Interactive fashion community StyleCaster has raised $4 million in Series A round of financing from investor Dan Gilbert, the chairman and founder of Quicken Loans.
Launched in February 2009, StyleCaster is a platform that hopes to be the future of online fashion. The site features style tips optimized for each individual, news and content on the latest fashion trends, a niche social network based around style, and a large online retail catalog of brand-name clothing. And the site isn’t just geared towards women—StyleCaster will soon include a community around men’s fashion.
The funding will be used to invest in content creation, web-based and mobile applications, and its advertising network. StyleCaster is an interesting take on combining an interactive community with shopping and editorial and styling content. The site blends several different experiences into the fashion-based platform, creating a one-stop-shop for fashionistas.
Who needs style when you could be a nudist?
I love this site.
My wife works for Marc Jacobs and won’t stop talking about this thing…. too bad im more of a sneaker and jeans guy.
This is a very appealing website. It will be interesting to see how their men’s community fares. I’m not that into fashion, but if I was, I think I would go here often.
It’s a very crowded category with a lot of people doing (or trying to do) the same thing — no amount of money is going to change the obstacles everybody else has had in it. I’m constantly surprised at the lack of innovation in the category. There is so much else that users in the fashion/shopping arena would respond to.
I founded the first site ever like this five years ago. More than two dozen startups playing on the concept have been launched in various formats. Most have not survived. It’d be great to see someone nail it.
Patricia, this is very insightful and we agree the space is certainly getting crowded. I believe the reason more people are entering the category is because there is a tremendous opportunity. Our focus is on creating real utility for consumers, advertisers, retailers and content producers with an engaging experience powered by intelligent technologies.
We would love to hear your ideas on how we can continue to improve the platform, please email us anytime at experience@stylecaster.com.
Boo.com Redux
Stylecaster is an addiction! It is the future of fashion.
In Fashion I think Models.com i s doing great Job.
Look Here …
http://effectiv..._Sexiest_Models
Use some of that capital to do infrastructure and technical improvements! I tried to use it for several weeks and it was so buggy and unreliable I finally gave up. Great idea though!
Groovymarlin, we completely understand. This is why we were in a Private Beta while we continued to test the system. We have applied a number of resources to our infrastructure and technical improvements to continue to enhance the experience. I would love to hear from you about what you think we can do better and anything you would like to see us develop in the future.
None of the new sites in this field take into account one’s body type, physical condition, face cut, and personality. I think David Beckham dresses up pretty good, but damn I can’t carry off his style with my body.
If it has to be personalized, it has to be personalized. That means no pictures of Mischa Barton on the front page, more pictures of Mary WhateversHerName from Ohio
Puranjay, there is a site that allows you to personalize your body type, face, hair cut. You can tryon garments on your 3D virtual model or just add pictures next to yourself. It is called My Virtual Model Community at http://www.mvm.com. It currently focuses on Women in the community but has a Male model without the community. Full disclosure, I work at My Virtual Model.
Seems like most fashion enthusiasts hop from site to site, I know I do, so having to become a member just to see content is an annoyance. Why I’d use it – maybe posting ‘likes’ to Facebook – why not implement fB Connect?
Looks like they use Polyvore to make their style collages, (also similar to the WhoWhatWear blog posts). What is it with Polyvore? The founders all have strong backgrounds, the functionality of pulling in items right off retail sites is still the gold standard. Polyvore ties in directly with retailers (business model) and the community of users is VERY strong. Even without an editorial hand they’ve built a loyal, creative fan base. I can’t wrap my mind around why they haven’t taken advantage of their strengths to build a bigger presence.
A lot of people have a problem with the way that Polyvore scrapes images and artwork without much regard to copyright etc. Many smaller artists and artisans have had their images used on Polyvore without permission.
This is a great site! We love it!
Style Caster… well, many of these comments are correct about their being many of these site on the net. I started http://www.ClosetMouse.com February 2008. 16 hours days and no end in site.
Let me know what you guys think of ClosetMouse.
Thank you.
Stylecaster is headed for the deadpool sooner or later irrespective of who their angel investor is. There are already many start-ups tackling the same market who have not made any big leaps.
Why such a grim outlook? All it takes is realizing what everyone is doing wrong and right. Then develop a fashion social commerce site that actually works. Its gotta be easy to use, highly intuitive, search friendly, great brands with great products, add a great shopping experience and then include all the “appropriate” community features. Now infuse it with an immediate 6 million uniques a month on day one launch and I think you got a winner…
At first I was really excited about Stylecaster. But I find myself logging in browsing around briefly and then leaving quickly.
It doesn’t allow much creativity for users like sites such as Polyvore and Looklet. Also it seems to center on those living and working in NYC. The clothing that is aggregated for users is shown on svelte 6ft tall models who can wear those looks easily. They should consider other body types and demographics.
I agree that the web is saturated and fashion enthusiasts tend to jump from site to site.
One question I have: other than advertising how do sites like stylecaster make money?
lead generation is huge…
One of the features that Stylecast has is the 360 degree daily fashion on both the iPhone App and on their site. 360 product presentation is the future of online shopping experience. There are online stores that have implemented multiple images and a portion of these sites offers zoom but only a few of them offers 360 product views. Study shows that online shoppers stay longer, click more, reduce returns and eliminate calls if this rich media application is used.
I think Stylecaster is a great site and with great information to share. I would like to see that they implement men’s fashion so I can get my guy to dress nicer.
.JW @ mediaspin360.com