True Fit, a Massachusetts-based startup that helps apparel shoppers online by comparing fit data from brands with the items in the closet, has passed 5 million users with profiles on their service and raised $15 million for further expansion.
The startup’s Discovery Engine compares fit data sourced from 1,500 brands and retailers and anonymized transaction data to determine what clothing and shoe shoppers actually keep and return after buying.
When a user goes to a site using True Fit, like Macy’s or Nordstrom, they’ll see an option to create a True Fit profile. If they open the prompt, they’ll be asked a few questions about items in their closet related to the page they’re on that CEO Bill Adler says take about 30 seconds to answer.
Once you have a basic profile set up, True Fit will provide a recommendation regarding which size of the item will fit you best. As you use the profile across other retailers and apparel categories, it gets a better idea what will fit and what you’ll like (hence the Pandora-like “Discovery Engine” naming for its database).
“If a retailer sent you 100 items in your size , you’re still going to return most of them,” True Fit CEO Bill Adler said. “On average, we only wear 20-25% of what’s in our closets.” Adler says that his company’s recommendations, along with improving sales conversions for its retail partners by reducing hesitation over size, help shoppers pick items they’ll actually continue to wear because they match their style.
The recent holiday shopping season was big for True Fit. While it passed 5 million users in 2014, 1.2 million of them were added during the last few months, and the startup is now adding about 150-200,000 users per week. Thanks to its momentum, True Fit completed a $15M growth equity round this fall led by Signal Peak Ventures, Promus Ventures, Jump Capital, with participation from existing investors Guggenheim Partners, Breakaway Ventures and Novel TMT.
True Fit isn’t the only player in the fit-data recommendations space with big news recently. Last month, long-time competitors Fits.me and Clothing Horse (who built virtual dressing rooms and a similar big-data recommendation service, respectively) merged to take on the space by combining their approaches.
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