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(In)Validate my idea: Bombfell - Dress well without the knowhow

bombfell.com

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Re: (In)Validate my idea: Bombfell - Dress well without the knowhow

#21

Post by bernieyoo »

mitali wrote: post #12

(from a woman who shops a LOT): mens shirt and pants sizes are fairly standard - thats a good thing for this business. As long as you collect ppl's sizes, most things should fit. I would also consider having a style-determinant upfront. Like: do you want to look like mark zuckerberg, larry ellison, or sergey brin for example if geeks are your target audience (if not, use celebs.) at least this will generally put the…

Thanks for the feedback! Great idea.

Our thought is that there's value-add in having a fashion-aware person pick out clothes for you - so in your H&M example, for someone like me simply knowing the brand isn't enough, I would appreciate someone picking out specific shirts or pants from H&M. I also typically only go shopping once a year, so not having to shop would be a big convenience.

Re: (In)Validate my idea: Bombfell - Dress well without the knowhow

#22

Post by jbrun »

Interesting idea, but a lot of open ended questions and returns galore. My friend tried to do a tailor made shirt business with the stuff made in China - failed too many returns and touch-ups.

I am doing something a bit similar, but we do more data gathering. http://www.makeyourgirlfriendhappy.com

My friend runs a shop where they take a photo of you in front of a standardized grid, which allows them to know your size automatically - this could probably be done with your site.

Re: (In)Validate my idea: Bombfell - Dress well without the knowhow

#23

Post by NickPollard »

mitali wrote: post #12

(from a woman who shops a LOT): mens shirt and pants sizes are fairly standard - thats a good thing for this business. As long as you collect ppl's sizes, most things should fit. I would also consider having a style-determinant upfront. Like: do you want to look like mark zuckerberg, larry ellison, or sergey brin for example if geeks are your target audience (if not, use celebs.) at least this will generally put the…

Men's shirt and pants sizes aren't really that standard - in the UK at least, all we have is waist size and inside leg for pants, and neck size for shirts (or S/M/L/XL for T-shirts).

The actual cut of men's clothes can vary a lot, and as a programmer who has recently become a lot more interested in clothing and style, I can tell you right now the number one thing that makes clothes look good is fit.

Anyone here who is wanting to improve their wardrobe, you don't need to buy anything fancy, any special materials or designer labels, just get something that fits. This doesn't just mean that it's big enough to put on without squeezing you, or small enough that it's not draping like a tent, but that it is the right size in all dimensions. Check for things like how wide the shoulders are, how tight the sleeves, length of the sleeve, length of the body, and any tapering.

Just comparing something like a plain-black Tee from various high street retailers in the UK, some will fit you much better than others, dependent on your body shape.

Re: (In)Validate my idea: Bombfell - Dress well without the knowhow

#24

Post by bernieyoo »

zdw wrote: post #15
bernieyoo wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is definitely a big open question - we're planning to allow for users to input their measurements so that it should fit reasonably well, but we could be misjudging how picky our target demo would be regarding exactly how well it should fit.

Two things that could help: - Zappos-esque customer friendly return policy, if it doesn't bankrupt you. - If a return is required, make it easy to report why - for example, on a pants return, have a picture of the pants, and sliders for the waist, length, inseam, etc. that go from "too small" to "too large". - use past fit information to tweak what kind of clothes are sent out to that person in the future. - Another…

Awesome - thanks for the suggestions!

We are planning to offer Zappos-style return policy, as long as it doesn't bankrupt us :)

Meaning you want the exact same article of clothing once it wears out?

Re: (In)Validate my idea: Bombfell - Dress well without the knowhow

#25

Post by mitali »

bernieyoo wrote: post #21
mitali wrote: post #12

(from a woman who shops a LOT): mens shirt and pants sizes are fairly standard - thats a good thing for this business. As long as you collect ppl's sizes, most things should fit. I would also consider having a style-determinant upfront. Like: do you want to look like mark zuckerberg, larry ellison, or sergey brin for example if geeks are your target audience (if not, use celebs.) at least this will generally put the…

Thanks for the feedback! Great idea. Our thought is that there's value-add in having a fashion-aware person pick out clothes for you - so in your H&M example, for someone like me simply knowing the brand isn't enough, I would appreciate someone picking out specific shirts or pants from H&M. I also typically only go shopping once a year, so not having to shop would be a big convenience.

i definitely see value in someone else picking clothes out for ppl who either hate to go shopping or dont have any sense of style. one other idea for you - you should combine this with a secret shopper business. brands will actually pay people to shop as "customers" in their stores so they collect feedback on how their employees behave, if the store was organized etc. i used to do this in college. your shoppers could also be secret shoppers - thats an extra revenue channel for you while they are out buying geeks their clothes! we should talk btw if you want to do this for real: mitalip AT gmail

Re: (In)Validate my idea: Bombfell - Dress well without the knowhow

#26

Post by bernieyoo »

jbrun wrote: post #22

Interesting idea, but a lot of open ended questions and returns galore. My friend tried to do a tailor made shirt business with the stuff made in China - failed too many returns and touch-ups. I am doing something a bit similar, but we do more data gathering. http://www.makeyourgirlfriendhappy.com My friend runs a shop where they take a photo of you in front of a standardized grid, which allows them to know your size…

Ha! "The Art of Sexting". Brilliant.

What type of return levels are you seeing sending gifts to the girlfriends?

What's the name of your friend's shop with the standardized grid?

Re: (In)Validate my idea: Bombfell - Dress well without the knowhow

#27

Post by bretthopper »

zdw wrote: post #17
bretthopper wrote: post #10

My biggest complaint is "female-approved". Since when do only females know what looks good? That's not a selling point for me at all. Would make me less likely to use this service.

Ah, so you want the Queer Eye version?

No, I'd rather have it like Trunk Club where it's just "stylists" or whatever.

I think we all have some friend that dresses terribly because their girlfriend/wife buys everything for them.

Re: (In)Validate my idea: Bombfell - Dress well without the knowhow

#28

Post by tansey »

The main issue for me would be trusting the female approving the shirt. I suppose you could have a collection of people, each with a portfolio, but it's a bit of a catch 22: I have to pick a woman whose taste I like, but I am only using the service because I have poor taste in fashion.

One way around that would be to simply have a "style" that people want to fit. I might know if I live in NYC that I want the "Wall St" style; SF might be "Hip Startup". Being an engineer, it's much easier to classify objective goals than subjective tastes. If I have to look at a bunch of profiles saying "I go for a casual, slightly-preppy look with the right amount of professionalism"-- I am not going to know what that means.

Re: (In)Validate my idea: Bombfell - Dress well without the knowhow

#29

Post by bernieyoo »

tansey wrote: post #28

The main issue for me would be trusting the female approving the shirt. I suppose you could have a collection of people, each with a portfolio, but it's a bit of a catch 22: I have to pick a woman whose taste I like, but I am only using the service because I have poor taste in fashion. One way around that would be to simply have a "style" that people want to fit. I might know if I live in NYC that I want the "Wall St…

Great - that's the type of "style" categories we're thinking of. Our goal is to try to minimize effort and our hunch is your suggestion is the right way to go.

Re: (In)Validate my idea: Bombfell - Dress well without the knowhow

#30

Post by bernieyoo »

peterwwillis wrote: post #6

My $0.02: I don't like the idea of ordering something which I have no idea if I will like (not that I can tell if that would happen as there's not much information). And if the point is to just find clothes that females approve of I can go on some women's fashion forum and ask them directly, then go find it in the store and try it on.

Fair points, our thinking is that this service would be geared to men who don't want to put in the effort described above - the value add would be the convenience of not having to dig around asking for opinions, and not having to go to the store and shop.

We are planning to try offering Zappos-style return policy and watch how the economics work out.

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