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Tuesday, 27 January 2015

This app tells you what to wear — based on your wardrobe and the weather

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We've seen hundreds of apps devoted to organizing your finances or fitness. How about fashion — specifically, harnessing the power of technology to declutter your wardrobe?
ClosetSpace tackles this area by combining curated outfit suggestions with the items in your own closet, allowing you to put together a stylish sartorial system at no extra cost.
Fire up the app and you're presented with the option of adding items to your profile, from shoes to shirts to accessories. Anything you add can be tagged with brand, fabric, size, color, price paid and where you purchased the item.
In short, if you are serious about fashion, this could be the secret weapon you've been looking for.
ClosetSpace app

For users still building up their wardrobe, the app also offers a well of curated fashion looks — and automatically adjusts its selections based on the weather in your current location. Snowbound in New York City? You'll only see cold weather-ready outfits. Living it up in Miami? The selections become accordingly warm weather-friendly.
One of the few shortcomings is the app's demographic focus. Although there are appropriate graphics for male users, it's clear that the app's detailed selections are geared toward women. A search for a suit brings up a women's business suit. Search for a shirt and you're presented with blouses.
"The focus on female users is clear," Rohan Deuskar, the CEO and co-founder of Stylitics, the parent company of ClosetSpace, told Mashable. "[We] know that women say they spend more time planning what to wear and have more items they need to track. 
Just as many other brands have focused on one core consumer during market entry, we will definitely be expanding our focus to bring in more male users
Just as many other brands have focused on one core consumer during market entry, we will definitely be expanding our focus to bring in more male users as we continue to grow."

Another feature allows you to tag the items you've added to the app with occasions the item might be appropriate for (formal, work, school, etc.). That feature works perfectly with the app's other tool that lets you schedule outfits in a calendar that can be synced to Google Calendar.
That's right — now you can get Google alerts on your smartphone reminding you which fashion ensembles you've already put together for a particular day.
On first glance, the app might seem a bit limited in terms of its selection of retail outlets listed on your item tags. Major retailers like Amazon, Top Shop, American Apparel, J. Crew, Neiman Marcus and others are prominently listed as options. But dig a little deeper and you'll find you can add unlisted retail outlets and completely new brands to the app.
"One of the great things about our app is that we know fashion comes in all shapes, sizes and brand preferences," says Deuskar. "[W]e’re not only promoting personal style management, but also personal expression that shows fashion doesn’t have to be a cookie cutter image."
ClosetSpace app

IMAGE: STYLITICS
Nevertheless, a broader look at Stylitics' business — focused, in part, on delivering consumer data to retailers — suggests that making us add retailer information is designed to ensure the app serves as a shopping habits data collection tool. But does the incredibly granular data you're feeding the app mean you're inviting the entire fashion industry to have a peek inside your closet?
" 
We anonymize and aggregate trend data at a high level to include in reports we sell to retailers
We anonymize and aggregate trend data at a high level to include in reports we sell to retailers," says Deuskar. "For example, we provide high-level color trend data to beauty brands [and] changing trends in bottoms styles for jeans manufacturers … No personally identifying information is shared, as we respect the privacy of our users."

In February, in the run-up to New York Fashion Week, the company also plans to launch a web version of the platform.
The app, which is available for free download on Apple's app store and Google Play, currently has one of the highest ratings for any fashion-oriented smartphone service.

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