Tested: My-wardrobe’s ‘try-before-you-buy’ my-dressing room service
As the multi-brand etail market continues to evolve, the originators have their work cut out. How to keep attracting new customers in the face of increased competition? How to tackle the issues of fit and returns? How to differentiate from all the copycats out there? And how to deliver an outstanding service to keep customers coming back?
My-wardrobe.com has a new service that aims to tackle some of these concerns and I was asked to try it out.* As I’m easily put off online shopping by time consuming returns processes, this one had instant appeal.
The service is called my-dressing room and is offered to My-wardrobe’s Silver, Gold and Black tier members. It’s a try-before-you-buy idea which lets you order a number of items, have them shipped to you free of charge, and only once you have decided what to keep do you get billed. You receive an email a couple of days later asking what you’re keeping and the remainder gets picked up by courier, also free of charge.
I know that a lot of people choose online shopping so they can try things on in the comfort of their own home, with their own things. They will frequently order six dresses, knowing they’ll only keep one. Or they’ll order the same item in several sizes so they can settle on the best fitting one. So forking out £500 when you only plan to spend £100 can be a pain, especially when you factor in the time it sometimes takes to get refunded.
To test the Black tier service, I’d planned to pick out a few statement pieces from my-wardrobe’s London Lab designers. But much as I admire J.W. Anderson, Meadham Kirchhoff et al, I don’t have much use for crystal hairslides and origami dresses right now.
So back to my comfort zone I went, adding white shirts, cashmere knits and chunky boots to my ‘dressing room’. I chose two types of Acne boot, a black Pistol boot (always fancied a pair) and a higher Colt boot in a lush oxblood shade (exclusive to My-Wardrobe). I also fell for a pair of salmon pink Paul Smith brogues – a beautiful summer shoe to wear with slim cream Joseph trousers (which I also ordered). Well, I guess I’d wear them if I lived somewhere reliably sunny like Tuscany, but in rainy west London, my common sense got the better of me. (Clearly however, some disagreed…)
Also in my dressing room went a Helmut Lang snake-print leather sweatshirt and a 3.1 Phillip Lim grey marl cropped sweatshirt. Of those two the Lim was perfect in every way except the cut was just a tad too boxy for my frame. A Carven white shirt was also on the roomy side and I decided I could live without the Carven cuff and Maria Francesca Pepe set of rings…for now.
So what did I keep? I was utterly thrilled with the Acne Colt boots. I know I’ll wear them to death as they’ll take a few knocks without looking too shabby too soon. At 100cm, the heel is high (for me) but chunky enough not to teeter and the cut hugs the ankle so you feel supported. My other keep was an Equipment bottle green cashmere crew neck. This is a classic cut in a rich colour which for some reason is never easy to find. Like my Equipment shirts, if I’m happy with this I’ll be repeat buying.
After mulling over my choices overnight I boxed up my returns and emailed My-wardrobe who gave me a time slot for my courier pickup. My credit card will only be charged for the items I kept and the overall experience is one of being thoroughly pampered. But while this service is certainly useful for customers, it’s not all altruism on the part of my-wardrobe. Do I detect some clever psychology at play? Once you have something desirable in your possession, it can be very hard to let it go, so although I’d been allotted a budget, I naturally found myself going over it. I mean, the goods are here, they’re super useful, they fit perfectly, I may as well keep them, right? And if I, the cautious, virgoan, methodical shopper can be seduced that easily then anyone can.
All things considered, I’d say that giving customers a free pass to play dress up with more items than they might really need is a canny move from My-wardrobe. But as a service, my-dresing room is a great reward for time-poor My-wardrobe loyalists who want a convenient way to shop online with all the tedious elements taken care of.
For more information on My-wardrobe’s my-dressing room, click here.
ABOVE, LEFT TO RIGHT, TOP TO BOTTOM:
Acne Colt boots; Helmut Lang leather top; Carven shirt; Equipment cashmere sweater; 3.1 Phillip Lim crop sweatshirt; Paul Smith brogues
*Discosure: For the purpose of this review, I was given a budget to shop with by My-wardrobe