Custom clothing is one attempt to overcome the lack of size standardization in fashion, which contributes to the massive numbers of returns e-retailers face today—but attempts to scale and cut costs on the strategy have been largely unsuccessful.

Enter Los Angeles-based Sene (pronounced “seen,”), a brand with limited SKUs that makes custom clothing in the City of Angels, which thinks it has found the key to accessible fits and can defy the stereotypes of long turnaround times and sky-high prices for custom wear.

Automating the measurement and patterning process via an AI-powered online sizing program allows Sene to skip many of the traditional costs associated with custom clothing, said co-founder and CEO Ray Li. It also decreases the brand’s footprint and ensures it’s never stuck with unsold inventory.

The custom fit dream

“The only thing we hold inventory [in] is raw fabric,” Li explained. With only about 50 denim SKUs, for example, Sene buys into just three types of denim.

“For us to launch a style, we just have to shoot models in it and list it online. We don’t have to pre-manufacture anything. So it’s better for us from a business standpoint, but it’s also better for the environment, better for the consumer,” he said.

Sene isn’t the first company to try and take custom clothing mainstream with the help of technology. Take Zozotown, one of Japan’s largest e-commerce retailers, which attempted to achieve the perfect fit by sending customers a tech-adorned bodysuit that created a 3D model of their body. The Zozo suit faced an onslaught of negative reviews and sizing issues, and the company made headlines in 2019, when it canceled operations for its custom-fit clothing brand.

Claire Tasin, retail and e-commerce analyst at Morning Consult, said she herself tried out the original Zozo bodysuit several years back, and the clothes took weeks to arrive and, rather than fitting like a glove, were comically large for her.

“There’s so much potential, there’s so much possibility in the promise of custom apparel at scale,” Tasin said. “It is extraordinarily hard to produce.”

Keep reading here.—MA

Shopping for used clothing may once have been considered a pastime for a select group of devotees with a high tolerance for “thrift-store smell.” But today, it’s so fashionable that even fashion brands themselves have thrown their ready-to-re-wear hats in the ring.

• Vera Bradley, Lululemon, Tommy Hilfiger, and Madewell are among dozens of brands that have launched resale programs in the last few years.
• The resale apparel market grew 58% YoY in 2021 and will double by 2026, totalling $82 billion, according to a May report from ThredUp, the online secondhand retailer, and GlobalData.

So brisk is the market now that nearly three out of four (73%) sellers of secondhand items also purchase them, according to an August report from Recurate, a two-year-old tech startup that helps brands launch their own resale programs.

Recurate calls these buyers-slash-sellers “circulars,” and they’re apt to purchase clothing with an eye for something more traditionally associated with car and home shoppers: resale value.

And one way to hurt the resale value of clothing—especially if you’re hoping to sell it through the resale programs of brands themselves—is to alter it.

Tailor miffed: ThredUp sells on a consignment basis, with sellers sending a box or bag of clothing for free, but it directs them not to send items that are stained, smelly, stretched—or altered.

• ThredUp has partnered on resale programs with ~29 brands; these include the Gap, PacSun, and Madewell, which also state that they don’t accept altered clothing.

Unlike eBay, where shoppers may start a shopping search that is brand-agnostic with a search term like “gray polo shirt,” shoppers who go to a specific brand for resale may do so because they have found a perfect size fit with the brand.

• “From a brand-owned resale standpoint,” as Recurate's Karin Dillie, vice president of partnerships, told Retail Brew, “people are buying because they know the fit of the brand. And so they want that fit of the brand’s, like if you know you’re 32 long, you want a 32 long. You don’t want a 32 long altered slightly.”

Keep reading here.—AAN

For Marketing Brew, Ryan Barwick shares Apple’s latest investment into ad tech:

While enjoying the doldrums of summer, you might have missed that Apple—after taking a considerable whack to Facebook’s business model—is ramping up its advertising business. [...]

Right now, Apple’s ad business primarily relies on display and search ads within its App Store and its own apps. It currently brings in around $4 billion in revenue per year, according to Bloomberg.

Keep reading here.—RB

Today’s top retail reads.

Fresh blood: Several executives at major apparel brands have stepped down over the past few months, and their replacements are gearing up to usher in a new era in fashion. (Glossy)

Culture shock: Brands like JJJJound are turning to podcasts and other online communities for major collaborations that are reaching younger audiences. (Business of Fashion)

Paying off: Saks.com posted double-digit Q2 growth, and CEO Marc Metrick says it’s because of the company’s decision to split in-store and brick-and-mortar operations. “It’s liberated both channels to focus and grow as much as they possibly can,” he said. (WWD)

Learn: No matter where you are in your career, proactive leadership never goes out of style. Our Leadership Accelerator is made for the aspiring professional who’s hungry to improve. The September cohort starts soon, so sign up now before it’s full.

The numbers you need to know.

Supply-chain issues were the big theme of the 2021 holiday-shopping season. This year, it’s inflation, and that’s reflected in consumer spending expectations. About four in 10 (41%) shoppers plan on spending less this holiday season, according to a 1,000-person survey conducted by Trustpilot, a consumer-reviews platform.

Almost 30% of Americans surveyed plan to reduce spending by up to 20%; nearly 20% said they’ll cut down their spending by more than 50%.

• More than a quarter (25%) said finding money for gifts will be difficult, while 22% said they won’t be able to afford as much as they have in years past.
• 38% of respondents said they plan to spend on apparel, 30% on home goods and decor, and 31% on consumer gadgets.

However, travel is expected to take the hit over the holiday season and into 2023: Only 17% said they plan on paying for holiday travel or tourism.

Even though last year saw more empty store shelves, delayed packages, and prices starting to rise, some consumers still trust businesses to deliver, as long as they are transparent, Trustpilot notes.

• 26% of respondents anticipate their purchases will go smoothly, while 34% said they trust businesses to deliver products with the understanding there might be delays.
• Almost half (48%) said transparency around delivery times will increase trust with a business.

Catch up on the Retail Brew stories you may have missed.

• Misfits Market CEO on its acquisition of Imperfect Foods
• As the Indian luxury market heats up, international retailers interested in the country may need to follow a few ground rules
• Misfits Market debuts its first private-label line, Odds & Ends