[Galaco]

I'm a fashion nerd. I've been working on an outfit tracking app for the last ~4 years (but only really pushed hard on it the last 3 months). I found I kept buying clothes that I never ended up wearing. Either because they didn't fit with what I had, I already had something like it, or it simply wasn't my actual style (although I thought it was). So, I built my own with the simple goal of buying less clothes, and throwing away fewer clothes.

There are plenty of apps that do outfit tracking, with some basic stats. But they all have a few or more of these shortcomings (from my perspective); unpleasant UI, no cross device syncing, lack of detailed usage statistics (e.g. cost spread over time by garment category), some categories just not supported, pushing a specific lifestyle such as Capsule Closets, or just plain focused on recommending what to wear using some mediocre algorithm that doesn't understand cuts and how different pieces fit together; basically only suitable for capsule collections.

These apps all have a lot of downsides too in common, which I haven't been able to solve either yet; ultimately you must start with an inventory of your clothes, and then work from there. It takes ages to catalog and import your clothes, and I haven't found many existing product that lets you export if you've even done it before. And on top of that, you have to be quite rigorous at tracking what you wear; the more data you have the more insight you can get from your choices.

I finally published on iOS a couple of months ago. No traction, and I don't expect there to be. I won't argue that my offering is better than any of the competition, but I've tried most of them (and wasted colossal amounts of time onboarding onto them) and found none fit my need properly. It's still very much work in progress, but I find myself reaching for it multiple times per week to inform my purchasing habits.

https://procloset.app

[someothherguyy]

How do you monetize something that is based on a trait that most lack (vanity)?

[Galaco]

To me, vanity is only tangential to the purchasing of clothes, particularly fast fashion, where 'it looks good on the model' is often enough to part with money, not 'will it look good on me', or 'do I need it', which are often never even considered, surprisingly. The individual thinking they will look good is actually not always a factor; it can be a kind of addiction. Source comes from my previous employer (fast fashion related industry).

This app doesn't directly answer those questions, but it gives the data needed to stop and think about the answer (quickly). I don't consider myself a vain person, but I consider myself a person who makes poor decisions with their disposable income (fashion).

The main selling point would be this: You could avoid buying 2 shirts that will be unused then thrown away every year, for the cost of 1 shirt. Save money, and textile waste.

But also, why must everything be profitable? I most I could ever hope for is that the hosting costs are paid for.

[idk1]

I'll just hop in and say I enjoy putting outfits togther, it's fun, it's creative. I don't think of myself as vain, it's more like interior design, it's fun to put things togther that I find pleasent to look at.

[azthecx]

Like the entirety of the fashion industry one may assume