Hands up if your idea of a perfect Saturday is anything but trailing through a shopping mall to find a new pair of shoes/jeans/dress/insert other clothing item here. But that doesn’t mean you don’t like to look good and buy cool clothes. So maybe you’ve already embraced the online shopping trend, but you find this doesn’t give you everything you need. There are a host of apps that cover the whole shopping experience, from creating a look, to getting your friends opinion, to finding the best price, right through to the actual purchase.
Everdrobe: Social Wardrobe
How many times have you been shopping and you really needed advice from your friends on whether to buy or not? Or have you ever bought some clothes, got home and not been sure if the outfit is quite right? With Everdrobe: Social Wardrobe, not only can you get help from your friends, but you can also put your question out to the general public (if you dare). It’s a little like Tinder for clothes: tap green if it’s “in”, or red if it’s “out”. There are also loads of ideas that can help you create your perfect look, plus you can buy and sell clothes to and from the other fashionistas using the app.
Pose
Social shopping is where it’s at and, to harness this trend, Pose has created a community for sharing the latest fashion trends. But it’s not just mere mortals that are posting their latest looks. Celebs, stylists, and fashion journalists also chip in with their thoughts (and outfits). Not only do you have the opportunity to virtually raid the wardrobes of these stylish shoppers, you can also trade items you own for their wares.
Polyvore
If I were to describe Polyvore in a nutshell, it would a Twitter-Facebook hybrid for the shopping scene. In a similar vein to Facebook, you can like or dislike items and looks and then add these to your collections. Your choices will then be fed into the algorithm to improve the products the app recommends to you via your Twitter-style feed (which is made up of recommendations plus content from people you follow). If you’re stuck for outfit ideas, you can also ask your community for help.
Gilt
Gilt is a perfect app for designer clothes addicts on a budget. Instead of being a port of the website, Gilt is a mobile-focused product with exclusive deals that are only available in the app. The deals change daily and offer up to 70% off well-known brands. However, you do have to be dedicated (and in the right time zone) to take advantage of these offers as the sales start at 12PM ET and only last 36 hours.
Zappos
While most shoppers know Zappos for its excellent shoe shopping experience, it actually offers much more than just shoes. You can shop for clothes, bags, eye wear, jewelry, watches, and even baby stuff.
Zappos features great deals and its products have detailed descriptions to see if clothes and accessories will fit you. If it doesn’t fit or you don’t like it, Zappos has a great exchange and return policy. Shipping is also free with no minimum purchase requirement.
While other shopping apps pressure you with limited time deals, Zappos doesn’t, letting you browse for items like a traditional shopping experience (except virtually).
MYHABIT
In addition to Zappos, Amazon has its own shopping deals app for fashionistas called MYHABIT. Like Gilt, MYHABIT focuses on providing daily deals so you’ll be checking back every day. The app features sections for women, men, children, and designer brands like Fendi and Versace.
MYHABIT features a lot of designer clothing but also sells furniture as well. The featured furniture isn’t your normal IKEA stuff so expect to pay a pretty penny for design.
Rue La La
The French are a stylish lot, aren’t they? Rue La La is another app that allows you to indulge your clothes habit for less, and these sales get the jump on Gilt, starting at 11AM ET. The particular advantage of shopping with Rue La La is that it offers free shipping for the first 30 days after your purchase an item, and you can checkout in two steps instead of going through a lengthy sign up and purchasing process.
JackThreads
Guys like to shop for clothes too, but you might not realize it given that many fashion apps seem to be squarely targeted toward women. Not so JackThreads, which helps fashion-conscious men stay on trend by surfacing a daily dose of the latest trends from established brands such as Levis, as well as clothes that the company makes itself.
Wish
While Wish has been around for quite a while now, it still remains a fantastic example of how to provide a truly personalized shopping experience . In Amazon style, the idea is to create wish lists with all your favorite items that you want to buy but can’t at that point. You can create as many as you like then, instead of having to browse through the entire catalog, the app will you show you deals on items that are similar to the ones you have saved. The more you use Wish, the more the app learns about your preferences and the better (and more personalized) the shopping experience will be. The deals are excellent as well.
Snapette
Even if you’re a dedicated, tech-savvy shopper, there are some items you’d probably prefer to buy in store. Snapette is ideal for this as, not only does it allow you to buy clothes online through a brand’s website, it also uses GPS to determine your location and serve you up offers at retailers nearby. Not only that, it also connects with WiFi and beacons in store to be able to direct you to the specific area in a shop where the product you’re searching for is located. If you’re worried about deals being out of date, then you can check out the real-time information that retailers send out about offers and in-store events.
Virtual Dressing Room
While there still isn’t a proper substitute for trying on clothes in a real fitting room (or in the privacy of your own home), if you want to get a rough idea of how an item of clothing will look, Virtual Dressing Room can help. First, either take a new photo or select an existing one, then chose a category of clothing (dresses, skirts, shorts, sun glasses, earrings, etc), select an item on the list, which includes retailers such as H&M, Forever 21, and Boohoo.com, and this item will be superimposed over your body (you can reposition it if necessary).
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