As I progressed from being a graduate student with a work-from-home job into the professional world, I realized my wardrobe needed a complete overhaul. While many find shopping to be a delight, I despise every second and was eternally grateful when a co-worker introduced me to Stitch Fix. I had a lot of thoughts on the stylist-picked, delivered-to-your-door subscription box.
Firstly, I hate shopping. It’s not necessarily that I can’t find clothes in my size or things that I like, but more along the lines of my struggle to find my style. I moved quickly from being a college student to a working professional in the Washington, D.C., area, from casual nights with friends to being married and attending bridal showers, baby showers, classy winery tours and weddings. With these shifts, my wardrobe of jeans and sweatshirts wasn’t cutting it.
When Stitch Fix came along, I found myself liking the novel idea of it all. No shopping involved, just taking a style quiz and someone shops for you. You don’t have to leave your couch, go into stores, try things on, and try to pull together outfits.
How It Works:
How Stitch Fix works is simple, and similar to other clothing subscription boxes, such as Trunk Club. The box is available and customizable to men or women.
- First, you sign up and complete a style quiz. I was shocked by how in-depth the style quiz was and it gave me hope that the contents of my box would really and truly be as close as possible to what I like/want/need. It asks the basic questions you’d expect, like your height, weight and pants size. However, it goes even more in-depth by asking your leg length, what body shape best represents your body type (hourglass, triangle), what represents your waist level (high, medium, low). It also included questions asking about how you prefer your clothes to fit on your top half, bottom half: straight, fitted, loose. You could identify what you liked to flaunt, and when shown a grouping of clothing styles, did you like: hate it, find it just ok, like it or love it. Perhaps one of my favorite features was that you could identify what you wanted in your box: mostly work/business casual clothes, cocktail, wedding, event; laid-back casual, and date night/night out or a combination of some or all.
- In your box, you chose how often you wanted tops, blazers, jackets and coats, pants, jeans, shorts, dresses, skirts, bags, scarves, earrings, necklaces, bracelets, and shoes to appear in your Stitch Fix box.
- You could identify what you didn’t want in your box (faux leather, animal print) and what price range you were looking for. The options ranged from “the cheaper, the better” to $200+.
- There was a box at the end to write personal notes to your stylist about what you wanted. For example, I wrote: “My workplace is business casual, but no jeans/cords allowed, so I’d prefer cute outfits I can wear to work. I’d like to branch into bold colors—blues, greens, pinks.”
I signed up and finished my style quiz. My box was scheduled to be delivered in a week and a half, which I thought was a quick turnaround.
There was no upfront cost associated with the box and I eagerly ripped into it when it arrived on my doorstep. While not very large, it was heavy and I was immediately greeted by a card.
The card carried the standard “Welcome to Stitch Fix,” but interestingly, also had a personalized note from the stylist inside, along with a picture of each piece of clothing in the box and suggested pairings to create a full outfit.
My stylist outlined why she’d picked the pieces she did, and I realized that she had indeed reviewed my style quiz and notes as almost all my pieces could be crossovers as work casual or date night.
Each box contains five items, whether clothing, jewelry or accessories.
For my box, I received:
- A silver statement necklace
- A purple top with cut-out sleeves
- A blue blazer
- A silk maxi dress
- A pink casual dress
Now, I had options. First, if I didn’t like anything, I could return it. I’d pay $20 for the styling fee each box, but I wouldn’t have to pay anything else.
Next, if I wanted to keep anything, I’d get the $20 style fee credited towards my purchase. Anything I didn’t want to keep, I’d return in the prepaid packing bag they provided in my box.
Finally, if I wanted to keep everything, I’d get the $20 credit and 25% off my entire purchase, equal to approximately $65 off for a grand total of $175. When filling out the style quiz, I’d selected that I wanted everything to be as cheap as possible and my pieces ranged from $25 to $88 (the blazer). The stylist did listen to my requests and my pieces were work-friendly and in bolder colors.
Next, I headed online to make my selections. I elected to keep all my items, as I could see myself using all of them, plus it made more sense to get the 25% off. When I headed to the site (there is also an easy-to-use app), each piece came up and I rated it based on how much I liked it, if I thought the fit was good, if I thought the price was right. Then, I picked whether I was keeping or returning and was given the option for additional notes at the end for the stylist.
While most of my items fit me well, I noted that the purple top was a little looser than I typically go for and the pink dress was just outside my comfort zone. I scheduled my next box for the end of the month.
In the future, I plan on switching my box preferences for October for mostly formal wear, as I have an upcoming wedding to attend. I really like that Stitchfix allows you to adjust each box to your current needs.
In the end, I’d highly recommend this box for anyone, boy or girl, at any stage of their professional or personal life. It really makes buying clothes extremely easy and tailored to you and your preferences.
Photo by Hannah Morgan on Unsplash
