Stitch Fix review: Can the personal shopping service satisfy a tricky customer?
WHEN I’ve told people I know that I’ve been writing a Stitch Fix review, the most common reaction has been one of surprise.
I’m notoriously difficult when it comes to fashion: people who know me well gave up trying to buy me clothes long ago. I know what I like – be that brands, colours, fabric, fits, trends – and I’m not the type to wear something just because it was a gift. It also doesn’t help that I have expensive taste.
That means that Stitch Fix, a personal shopping subscription service that connects you with stylists and sends you a box of garments based on their recommendations, should be my worst nightmare. However, I was keen to find out whether or not it could satisfy my fickle fancies.
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Overall rating: 4/5
Pros:
- A sense that stylists actually care about what they send you
- Easy delivery and returns
- Introduces you to brands you wouldn’t have considered otherwise
- Flexible subscription
Cons:
- Encourages bad environmental practice
- Not great if you’re looking to make a statement
Stitch Fix review: quick summary
In short, I was very pleasantly surprised by Stitch Fix. To be honest, I don’t think I’m its target audience: I’m strongly opinionated about what I wear and very interested in fashion.
However, when I tried the service, I was in a rut with my personal style, and Stitch Fix helped me to explore a couple of new avenues I wouldn’t have considered myself.
While it hasn’t really helped me add statement pieces or further explore my personal style, I now have a strong foundation of basic items in my wardrobe, as well as some pieces I now love that I wouldn’t have thought to buy myself.
While the process of setting up your account is admittedly long, it helps you create an extremely nailed-down personal profile, and once it’s completed Stitch Fix is a useful and surprisingly fun service to be part of.
I loved its Tinder-style swipe system, which helps educate its algorithm and even further hone your style profile (and doesn’t contain any of the self-hatred of actual dating apps).
The fixes are impressively flexible: I had two, and the first time round I left it largely to the stylist’s discretion, while the second time I asked for clothes meeting more specific requirements. It’s also great that you can review and request changes to the stylist’s picks before they’re sent to you, which avoids disappointment upon opening the box.
I was very happy with the clothes that arrived – although I got the impression that the stylist had avoided taking too many risks, it didn’t feel impersonal thanks to a note included in the box in which the stylist explains their picks. I didn’t return any of the pieces from my first fix, and kept a good amount of the second.
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Stitch Fix review: full review
What is Stitch Fix?
I’d like to talk – briefly, I promise – about the 2011 cinematic tour de force Crazy, Stupid, Love. In case you haven’t seen it (you should): Steve Carell plays Cal, a middle-aged man who has stopped caring about his appearance, prompting his wife (the incomparable Julianne Moore) to cheat on and promptly leave him.
Enter Ryan Gosling’s Jacob, a handsome lothario who takes it upon himself to transform the newly single Cal from a divorced dad wearing Gap jeans and New Balances (this is before New Balances were cool) to an eligible silver fox. Cue two hours of laughs, heart-warming moments and topless Ryan Gosling.
Going into this review, to my mind, Stitch Fix was basically Ryan Gosling: a personal stylist whose magic would definitely work best on newly divorced men. I was not expecting it to particularly help me, a 25-year old whose main interest is fashion.
Setting up your account
When you first set up your Stitch Fix account, you’ll be asked a number of questions that allow the stylists to get to know you: Do you enjoy shopping? How much time do you spend thinking about outfits? What’s your body type?
The questions are exhaustive, and require you to put aside your ego (scrolling over “athletic” and selecting “big” when entering my body type wasn’t the highlight of my month), but it’s worth your time: all the information helps the stylist get a feel for the kind of person you are, your tastes and your budget, as well as making sure that they avoid any of your fashion no-gos.
Another thing that helps Stitch Fix paint a more detailed picture of your tastes is “Style Shuffle”, a Tinder-esque system that allows you to swipe left or right on outfits and clothes. To be honest, I probably derive more pleasure from swiping though Style Shuffle than I do swiping through Tinder - it’s lower stakes, and much better for your ego.
Ordering a Fix
When you order your fix, you can either leave it all up to your stylist’s discretion, or leave them a note explaining what events you have coming up, or what you’re missing in your wardrobe. For my first fix, I largely left it up to the stylist, who in turn came up with a good selection of items, and for my second fix I specifically asked for clothes for a summer holiday.
Before the Fix is delivered, you have the opportunity to look through your stylist’s selections, flag the ones you don’t like and request changes. For example, when my stylist suggested a pair of mesh trainers, I said I liked the silhouette but would prefer them in leather. When I opened the box, the mesh pair had been dutifully replaced with a leather pair that I’ve been wearing ever since.
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Alongside my new favourite pair of trainers, which I’ve been wearing with everything from shorts to suits, there were four other items: a navy long-sleeved polo shirt, a yellow hoodie and two pairs of shorts.
I kept everything from the first Fix: the polo has been great for the office, the hoodie has been a new WFH staple and the shorts were extremely useful on the holiday I managed to sneak off on in September.
There were a few things I was mightily impressed with upon receiving the box. Firstly, I liked that the package itself wasn’t too big. I know that might sound super boring, but when you live in a small flat, having a huge empty cardboard box lying around until recycling day can be a bit of a pain. Instead, the clothes are all neatly packed into a fairly small bundle.
Secondly, the selection of brands available to Stitch Fix’s stylists is immense. The service has a couple of in-house brands, which initially made me a bit cynical, thinking that they’d try and force an abundance of their in-house-brand clothes into my wardrobe. However, I only got one recommendation that was an in-house brand — a pair of shorts — and I ended up keeping them.
There are some established and respected names like Superga and Tommy Hilfiger on Stitch Fix’s roster, too, as well as some brands that you may not have heard of; I got a lovely pair of swim shorts included in my second fix from a brand called Samsoe & Samsoe that I’d only discovered a few months previously. That’s quite an achievement when a large portion of your job essentially comprises clothes shopping.
And finally, one of the main things I noticed is how invested every stylist seems to be in your fix. Despite the fact each does a number of fixes per day, there seems to be a high level of investment on their part. Every time you receive a fix, there’s a note attached from the Stylist, explaining why they chose the pieces in the box and how to pair them.
And at a Stitch Fix event a few months ago, the stylist who did my Fix remembered me; I think she may have even asked how my holiday was. Granted, she may have known while she was arranging my Fix that I’m a journalist reviewing the service, but it’s impressive nevertheless.
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Returning a Fix
It’s unlikely that you’ll want to keep all items from your Fix, for a number of reasons: what one brand calls a large can be drastically different to another; you might find that an item doesn’t look as good on as it does in the pictures; or you might just plain hate the clothes.
However, Stitch Fix does offer 20% off the price of a Fix if you keep all the items, which you can make work to your advantage. You have seven days to decide what you’d like to return, meaning that you’re not rushed into making a decision.
Once you have made your mind up, you simply go online to choose which items you’re going to be sending back, pop them back in the box and return them to whichever courier delivered them to begin with.
This brings me to one of my main qualms with Stitch Fix, though: is the model of being sent a load of clothes, just to return some, most or even all of them encouraging bad environmental practice? I understand that it’s especially convenient in an era full of trepidation about in-person shopping, but it doesn’t feel like something we should encourage as a long-term replacement.
I’m not saying that Stitch Fix constitutes what has come to be called “bracketing”, i.e. buying clothes in several colours and sizes knowing that you’ll return some of them, but it does contribute to unnecessary carbon emissions.
When I put this to Stitch Fix, it said that its team of human stylists and sophisticated algorithm work together to create a Fix tailored exactly to each individual, minimising the need for returns — and while it’s not a perfect system, I must admit that I kept most of the clothes I was sent, and, as I’ve said already, it can’t be emphasised enough how picky I am.
How much is Stitch Fix?
Stitch Fix doesn’t charge you a monthly subscription cost, and shipping and returns are both free.
There is a £10 “styling” cost per fix, although you’ll only end up actually paying this if you spend less than £10 on clothes, as it’s taken off the cost of any clothes you choose to purchase. It’s more akin to a deposit, really.
Then there’s the actual cost of the clothes. When you’re setting up your account, Stitch Fix will ask you how much you feel comfortable spending on various items of clothing, meaning that you’re unlikely to pay anything too far outside of your comfort zone, and it carries plenty of well priced brands. However, if the urge to splurge does overtake you, there's some luxury options. too.
And to make things slightly cheaper, Stitch Fix has a referral scheme — if you refer a friend, both of you get £15 in credit.
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Stitch Fix review: the verdict
I’m still not convinced that I’m the ideal customer for Stitch Fix. I like to think that I’m closer to the Ryan Gosling character (if only sartorially) in this dragged-out Crazy, Stupid Love metaphor than I am Steve Carell.
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However, I was surprised and impressed with how much the clothes I was sent have integrated themselves into my wardrobe. My favourite pair of trainers and one of my favourite work tops both came from the service, and I don’t think its target demographic is as narrow as I first thought.
It’s handy even if you just want to try something new, are stuck in a rut, or simply can’t be bothered to shop for your own work clothes.