Shoptrue Announces the Launch of the First Constantly Learning Fashion Marketplace that Combines AI-Driven Personal Recommendations with Taste-Driven Shopping

Shoptrue is building a one stop personal shop™, curated for you and by you

The first of its kind ecommerce platform allows shoppers to explore over 2,000 leading brands in one place, curated to their individual tastes, brands, fit, and size. Users can find inspiration from stylists, tastemakers and peers, and ultimately build and share their own Shops reflective of their personal style

NEW YORK, Nov. 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Romney Evans, tech entrepreneur who formerly co-founded True Fit, fashion's leading fit technology company, used globally by over 80M active users across nearly 20,000 brands, today announced the launch of a new company, Shoptrue, a first of its kind fashion marketplace where users can discover and purchase styles from thousands of brands in a single destination through a highly personalized shopping experience. In this new venture, Romney and his team are using their experience, insights, and unique capabilities to help match people to relevant brands and styles. Informed by a data-driven understanding of the relationship between shoppers and what they love to wear, the Shoptrue team has developed exclusive capabilities that re-insert the user into the AI curation experience, as opposed to style recommenders that rely solely on a prescriptive algorithmic approach; Shoptrue is grounded in the belief that AI should complement and enhance every part of the fashion discovery process, but not replace it. Evans tapped Condé Nast veteran and fashion tech entrepreneur Brandon Holley to serve as Chief Fashion Officer. After a celebrated career in publishing, Holley built Everywear, a software platform dedicated to better style inspiration, which has now been incorporated into Shoptrue. Evans also tapped John Lashlee, former Data Scientist for Netflix and LinkedIn, as VP of Data Science—together, Holley and Lashlee bring the duality of programmatic, data-driven curation and the authoritative editorial POV that is core to Shoptrue's differentiation in the market.

The Shoptrue experience begins with an onboarding quiz to establish baseline preferences and generate a personalized shop with an initial set of curated recommendations culled from over 2,000 brands as well as editorial content mapped to the users' interests. The quiz is just the first step on the customer journey and not a final destination. The platform is constantly learning and improving based on a variety of user interactions, product engagement, and purchase behaviors, so that over time, the user's outcomes and content will feel increasingly individualized. Shoptrue will soon have the ability to pre-filter size and fit specifications on behalf of shoppers to ensure they only see products that are available in their preferred sizing, eliminating discouraging stock outs for customers. The site's one-click, unified checkout across retailers serves to further streamline the ordering process. By making it easier for people to find only the clothes and shoes they love, Shoptrue provides a more efficient pathway for brands and retailers to acquire new, more qualified customers and supports the growing trend toward more sustainable commerce, yielding fewer returns and more deliberate purchases in a category that currently sees over 70% of returns attributed to poor fit or style¹.

"We love what wearing the right thing does to us. The moment of truth in any shopping experience is when you put something on and love the way it looks and the way it makes you feel. People and retailers alike want more of their moments of truth to be positive ones. We listened and we can help," says Romney Evans. "We invite shoppers everywhere to join us on this journey. It will take time, but today begins our rollout of an exciting stream of innovation and distinctive experiences that will make it easy to get only what you love. We aspire to delight shoppers and earn their trust as we improve their shopping experience every month and every quarter through innovation, trial and error, and by listening to their feedback."

Shoptrue is designed to empower users by inviting them into the discovery process with options to curate and share their own shops (collections), eliminate items they don't like, and build "Shops" reflective of their style, brands, fit and size. The site will exit beta in Q1 2023 with the introduction of these tastemaker and peer-generated Shops. As 97% of Gen Z consumers say they now use social media as their top source of shopping inspiration², this new function will equip users with the ability to share their curated Shops, express their style POV, and share their expertise, publicly or privately and seek out style ideas and product recommendations from stylists, influencers, and peers with the option to follow and be followed. Shoptrue will leverage its understanding of each customer's preferences and interests to serve up individualized Shop recommendations and deliver a variety of easy paths to finding something they'll love. 

"I've always been obsessed with what people wear and what inspires them to try something new. We are making it easier for people to find only the things they're going to love, and then give them the tools to organize and share their style POV with the world. Anybody's shop has the potential to set off a chain reaction of fashion inspiration that can surprise and delight you from any direction," says Brandon Holley.

In recent years, the retail industry has seen a generational shift in ecommerce shopping with online apparel and footwear sales expected to reach $800B by 2024³ and over 75% of shoppers post-Covid have tried a new shopping experience. Marketplaces will continue to play a critical role in connecting brands and merchants to consumers and new audiences, generating 67% of online revenue and representing 2x faster growth⁴ and 3x more profitability⁵ than traditional retail. Consumer trend research indicates that fashion discovery remains highly fragmented and disconnected—customers are seeking simplified, personally relevant online shopping experiences to yield more qualified purchases, and as the only marketplace destination able to curate based on style, brands, fit, and size, Shoptrue is providing a singular destination that meets the needs and behaviors of today's shopper.

Shoptrue is a fashion discovery company; the only constantly learning fashion marketplace that combines AI-driven personal recommendations with taste-driven shopping. Shoptrue gives every shopper her own one stop personal shop™, curated for you and by you; a singular destination where shoppers can explore thousands of leading brands, curated to each shopper's personal style, brands, fit, and size; get taste-driven style inspiration from stylists, tastemakers, and peers; and ultimately build and share their own shops (collections) reflective of their personal style POV. It has developed powerful insights and unique capabilities to help match people to relevant brands and styles, and change the way the world buys and sells clothes.

¹ McKinsey, 2021
² The Influencer Marketing Factory, 2021
³ Euromonitor, September 2020
⁴ Enterprise Marketplace Index by Mirakl, 2022
⁵ NYU Stern School of Business, "Margins by Sector, Globally", January 2022 & Financial database, Mirakl analysis, January 2022

SOURCE Shoptrue