I Tried Stitch Fix and Here’s What Happened

What Is Stitch Fix?

Perhaps I am the last person on the face of the earth to try Stitch Fix. But, just in case I’m not and you still haven’t tried it, I’m here to break it down and give you the 411. Let’s start with the basics. Stitch Fix is an online styling service for the entire family. They offer their service to men, women and children and carry clothing in a wide range of sizes.

How Does Stitch Fix Work?

When you schedule a Fix, a box of specially curated clothing will be shipped to your door for you to try on in the comfort of your own home. You will have three days to decide which pieces to keep and which ones to send back. Once you’ve selected the pieces from your Fix that you wish to keep, you will log in to your account and complete payment. At the time of shipment you will be charged a twenty dollar styling fee for your Fix. What’s awesome about this, is that this fee will be applied towards the purchase of any items you decide to keep. We’ll talk more about price later on. Next, you will drop the items that didn’t work into the postage paid envelope that is provided and drop the envelope off at the post office to be returned. It really is that simple!

How Do I Get Started?

Create an account

Now that you know what Stitch Fix is, let’s talk about how to get started. The very first thing you will need to do is go to the Stitch Fix website, or download their mobile app and create an account. Once your account has been successfully created you’re now ready to complete your Style Profile. Doing so requires that you take a Style Quiz, but don’t panic. There are no wrong answers and you’re guaranteed to pass with flying colors!

Style Profile

The Style Quiz is broken down into five categories and I found it to be very comprehensive. Let’s take a quick look at each category now.

Size

The first part of the quiz asks you basics such as height, weight, body type and your usual sizes. I was asked to provide the sizes that I typically wear in dresses, skirts, pants, jeans, shirts & and blouses, shoes and bras. Obviously these categories will differ for men and children.

Fit and Cut

Next up is fit and cut. Here you will provide your stylist with details regarding how you like your clothing to fit. Do you like your shirts and blouses loose or fitted? How about you bottoms? What parts of your body do like to flaunt or keep covered? And what type of rise and cut do you prefer in your jeans? These are all questions you answer to help your stylist select items you’ll love.

Style

The third section of the Style Profile seeks to gain insight about your personal taste in clothing and accessories. I was asked to rate seven different styles as either hate it, just ok, like it or love it. Here I also provided my stylist with the names of stores where I like to shop. Additionally, I answered questions about how often I dress for certain occasions (date night, work/business casual, cocktail, etc.) and how frequently I wanted my Stitch Fix selections to cater to those various occasions. I was also able to tell my stylist whether or not I wanted my Fixes to include shoes and accessories and if there were any clothing items, accessories, colors, prints or fabrics that he or she should avoid when styling me.

Price

Now let’s talk a little more about price. For me this was one of the factors that prevented me from trying Stitch Fix sooner. If you’re worried about price, don’t be. As mentioned previously there is a twenty dollar styling fee for each Fix. When you keep clothing or other items from you fix that fee is applied towards the purchase. Step four of the style profile is where you get to tell your stylist about your budget. You do so by selecting a price range varying from “the cheaper the better” to “$200+” for seven different categories including accessories, shoes, bottoms, dresses, jewelry, outer layers, tops and shoes. I especially appreciated this because I’m willing to spend more on shoes and bottoms than I am for other kinds of things such as tops and jewelry.

About You

The fifth and final category is a place for you to provide some other miscellaneous info about yourself that your stylist might find helpful such as your birth date and occupation. You can also share the links to your social media accounts like Pinterest and Instagram, if you so choose, so that your stylist can get a better idea of your personal style. Finally there is a space for you share any other information not covered in the quiz that you feel might be pertinent to your stylist.

Scheduling

After your profile is complete you are now ready to schedule your first Fix. Another thing that kept me from trying Stitch Fix sooner was that I assumed I’d have to receive a shipment every month. I found that this simply is not the case. If you’d like you certainly can receive monthly deliveries. But, if you’re like me and you just want to try it out and see if it will work you, Stitch Fix offers a manual shipment option.

Manual shipments mean that when you’re ready for a new Fix, you can simply log in to your account and schedule one. If you’re the “set it and forget it type”, then automatic deliveries is perfect you. However, even with automatic deliveries you are not required to receive a Fix each month. If you prefer less often there are every other month and every three month options and if once a month isn’t enough for you, you can schedule your Fixes to arrive every two to three weeks. Stitch Fix also offers the flexibility of skipping a shipment and canceling at any time.

I Got My Fix. Now What?

Once you receive your Fix you have three days to try on the items and try styling them with the things already in your wardrobe. Once you decide what you wish to keep, you simply log in to your account, complete payment and done! At this time you will also be asked to rate and provide feedback on all the items in the shipment. This allows your stylist to get to know you better and provide a better experience with each shipment.

My First Fix

Now that we’ve gotten all of the technical stuff out of the way, let’s get into the fun stuff, the clothes! In my first Fix I received eight items selected by my stylist, and two “extras” that were chosen by me.

• A bold, printed faux wrap dress,
• A pair of distressed skinny jeans
• A pair of printed straight leg pants
• An open knit cardigan
• A knit pullover with a curved hem
• A cuff sleeved tie front blouse
• A floral printed one pocket blouse
• A paisley printed oblong scarf

Every Fix comes with styling cards that provide outfit suggestions for each piece. This is a great little unexpected extra! I know that when I purchase any new clothing items it’s important for me that they work with things I already own. Otherwise, I find that no matter how much I love them they end up hanging in my closet with the tags still on indefinitely. These little styling cards will help you to see what items you might already own that will work with your new pieces, as well as provide ideas that might not have occurred to you otherwise.

Once I’d unboxed everything and took a minute to look through the items, I immediately got to work styling them with some of my favorite pieces to create outfits I knew I’d actually wear. Below are five outfits I created by combining things from my closet with items from my Fix.

The Looks

Knit pullover and paisley scarf

For this look I pulled together two pieces from my Fix, this purple pullover and paisley scarf, which coordinated with each other perfectly. I paired them with my favorite denim jacket and a pair of khaki colored trousers and nude flats. For a more professional and polished look you can skip the denim jacket, so technically I guess this counts as two looks!

Floral Print One Pocket Blouse

For the next look I swapped the khaki trousers for ankle pants (from my closet) in the same color and paired the same shoes and jacket with this super cute, bright yellow, floral print top from my shipment. This look will be great for transitioning into warmer weather.

Faux Wrap Knit Dress

This third look was simple. I paired the boldly patterned wrap dress with two shoe options, black flats and black stilettos to cover a variety of occasions from work, to church to special events and added and statement necklace.

Cuffed Sleeve Tie Front Blouse and Distressed Skinny Jeans

This fourth look combined two pieces from my Fix. A tie front blouse in a deep green color and a pair of light colored distressed denim. I finished this look off with my favorite pair of cheetah print loafers.

Printed Straight Leg Pants

This fifth and final look combined a pair of deep blue, printed pants from my Fix with a black sweater set and black flats from my closet. Again this is a great work wear look that’s simple, easy and polished. And I can also swap the flats for heels and quickly transform this look from casual to dressy.

Hits and Misses

When I shop for myself in store or online, there are always some hits and some misses, and this experience was no different. You may have noticed that while I received eight items, I only styled seven. One of them, a dark gray open front cardigan was an instant no, right out of the box. I knew I wouldn’t wear it so I didn’t waste time styling it. I was very skeptical about the pattern of the wrap dress, but I do love a good wrap dress so I decided to give it a try. In the end I decided that the pattern and color palette just didn’t suit my taste.

I simply adored the yellow one pocket blouse, probably because I own one that’s almost identical. So, I couldn’t justify keeping it and returned it as well. I loved the purple pullover and scarf combo and thought that they both suited my taste well. After going back and forth I decided not to keep the scarf because the price was a little more than I typically spend on accessories and I was unable to find anything else in my current wardrobe to pair it with.

That leaves the jeans, the pants and the green front tie blouse. The fit on both the denim and pants were off and the blouse was more boxy than I tend to like so they all went back as well. The two extras that I selected, black tights and a bralette were keepers.

Pass or Fail

At first glance it may seem to you that my first Fix was a fail. But for me it wasn’t. Two things that I absolutely love are new clothes and receiving packages. However, I don’t always have the time to hit the mall and the older I get the less appealing shopping malls have become. Sometimes it is difficult to find time to shop online and even then scrolling through page after page of clothing and still not finding what you want can suck all the joy right out of shopping. But having someone else choose clothes just for me and send them to my door for me to try on? Now that I can dig!

To Stitch Fix or Not to Stitch Fix?

All in all I found the Stitch Fix process to be quick, fun, and easy! Will try I Stitch Fix again? The answer is definitely! There are so many ways and opportunities to provide your input regarding the items you receive or would like to receive that I have no doubt that I’ll enjoy my next Stitch Fix experience even more than the first. I’d recommend that you give the service a try if you’ve been curious but hesitant, like me.

The only con for me was the three day turn around time. I live about a three minute drive from my local post office and I literally drive by it twice a day. Even so, I found by self bolting out of work one afternoon to make it before closing to return the items I decided not to keep. That being said I can image that this probably a bigger issue for those who don’t live next door to a post office. Now I’m curious to know, have any of you ever tried Stitch Fix before? If not, do you think you will someday? Let me know in the comments below.

Ready to sign up for your first Fix? Use my personal referral link to receive a $25 credit!

Looking for more style inspiration? Shop our closet.