
Shop with a Girl - partywithalocal
http://www.shopwithagirl.com
======
gk1
This just promotes a silly stereotype, like the old show "Queer Eye for the
Straight Guy". I'm a guy who enjoys shopping for clothes (although I don't
shop compulsively), and I know girls who don't.

Of course there are people who could use help with shopping, but why make it
gender-specific?

~~~
akama
This was my reaction to this as well. Just in terms of personal comfort, I
personally would prefer a guy stylist as well.

I don't see why they need to limit themselves to just one gender for customers
or providers. They have just cut their market in half before they even began
selling anything.

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teddyh
Um, what? Is it only me, or does anyone else see the enormous inherent
stereotyping in this as a _bad thing_?

People who actually _like_ to go clothes shopping shouldn’t be made to feel
like they should be categorized as “girls”, or vice versa, someone who finds
clothes shopping to be uninteresting shouldn’t be made to feel like they ought
to identify as a “guy”.

There’s nothing wrong with the concept, but the conflation with clothes
shopper/non-shopper with “girl”/“guy” is bad.

~~~
victorduffel
No one is making you or anyone else to "feel" anything from this product.
Frankly, as one of the stereotypical nerds out there, I'm interested in this
product. I know I have no sense of style, pretty much and know there are some
ladies out there who do.

~~~
teddyh
> _No one is making you or anyone else to "feel" anything from this product._

I don’t understand this argument. _Of course_ a narrative which consistently
calls clothes shoppers “girls” and non-shoppers “guys” is going to affect the
way I feel about my identity.

~~~
JoeAltmaier
Only if your identity is affected by every ad you read...have some backbone.

This is a cool thing, for those that need it. No more stereotyped than "I let
my spouse buy my clothes because I have no sense of style". Its just a
statement, true for some people. Its got nothing at all to do with anybody's
identity.

~~~
rabbyte
You can't be serious. So now the message is girls typically understand style,
guys typically don't, and if you dislike that message then maybe you're just
easily influenced by advertising. As a guy that loves fashion, the message is
clearly "You're an exception to the rule" and the rule is a stereotype.

~~~
JoeAltmaier
Have you actually looked at any advertising lately? Billboard? Magazine ad? TV
commercial? This is the mildest tongue-in-cheek 'hire somebody with talent you
lack' ad I can imagine.

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Brushfire
Hrm. Interesting concept. There is definitely a problem to be solved here -- I
have no idea what to buy.

But I also hate shopping in person. I don't want to go to the mall or stores
and wait in line or try on clothes.

I suspect that these two segments overlap significantly (those who need help,
and those who hate shopping in person). That's why services like TrunkClub
make so much sense - they pair you with a "style consultant" (who could be a
guy or girl) and they mail you items. If you like them, great. If you don't,
send them back.

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drglitch
I presume this is supposed to appeal to the "i dont have any female friends
because i am a nerd" crowd. Speaking from personal experience, this ends
around 18-19 years of age. Unfortunately - in my opinion - at that age, an
"average" guy can barely afford clothes, let alone a personal-shopper-girl he
needs to pay money to for the privilege. For older guys, they almost certainly
have a friend or a buddy's sister or whatever.

So, if the younger age group is in fact the target, would the girl also be of
similar age? Otherwise, i dont see how a 25 year old can shop well for a 17
year old.

What is the ultimte goal here? to make guys more appealing to the opposite
sex? Why not take them to a salon instead? A nice haircut and an eye brow
plucking would go a long way for many.

Better yet, why not organize group movie dates or similar instead?

PS: Serious thoughts above - really...

~~~
partywithalocal
I disagree. Older guys may have female friends, but I don't know any single
friends (including myself when I was single) that ask female friends to go
shopping with them - maybe they should, but they don't.

I think it's a pretty big thing to ask a non-girlfriend/non-date to go out on
a day shopping with you just to help you out.

Maybe it's a stereotype, but it seems based on fact that a lot more girls
enjoy shopping for clothes than guys do and have a better eye for guys'
clothes than guys themselves.

Lot's of services with stylists (who are mostly women) picking for clothes for
guys & sending them to you in a pack are popping up, like The Cloakroom:
[https://thecloakroom.nl/en/](https://thecloakroom.nl/en/)

The only difference with this is that the guy and girl go out shopping in a
city together.

But I also find it curious that the idea draws so many strong reactions -
positive & negative. I think the name has an impact.

Interested to hear more thoughts from people.

~~~
akama
I'm really curious that the two services I have seen mentioned here, Trunk
Club & The Cloakroom, have such high prices.

In personal experience I spend more on clothes then most of my friends but I
would never spend that amount of money on certain pieces of clothing.

The Cloakroom lists t-shirts as being €30-€90 ($38-$114) which seems
outrageously high.

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SheepSlapper
"Shop with a girl" has been a personal mantra of mine for about 10 years now,
as it has become glaringly obvious that I can't be trusted to make good
clothing decisions (as the fairer sex often reminds me).

That being said, I'm not sure how this will work as a service. How often does
your average man go shopping for clothes, really? I could see personally using
this service once, and a small percent of men would _maybe_ use it once a
year. And only men without girlfriends/girl friends/mothers/sisters/whatever
would even consider this an option.

It'll be interesting to see how it all plays out. Good luck to ya :)

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partywithalocal
Well that escalated quickly. It is a bit of a tongue in cheek, very early-
stage, idea and the name definitely divides opinion, but pretty surprised how
strongly people feel about it. Despite all the public negative comments here
about how unbelievably sexist it is, private feedback has been positive - from
both sexes, and in fact more females are signing up on the site than males at
the moment... what does this mean?

~~~
drglitch
based on the other comment, i see you're the submitter? I like the username -
i guess thats the next show-nh we should expect? :)

I think the opinions given are very relevant - people just feel strongly about
unnecessary stereotypes, most of which either disappear or become a fixable
"skill" by adulthood. It would seem that advice given here is: focus on the
more mature audience.

As an aside (based on your username and in my humble opinion), party-with-a-
local/personal-guide-to-city is a much better idea - in fact, i recently got a
related domain name in NYC.

~~~
partywithalocal
Cheers. Party with a Local is already launched and is indeed the more serious
startup [http://partywithalocal.com](http://partywithalocal.com)

------
Raphmedia
When I shop, I get the girl in the store to help me. No need to bring my own
girl along! Sure, at first some try to simply sell you random stuff, but after
trying a few shirts and asking for their advice, they will start to be honest.

------
hadoukenio
Wow, this is pretty sexist. It's the equivalent as somebody building
letamandrive.com because, you know, woman can't drive!?

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arenaninja
It has been a long time (7 years? probably closer to 8) since I went shopping
with a girl, but as I remember it, the reason why a male is invited to shop is
two-fold:

* romantic interest

* feedback (more valuable the more stylish you are yourself)

In which case this tagline:

> girls - get paid to shop with guys and make them look good.

Seems a bit off.

 __UNEDITED EDIT __

So I just read the about, and it looks like I misinterpreted this entirely.
This line:

> Guys - go clothes shopping with a girl who has style and likes shopping with
> guys.

Is not equivalent to this:

> SOME GIRLS, those with a good sense of Style And fashion knowledge, KNOW
> WHAT clothes LOOK GOOD ON GUYs AND ENJOY going SHOPPING WITH THEM.

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EliRivers
We respect you enough to deliberate solicit, and pay for, your help in
choosing clothes to purchase, but we're still going to call you a girl. Maybe
we think it's cute, maybe it's a belittling way to smother our inadequacies in
this field. Who knows. The fact that we're deliberately seeking out "girls"
and eliminating 50% of the world's population, many of whom know a great deal
about buying clothes for men, is rather suggestive.

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kitwalker12
They say they do a "SCREENING AND BACKGROUND CHECKS FOR SAFETY" for the
Shopper Girl. Will they do it for the shopper as well for her safety.

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pacofvf
mmm Men only buy clothes when they need it, I mean if I needed a tie right now
I would go to a store and buy many ties, nothing else. Of course there are
many compulsive shopping males, but those are probably ok with shopping alone,
I think the service would be better if it's sold as a makeover service. just
my 2 cents

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aaronpk
I know a few girls who would love a girl to shop with them.

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listic
Who is Annika and why should I trust her sense of style?

~~~
partywithalocal
Good point, there could indeed be more background info on Annika and her
knowledge and experience of (guys) fashion.

~~~
wffurr
That picture of her neck at the top of the page is pretty creepy:
[http://www.shopwithagirl.com/shop-in-amsterdam-
special.html](http://www.shopwithagirl.com/shop-in-amsterdam-special.html)

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guidopallemans
Has anyone seen Silicon Valley (the HBO series)

this is SO silicon valley

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iamraymondc
There's also the issue with personal styles. I could never feel comfortable
pulling off the hardcore alpha male look with leather jackets, but if the girl
thinks that it is good then I'll just be disagreeing with her on it for the
whole time. Also unless these girls have experience with how difference
clothes look on difference body types, I would not trust some random girl to
pick out clothes for me.

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dang
Signup sites aren't enough to make a Show HN, so we've taken that out of the
title. Please see
[https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html).

~~~
partywithalocal
Apologies, missed that detail when posting.

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torkable
My new website: by-a-car-with-a-bro

~~~
JoeAltmaier
If you want to get a car a 'bro' would like, and you don't know how, then this
could be a good idea!

~~~
torkable
pretending to take my joke seriously because you don't like it, cute.

