For years my shaving routine went a little something like this: hop in the shower, begrudgingly run a cheap disposable razor over my legs, nick myself two or three times, rinse, and repeat. Because my hair is so thick and long, I’d have to shave frequently, and it always felt like a time suck.
Eventually I turned to waxing, but that was far from ideal too. It hurts, you have to go a whole week with hairy legs before your appointment, and it’s more expensive. But such was life for me until I recently moved apartments, and on top of having to find a convenient drugstore and new go-to delivery spot, I also realized it meant I needed to find a new waxer I could trust. (If you’ve ever gotten a wax, you know it’s as intimate—maybe even more so—as finding a therapist you jive with.)
Not sure where to even begin, I decided it’d just be easier to travel for a good wax. But then something caught my eye on the way to my appointment: A pink and purple sign that said, “Hi, Hello. We’re Billie.”
I’d heard a lot about Billie, the female-first subscription-based shave brand that made cute, affordable razors and body products, but I’d never thought of giving it a try until then. I made a split decision to cancel my appointment and ordered the $9 Billie Starter Kit instead. It included a Billie handle in millennial pink (although the brand offers six colors including lime green and navy blue), a magnetic holder, and two five-blade razor cartridges. I added in a bottle of its The Shave Cream for an additional $8.
The kit came in the mail, packaged in a highly Instagrammable box. Of course, as a millennial, I’m a sucker for great branding. But Billie goes beyond just looking aesthetically pleasing. Its cheery colors and pro-body hair messaging makes the thought of shaving feel like less of a chore. Like Glossier makes a nightly skin care routine something to look forward to, Billie sparks joy in the mundane task of shaving your legs (or whatever else you want gone).
Beside the color, the first thing I noticed about the razor was its matte-rubber core handle, which makes it easy to grip. I’m a clumsy person and it’s not unusual for me to leave the shower with nicks and bruises, so this was much-appreciated touch. (Apparently, industrial designers helped weigh in on the design. Who knew?) The blades are also incredible. They’re probably the sharpest blade I’ve ever encountered outside a men’s razor, but they go so smoothly over my skin. I think a lot of that also had to do with the shaving cream, made with aloe vera, sage, shea butter, and grapefruit. Not only does the scent smell like a fancy spa, it helps the razor glide softly over your skin, leaving no trace of razor burn or small cuts behind. Your basic body wash could never.
How it works: Adore Me is mostly known for its lingerie sets, but it also offers size-inclusive swimwear. There are multiple ways to shop on the site. You can pick whatever you want, whenever, like a traditional e-commerce store. Or, you can sign up for VIP and have a “showroom” curated for you every month, with lingerie and swimsuit options based on the style quiz you take. (With that, you get $10 off every set you buy, and the sixth set is free, but if you don’t go to the showroom before the 5th of the month to select or skip, you’re charged a $39.95 fee that can be used as a credit towards a future purchase.) But wait, there’s more: VIP Elite is a free styling subscription service in which someone curates three sets (in lingerie and swim) for you; you have one week to try on or mail back, and you get VIP $10 off pricing for every set. The latter two are curated based on your style quiz and items that you favorite in a closet on the website. If you forget to mail things back, you’re charged in full after 30 days, so best to try them on as soon as you receive, since you’re only given a week with the items.
What I asked for: My “favorited” suits were mostly underwire two-pieces with high-waisted bottoms. I let my stylist know that I wanted my chest to look good, first and foremost. I liked that with Adore Me, I could select a bra size and bottom size separately, so it was more likely that I’d find that perfect fit. I ended up “favoriting” a lot more than three swimsuits, so it would still be a surprise what I ended up with. I was a little stressed by the hold on my credit card and confusion between VIP and VIP Elite and whether I’d be locked into this membership, but excited by the mix of styles the site offered.
Did I find my perfect suit? The first box I got from Adore Me was actually lingerie, by accident. They sent me two swimsuit boxes to choose from after, and out of the lot, I loved two one-pieces, even though I was pretty gung-ho about getting a two-piece. Having a long torso, one-pieces often hit me awkwardly, especially with an underwire. One plunging neckline suit with absolutely no support somehow made me look and feel great: I wasn’t pushed up and properly held in, but I felt secure enough that I could jump into a pool and not make a bigger splash than I meant to. Another had a cold shoulder made of a lacy mesh situation and more of a shelf bra than an underwire, which was more comfortable and covered my upper arms.
I found sizing up to 3X rather than 2X worked for one-pieces, but sticking to 2X was okay for bottoms on two-pieces. I loved how high-waisted the latter were, and might keep the bottoms and return the tops, which, again, even at bra sizes didn’t hold me in or support me as much as I wanted. None that I received were longline either, and I was uncomfortable with the amount of skin showing. (Maybe one day I’ll be a bikini girl, but not this summer.) I think if I used Adore Me again, I’d go for VIP and not the curated Elite boxes—I didn’t have an incredible enough experience with a stylist to want someone to work with me every month, and I definitely don’t need new lingerie or swimsuits monthly. But the idea of a showroom being curated for me to choose from at my leisure (and with an alarm set for the 5th of the month to remind me to skip if I don’t!), I could see myself picking out pieces, whether for the pool or just to feel good about myself. Because we could all use a little confidence boost once in a while.
My 2018 resolution was to not buy any new clothes for an entire year. I gave myself four “hall passes”—for weddings, special occasions, or absolute must-buys—and made it through the year with only a few slip-ups. So as 2019 approached, I was thinking about all the clothes I wanted to add to my closet, but my wallet doth protest too much. I issued myself a new challenge, with the help of my Glamour editor: Try four monthly plus-size clothing subscription boxes, which would let me test out clothes before committing to buying.
I don’t have the luxury of walking into any store and being able to wear whatever’s in stock—many stores I like only go up to size 12 or 16, and I hover between an 18 and 20. Because of that, I’ve always been a little trigger-happy with online shopping. I’ve gotten to know my sizing at these sites, like ASOS, quite well. I had heard about a lot of clothing subscription boxes for everything from underwear to workout clothes, but most are available in straight sizes only. Now more options specifically for plus-size women are out there and they’re generating a lot of buzz.
Dia & Co., a subscription box specifically for plus sizes, has secured a reported $95 million in funding, and has staged events at New York Fashion Week. (It’s where I first checked out their clothing, during a fashion show at plus-size convention CurvyCon.) Stitch Fix, one of the most successful of subscription services, expanded into plus in 2017. To me, these services felt like a more curated version of online shopping, with a prepaid label to return anything that I didn’t want. So I decided it was time to give it a shot.
I tried Dia & Co., Stitch Fix, Stylogic, and Gwynnie Bee. Which one is best? It depends on what you’re looking for. Below, some tips for making the most of your subscription.
For $20 a month, you can hire a personal stylist with Stitch Fix, which has clothes for men and women in a wide range of sizes (XS-3X, 0-24W, petite, and maternity) and for kids. This “styling fee” is credited toward anything you buy from your box, so, in a way, if you like what you’re sent and want to keep it, the stylist is free.
When you begin, you take a style profile quiz, which covers the basics like height and weight, but also dives into certain measurements (I marked long torso, short legs, average shoulders); preferred and hated cuts; fits, patterns, and styles for different types of clothing; examples of specific outfits you’d actually wear; and, of course, budget. There are also Tinder-style “style shuffles” that pop up, where you can thumbs up or thumbs down different items to decide if they match with your style.
About a week later, a Stitch Fix stylist is assigned to you. They’ll select five items, and ship them to you. Once you get your box, you have three days to decide what you want to keep, exchange (for a different size, not a different item) or return. Brands include Calvin Klein, Eloquii, Karl Lagerfeld Paris, Madewell, Vince Camuto, and Nike, plus some exclusive collections. The stylists will also curate basics (camisoles, shapewear, underwear, tights, bralettes, bras, socks, and sleepwear) from brands like Hanky Panky, Cosabella, and in-house brand Everyday by Stitch Fix that you can add onto your order.
One of the biggest trends from the last few years wasn’t a type of hemline or a specific color, but rather a marked change in the way shoppers acquire their clothes. Increasingly, people aren’t buying, they’re renting.
Rent the Runway (with its “unlimited” monthly service) and Stitch Fix (itself a $3 billion business) are the Goliaths paving the way. Jennifer Hyman, co-founder of Rent the Runway, frequently points out how the American woman buys sixty-eight items of clothing year, some of which they never end up wearing. (According to the company, the subscription part of its business has grown 150 percent year over year since it launched in 2016.)
“Social media has created an atmosphere in which, yeah, you could wear the same thing twice, but you’d rather not,” Rachel Saunders, strategy director of retail strategy firm Cassandra, tells Glamour. “So how do you do that without spending a fortune? It’s all contributed to this idea that it’s okay to share clothes with strangers.”
Allied Market Research estimates the clothing rental market will reach $1.856 billion in global value by 2023, with more and more players in the game, like Le Tote and Gwynnie Bee. Naturally, individual brands—ones you’d normally shop at their stand-alone stores or at a mall—now want a piece of that pie, especially as brick-and-mortar shopping continues to decline.
Classic workwear purveyor Ann Taylor, fashion-forward brand Vince, and even trend-focused label Express have all launched subscription services over the last few months that allow shoppers to test a curated selection of pieces at home before either buying their favorites and sending back the rest (and then being replenished with different options.) Many of these ventures are being managed by the same company: New York-based CaaStle, which seems to have a lock on the back-end management of fashion subscriptions, at least for now.
This new development in fashion subscription boxes, cutting out the third party, begs a lot of questions for shoppers. Are these services really worth it when weighed against buying clothes outright? How easy is the rental process, really? How good is the selection? And does this mean the end of shopping as we know it?
We weighed five of the big brand options (all of which, coincidentally, are being managed CaaStle) to see how they stack up, what’s worth it, and what’s not. These might be early adopters, but judging by where the industry is growing, it’s likely you’ll see even more of your favorites jump into this space over the course of 2019.
PHOTO: Courtesy of Vince
Known for its minimal but still fashion-forward pieces, Vince enters the subscription game with Vince Unfold. To get started you create a virtual closet with at least ten items (though, it’s recommended that you add over 24), from which the brand creates your first box. Each shipment comes with four pieces. When you’re done with it, you send it back and get four new ones in a brand-new box.
The biggest difference between Vince Unfold and other brand-specific subscription boxes comes down to one thing: inventory. Vince is much more high-end than other single labels dipping their toes in this market, with most pieces featuring three-figure price tags—think silk tank dresses ($345), shaggy bear coats ($695), and oversized cashmere cardigans ($495.)
Price: $160 a month. You can exchange your four-item box an unlimited number of times, but you must return your whole box to do so. If you want to keep a piece that you’re renting, you can purchase it at a discount, between 20 and 60 percent off.
Pros: Vince clothes are gorgeous and luxurious, which means that every single item that comes in your box can easily be mixed and matched with whatever’s in your wardrobe. Additionally, the selection of products is pretty vast. You’ll get tons of mileage out of these clothes.
Cons: The price point is high, especially when you weigh it against Rent the Runway’s unlimited offering (which has Vince on its roster.) Also, you can’t return pieces individually, only as a whole box; and you don’t pick what you’re getting in each shipment.
TL; DR: While this subscription still makes sense from a cost-benefit standpoint if you’re a big fan of Vince, the fine print could be improved. Try it here.
PHOTO: Courtesy of Ann Taylor.
Infinite Style by Ann Taylor lets you rent three pieces from Ann Taylor (excluding Loft and Lou & Grey) at once. You have to select a minimum of eight pieces to add to a queue. It takes about three days to process and another two days to ship; you find out exactly which items from your edit are being shipped to you in an e-mail with tracking information for your package.
Where Ann Taylor’s service really shines is in its abundance of workwear. At the moment, you can rent pieces like houndstooth ankle pants (which retail for $98), a tweed sheath dress ($159), and a sequin fringe jacket ($129.)
Price: $95 a month. You can return the complete box for a new one as many times as you’d like throughout the month.
Pros: This is one of the best subscription box options out there if you need a big rotating closet of professional clothing. Plus, you get the option of buying clothes you’ve already rented for 60 to 70 percent off.
Cons: Given the higher price tag compared to comparable services, you have to really love the Ann Taylor look. You also have to return a complete box in order to get sent new product.
TL; DR: This is a solid solution to the what-to-wear-to-wear problem, with some casual attire and cocktail looks thrown in, too. Try it here.
PHOTO: Courtesy of Express.
Called the Express Style Trial, this service allows shoppers to rent three items from the brand at a time for $69.95 a month. There’s a pretty big range of merchandise to choose from, all of which appears to be current season—a striped jumpsuit (which retails for $79.90), a faux-leather-trimmed shift dress (also $79.90), and a satin maxi dress ($88.)
“We see Style Trial as an complement to our e-commerce and store business, allowing our customers to engage with fashion and experiment with new styles and trends that she may not otherwise invest in,” Jim Hilt, Executive Vice President and Chief Customer Experience Officer at Express, tells Glamour. “It provides our customer with easy access to the latest trends, as well as an ongoing rotation of staple pieces at a fraction of the prices.”
To begin renting, you have to add at least eight items to a virtual closet (though it’s recommended that you add around 20.) From that selection, Express creates a box of three pieces to send to you. You can prioritize what you want, through a feature that promises “we’ll try to ship those first.” But once you’re done with those first three, you can ship everything back, and Express will dispatch a box with new product. You can do this as many times as you want. Per Express’ estimates, a super-active user could have 12 different pieces a month (or four boxes); an average user, meanwhile, would probably have about nine (or three boxes.)
Price: $69.95 a month. You can cancel the subscription at any time, and you can return your boxes to exchange for new items as frequently as you like.
Pros: The price, definitely—if you’re already a big fan of Express, you can maximize the amount of returns that you do throughout the month to get the most product.
Cons: The work-appropriate options are on the limited side (in general, the offerings are much better suited for casual wear), if you need to replenish that part of your wardrobe, specifically. Because of the way that Express builds its subscription boxes, you don’t select the exact items that end up in your shipment—rather, the brand picks from which of your pre-selected favorites are available. You also can’t cancel your subscription directly online, only over the phone.
TL; DR: If you are already a big Express shopper, the cost benefit of this is pretty great. Try it here.
PHOTO: Courtesy of Rebecca Taylor.
Rebecca Taylor’s foray into subscription boxes, RNTD, is comparable to Rent the Runway Unlimited in price—Both are $159 a month. The brand grants you access to a rotating closet with four items at any given time; you must add at least 10 pieces to a queue, from which Rebecca Taylor then puts together your shipment.
“The pricing was meant to be realistic and attainable for our customer,” says Janice Sullivan, President of Rebecca Taylor. In other words: It’s hoping this service opens Rebecca Taylor up to a new shopper who otherwise couldn’t afford to constantly and consistently buy its pieces. And the “new arrivals” section has a solid mix of Rebecca Taylor’s signature dresses as well as some of its more trend-forward garments: a silk embroidered ruffle dress ($395), high-waisted plaid pants ($395), and a laminated navy trench coat ($1,295.)
“I think consumers value options, the option to rent, to own, to lend, to resell—as a brand you want to move with her and be there on every level that makes sense,” Sullivan adds.
Price: $159 a month. You get four pieces per shipment, and you can send the box back for new items as often as you’d like.
Pros: It’s hard to not love Rebecca Taylor. And while a closet full of its pieces has long been out of reach for most shoppers, it’s suddenly much more accessible.
Cons: Like with Vince, you can’t return individual pieces to get new ones—only the full shipment. That’s really what sets it apart from Rent the Runway Unlimited, which carries Rebecca Taylor.
TL; DR: You’d have a pretty dreamy rotating wardrobe. You just have to love or let go of everything you get as a bundle. Try it here.
PHOTO: Courtesy of New York & Co.
New York & Co.’s NY&Company Closet is one of the most affordable subscription boxes out there, charging $49.95 a month for three items at a time from the brand—return them all, and receive a new selection in the mail.
This offering has a great mix of both work and weekend clothes, making it one of the most versatile single-brand subscription boxes. That being said, it’s one brand—so you have to like the aesthetic to begin with. On offer are pieces like a leopard sweater dress ($74.95), a red striped blazer ($79.95), and houndstooth wide leg pants ($79.95.)
Price: $49.95 a month. You get three items at a time; you can return the full box for new product as many times as you like.
Pros: You definitely get a lot of bang for your buck with this one.
Cons: The unpredictability of not getting to choose exactly what comes in your shipment isn’t ideal.
TL; DR: This is a great value subscription service for someone who wants to test-drive this method of shopping. Try it here.
For many professional women, getting dressed for the office can feel like a job unto itself. Though one might prefer a pair of frayed jeans to a formfitting pencil skirt, the former might not be considered appropriate for most workplaces—and so we find ourselves needing to upkeep two separate wardrobes. (This is despite reports that, across industries, the American office is skewing towardmore casual dress.) In recent years, a slew of new personalized box shopping services have come in to help their customers navigate all the different categories of workwear—business formal, business professional, business casual, and so on. Despite being easily grouped together because of their comparable missions to take the work out of finding workwear, each of these company tackles this very issue in a distinct way—and to varying degrees of success.
The MM.LaFleur Bento Box, for instance, is all about its mix-and-match work clothes; Stitch Fix, meanwhile, pairs its customers with a stylist who selects a curated selection of items depending on how much a shopper wants to spend; Le Tote, then, allows shoppers to rent clothing and accessories on a rotating basis for a single monthly fee.
There’s big business in this model, for this specific market. StitchFix, Inc., which filed for an IPO last year, reported almost $1 billion in sales in 2017, according to Forbes; during the 2016 fiscal year, it made $730 million in revenue, per The New York Times. MM.LaFleur, meanwhile, was expected to rake in $70 million in 2017, according to Inc.
But how well do these women’s clothing subscription boxes really stack up in terms of fulfilling our workwear needs, really? Is the way we shop for fashion a thing of the past? Will these services become the new normal for personal style? There’s only one way to find out: I put these three very different options to the test and laid out the pros and cons of each service. Hopefully, it’ll help you decide which one (if any) is right for you.
MM.LaFleur Bento Box
I have been hearing nonstop from friends in corporate jobs about MM.LaFleur and its Bento Box, which, while explicitly marketed as “not a subscription service,” operates by following a similar format, sending a shopper a curated selection of pieces from its inventory (which can be purchased at any time individually) to try on at home and charging them only for the pieces they keep. It was described to me as being the saving grace for working women—so, naturally, I was excited to see its clothes up close and in person.
First, to get your personalized Bento Box, which consists of an assortment of work staples, you have to answer a few questions, including some about your office dress code. After a handful of clicks, I was done, and my Bento Box was in the works. It arrived at my doorstep just a few days later.
Like many folks out there (my friends working corporate gigs included), I know how difficult it can be to shop for clothes that are “professional” in a traditional sense, especially as fashion trends have skewed toward the more casual. So I was pleased to find options in my Bento Box that made me say to myself, “Finally!” My shipment included a scarf (a must-have for anyone who works a desk job in an office with aggressive air conditioning in the summer), two dresses, a black-and-white skirt, a black top, and a knit jacket. Though I pretty much liked everything in my Bento Box, there were two clear standouts for me: the Taylor sheath dress in green (which retails for $265) and the Woolf knit jacket (priced at $195). All of MM.LaFleur’s pieces come in a range of sizes, from petite to plus. (The full range is from 0 to 22.)
After deciding what I wanted to keep and what I didn’t (each Bento Box comes with between four to six items), I put my returns in a prepaid envelope to send back to MM.LaFleur HQ. Easy.
Price: Prices for each of the items in any given Bento Box range from $110 for a top to $325 for a dress. You have four days to return the pieces you don’t want to keep, and shipping is free both ways. If you don’t keep anything from the box, you are charged $25—so it’s not exactly a “subscription box,” since you order each Bento Box individually, but there’s still a fee attached to each shipment.
Pros: For women who are in need of proper business attire but are short on time, this is, by far, one of the best options around. There’s a lot to love about their offerings, which reflect an impressive amount of market research on the part of the brand’s design team. Plus, it’s a service that really gets the style demands of working professionals. I liked that my Bento Box included items I never would’ve thought to buy on my own (such as the knit jacket that ended up being one of my favorites) but loved as soon as I tried them on. The inclusive size range is also a point in MM.LaFleur’s favor.
Cons: The clothes aren’t cheap by any means—if anything, I would classify them as entry-level investment pieces. You probably won’t be able to afford to buy the whole box in one shot, unless you like to shop for a whole season rather than by trend. The $25 fee for deciding against buying anything is also something to consider.
TL;DR: In need of traditionally-professional attire in a pinch? Try MM.LaFleur.
Stitch Fix
Stitch Fix opens with another fun quiz, which homes in on my style likes and dislikes. It took a few weeks after I registered for my box to arrive, which to me felt like a pretty long time (ah, what has the prospect of same-day drone delivery done to us?).
Out of these three services, Stitch Fix has what can be described as a cult following, according to the deep rabbit hole of reviews I went down while researching the company. Its customers have taken to showing off their hauls—or “fixes”—on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. When my box arrived, I could sense a definite boho theme. But the stylist assigned to me clearly listened to the notes sent with my quiz, as my favorite style of jeans, a pair of high-rise distressed jeans that retail for $98, were in my delivery. Another favorite from this shipment was a dress by the label Misa Los Angeles, priced at $224, which I envisioned wearing with everything from boots to sandals immediately. To be frank, I didn’t love everything that came in my Stitch Fix box, but none of the pieces was terrible by any means.
Stitch Fix comes out to $20 a box (a “styling fee,” as the company calls it), and though they’re sent out monthly, shoppers don’t have to order one each time. Users specify preferences for everything from size and budget to lifestyle.
Price: Like I mentioned, Stitch Fix charges $20 for a curated box, the price of which gets deducted from what you ultimately decide to keep. Within each shipment, prices vary; in my delivery, pieces ranged from $28 (for a necklace) to $224 (for a dress). Luckily, customers can select their preferred budget level for the box before ordering—that way, shoppers can also decide how often they’d like to receive their “fix.”
Pros: Consider Stitch Fix the friend you cautiously text for approval every time you want to buy something: There were a lot of fun things in this delivery that I don’t think I ever would’ve found on my own, so I appreciated the nudge in the right direction. The price range for my edit of pieces was also solid, with everything under $250. Plus, sizes go up to a 24. Another nice bonus: If you like the way you work with a specific stylist on a few “fixes,” you can have that person be your go-to for all future boxes.
Cons: This is pretty standard for subscription boxes, but annoying nonetheless: Even if you don’t like anything that your Stitch Fix stylist picks out for you, you’re still on the hook for that $20 styling fee. Overall, I thought the clothes in my shipment were better suited for weekend wear than for a 9-to-5—though, if you work in a casual environment, that’s probably not an issue. And, again, don’t expect instant gratification: My box took a few weeks to be delivered.
TL;DR: If you’re looking to dip your toes in the women’s clothing subscription box pool, start with StitchFix, since it’s so customizable at a relatively low cost.
Le Tote
For a monthly fee, Le Tote rents customers everyday clothes from brands like BCBG, Free People, and Plenty by Tracy Reese. You get a few items at a time, which can then be traded in for new pieces whenever you’re done with them. In 2015 the company announced it would launch a version of its box specifically for maternity wear. Most recently it collaborated with Olivia Culpo on a capsule.
A few days before my box was slated to arrive, I got a text from Le Tote asking me to put items into an online bag. I got on right away, adding a Vince Camuto off-the-shoulder dress (very of-the-moment) to my edit, along with a few other picks. To my surprise, though, when I actually received my shipment a few days later, none of my selections was in it. Instead, I got a simple black cotton skirt, a teal T-shirt, a white and black button-down (in an extra small when I’m more of a large), and a lightweight knit sweater—which, honestly, was the only thing in the Le Tote that I would wear.
Price: Monthly memberships at Le Tote start at $69 a box, with members allowed to keep a rotating selection of two clothing items and one piece of jewelry at a time—previously, they started at was $39, so when I tried it, I picked a mid-tier $59 option, which delivered four pieces as part of my shipment.
Pros: Seeing as I spend about that much on coffee each month, Le Tote’s monthly fee feels pretty affordable. Plus, I love the eco-friendly aspect of its business model, of the idea of sharing clothing. The box comes in a prepaid envelope, and returning items is a very easy process.
Cons: For someone who loves to shop as much as I do, the idea of spending a set amount of money every month to be granted access to what was, essentially, a huge rotating closet sounded pretty great—so I really wanted to love this service. But, despite the enticing price point, I didn’t want to wear most of what came in my Le Tote. I felt like I would be better off just buying one item a month at Zara for the price of the monthly fee. After stalking online reviews for the service, though, I found out that many people feel more satisfied with their deliveries as time goes on and Le Tote better learns their taste. But that first impression, though, wasn’t too memorable for me.
TL;DR: It may take a while, but give Le Tote a chance for a subscription box that feels in line with what you already own and like to wear.
