The Trunk Club For Men: Now Start

Most men hate to shop. It takes way too much time, we are out of our
element, and we end up getting really dorky clothes because we feel
like not buying something is an admission of failure. Online shopping

is better, but most of us would rather browse through cameras, Web
phones, and computers than shirts and chinos (at least I would). Enter
the Trunk Club, a new way to shop online.

The Trunk Club gives men their own personal shopper via Skype video
sessions who try to figure out what kind of clothes they wear, what is
lacking in their wardrobe, and what kind of clothes they might be
willing to try. (These are real people, not virtual personal shoppers
like Covet). Then they put together about nine different pieces of
apparel and send it to the customer in a FedEx box. Once a man (the
service is only for men) gets his "trunk" of clothes, he tries them on
via another Skype session (he is supposed to change off camera, but I
am sure some perv customers will "forget"), give his feedback to his
personal shopper, and then decide which ones to keep. He can return
any or all of the clothes at no expense to him. He only pays for what
he keeps.

The business model is the same as a retail store. The Trunk Club buys
clothing at wholesale and sells it at a normal retail markup. Except
that the company has deals with clothing manufacturers which doesn't
require it to buy any minimum inventory. In fact, there is no
inventory. Clothes only gets shipped when there is a customer who
needs a particular item. It is not a discount service. But the
personal shoppers come for free (thanks to Skype and the Internet).
Customers don't pay anything extra for them as they would in a fancy
department store. The personal shoppers get a commission based on how
much clothes they sell. And the men who are its customers never have
to step foot in a store again.

I went through a mock session with one personal shopper from the Trunk
Club, Lisa Bruckner. She was very personable and it was fun talking to
her. I told her what kind of clothes I wear (jeans or suits, depending
on where I am going), what is missing in my closet (polo shirts for
summer), my measurements, and other details. Normally, she would then
have a box of clothes sent to me and then we would have more back and
forth on Skype to fine tune the selection process. But since I was on
deadline, I asked her just to send me pictures of what she would have
sent (see below). Of the nine items she sent, maybe of three of them
are things I would actually buy. I'm not really a $48 T-Shirt kind of
guy. The Hugo Boss dress shirt looks decent, the Penguin Polo, and the
pants. But that orange Polo just wouldn't fly in New York. I was
hoping for better results, but then I am really picky. Also, my wife
(who has final say in what I am allowed to wear out the door) was not
a fan of the selection, and didn't like the idea of another woman
picking out clothes for me. But she likes shopping, so she doesn't see
the appeal of the service. I am sure that with a little back and forth
Lisa would soon be able to hone into my quirky style.

The part I don't like about the service is that you don't get to see
what your personal shopper picked for you until it arrives in the
mail. I guess there is an element of surprise akin to opening up a
present, but you really have to trust your personal shopper to know
what you want. At least initially, it would make more sense for there
to be some back and forth digitally between the customer and the
personal shopper (with the personal shopper presenting a few ideas and
then narrowing them down quickly).

The other problem the Trunk Club is going to have to deal with is men
who sign up not because they want to spend $572 for a box of clothes,
but just because they are lonely and want to talk to a woman over
video Skype. (All the personal shoppers are attractive women). There
is a whole perv element that these personal shoppers are going to have
to learn to deal with, but all they need to do is hang up and block
those men from Skype.

The Trunk Club was started by Joanna Van Vleck, a personal stylist who
opened up a showroom for her clients in Bend, Oregon. She was planning
to open up retail outlets across teh country where men could come in
for their personal shopping sessions, but her angel investor backed
out after the economy tanked. By necessity, she turned to the Skype
model and only needed $50,000 in angel capital to get going. She has
been in private beta with about 600 customers for the past six months.
She now has 21 shopping experst working on commission, and is adding 5
to 6 every month. The Trunk Club's hybrid approach is both high touch
and scalable at the same time. I wouldn't be surprised if we see more
retail concepts like this spring up in different categories, with real
people helping you make a buying decision over Web video.