated color and style preferences.
So far, more than 12,000 women have registered. Four of them have received a free outfit, as part of a test myShape has conducted to make sure its shape-matching service works.
“Whatever they used worked really well,” said Cathy Kim, a 33-year-old high-tech marketing executive based in Los Angeles who received an embellished skirt by Shumacher, a tank top, and a fitted jacket by Vincent Jalbert. “The jacket fits like a glove.”
When the boutique makes its debut, it will offer hundreds of styles from more than three dozen designers, most of them not available in department stores. Brands include Basil and Maude, Dancing Couture, DRAMA, Leona Edmiston, Nomadic Traders, Carol Turner and Courtney Washington. Prices range from about $40 for a T-shirt to about $200 for a dress or jacket, although the site also will carry some special art-to-wear items in the $800 range. The target customer is a working woman who spends $1,000 or more on clothes every year and has an income of $50,000 to $70,000 or more. Items will cover career, casual and special occasion.
MyShape, based in Altadena, Calif., has about a dozen employees. Buyer Dianne Starnes previously worked for Nordstrom. Advisory board member Peter D. Whitford has been chief executive officer of Wet Seal and Disney Stores and ran a division for the Limited. Founder and chief executive Louise Wannier previously started three technology businesses.
The site has the potential to do a few million dollars in sales the first year, then grow, said Wannier. Business plans call for international expansion next year, followed by licensing the ShapeMatch technology to other retailers. The company plans to integrate its systems with suppliers so it can automatically receive product measurement information in the future.
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The biggest achievement is getting product specs from the manufacturers, said Cindy Istook, a professor of apparel management at North Carolina State University who is familiar with the myShape concept. “We think this will be a very useful approach for the industry as a whole,” said Wannier.