For some, the Instagram Outfit of the Day is a big deal – the #OOTD is a hashtag that links, at the time of writing, to 199,466,186 posts on the social sharing site. In fact, it’s a big enough deal to some shoppers that a trend has arisen where grown adults (often men) are shopping online to find that perfect #OOTD, only to order it, wear it once and then return it after it has served its purpose.
But other than triggering questionable ethics in shoppers’ behavior, the Outfit of the Day has also inspired a new kind of eCommerce experience, care of the emerging brand Choosy.
As the web’s newest competitor in the ongoing rush of the fashion hunger games, Choosy has set its sights on the coveted outfits of the Instagram features, designing its offerings to make those fashions much more accessible and searchable than they’ve ever been. Why admire it on Instagram when you can buy one of your own?
In fact, if you think about it, given the prevalence of returning those outfits of the day, Choosy might increase the likelihood of someone seeing and actually owning the ensemble, as opposed to the person who originally rented and modeled it.
Choosy aims to bring outfits from users’ feeds – or at least reasonably good facsimiles of them –directly to their doors. The concept, according to the team, is to make it easier and more pleasurable – for people of all sizes and levels of wealth – to shop the latest trends. The ideology is that just because the outfit of the day doesn’t quite match up with a potential buyer’s figure or checking account balance, that doesn’t mean something equally fabulous can’t be conjured up – someone just needs to do the conjuring.
Choosy is hoping to be that entity.
Stocking sizes from 0-20 with a price point always below $100, Choosy hopes to keep all of the on-trend materials on hand that an Instathusiast might want. When the shopper is scrolling Instagram and spots an outfit they want to make their own, they can then tag the post “#GetChoosy.
The GetChoosy hashtag is essentially the site’s equivalent of the bat signal: Once the consumer throws it up, the firm’s team of “Style Scouts” works with its AI system to search the comment section of the post to find out which items in the particular #OOTD people are most interested in. Depending on where the heat is, Choosy will then make that coveted look available on their own site within 48 hours.
All in, Choosy aims to show off five new style pieces per week, all influenced by what the social webs are tossing up in terms of celebrity and influencer fashion. But, of course, shoppers have to act quite fast: As soon as a customer orders her pieces, Choosy will design and ship at that specific volume, usually delivering within two weeks. The good news is there’s no waste, because they have no inventory – they more or less make fashion items on demand. But for shoppers, the race is to the swift: Once the order period is closed, so is access to that fashion item.
There is a question as to whether what Choosy is doing constitutes, well, stealing – particularly of other brands’ designs, though Choosy doesn’t see it that way.
“Choosy is absolutely not copying designs — they identify popular silhouettes (i.e. silk pants, bomber jacket, pleated skirt), and they have an in-house design team that creates styles inspired by what their shoppers are loving,” a representative shared. “Their styles are a direct response to their customers being inspired by a certain silhouette, and their designers pay expert attention to fit, as their styles need to fit women sizes 0-20. They have an entire team of seasoned designers whose roles are to create, not copy.”
Still, there is a thin line between creatively paying homage and just outright copying. After all, Choosy’s value proposition largely rests on successfully imitating coveted Instagram items. If the imitation isn’t close enough, those choosy buyers will likely take a pass.
Logistically speaking, Choosy is currently available in the U.S., and is offering free shipping for a limited time. Customers have 14 days to experiment with their clothes before they can no longer return them.