

Is my startup worth pursuing? - thaile

Hey, I set up a landing page for an idea I&#x27;ve been thinking about: http:&#x2F;&#x2F;fabricfit.com&#x2F;. The basic idea is that people have clothes that fit them great, but it&#x27;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?
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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/](http://www.belloverde.com/) or Astor Black which
are online custom tailors.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

