Is Stitch Fix Worth it? A Review
If you listen to any podcasts or watch youtube, you’ll probably get an ad for some clothing subscription service. Stitch Fix was founded in 2011 and has generated over $1 billion in revenue. It is the clothing subscription service I think of first, compared to a Trunk Club or Le Tote, which came about later. My friend is a big fan of Stitch Fix, so she was able to send me a referral code worth $100, so I gave it a shot.
After completing a profile, I went through a ten to 15 minute quiz where I click on different outfits that fit my style and individual pieces that I like or don’t like. I also input a dollar range for what I liked to spend on tops or pants.
Below, is what I received in my first box. All the items were over $50 and I ended up keeping the pants, as I can wear those to work. The rest of the items I thought were kind of bland. The black sweater had promise, but I really did not like the way that it fit. The box came with a prepaid plastic bag to ship everything back you don’t want to keep and you must mail back your unwanted items within three days of delivery or you will be charged for the full items. So my $100 referral code went towards the $58 pants and I didn’t have to pay anything. There is always a $25 styling fee in every box and that $25 can go towards any item you keep, but if you don’t keep anything you still are out the money.
You can adjust how often you receive these boxes from frequently to very infrequently. I feel that this kind of service encourages lukewarm buying, because you feel like you should keep something because you already have it and you will pay $25 no matter way. I enjoyed getting my box, but without the referral code, I don’t think I would do it again.
Pros
- Convenient – ships right to your house and a return bag included
- Something different – it is exciting to get a package with new clothes that you don’t know what they are
- Forces you to try something new
Cons
- Expensive – the clothes I was sent were rather pricey and I didn’t really love them
- Encourages luke-warm buying – it is much easier to keep the items already at your house than to return them
- Forget to return – if you miss your return window, you’re on the hook for all of the clothes
