Comment by exhaze | Hacker News Reader

Comment by exhaze | Hacker News Reader

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I'm a big fan of custom-made clothing (I'm an engineer at ThirdLove [1] - you take a picture of yourself, we figure out your measurements based on the picture, and you can buy clothes from our vertically-integrated brand based on your fit).

Maybe I'm a pretty standard size, but is there really a huge demand for custom-fitted t-shirts/henleys? Custom fit is valuable for clothing that is three-dimensional (suits/sports coats) and/or has many different fit parameters (dress shirts). For the segment of people that are interested in custom-fitted clothing, is a custom tee significantly better than an off the rack one? I guess I'll answer the question for myself - buying the $99 package.

On a side note, some feedback on your checkout process:

As a guest, when I go to check out, after I register/log in, it takes me to a referral page instead of the payments page. That was really confusing. You should be taking people straight to the payments page if you want to maximize your conversions.

[1] http://www.thirdlove.com

Thank you for the support! I wish I could return the favor!

The reality is that many people are served really well by standard sizes - but there are huge pockets of people that aren't, and that traditional retailers choose not to accommodate. We're not doing completely custom clothing eg. an all together different pattern - we'll do it, as a service if none of our sizes fit, but I think that is pretty unlikely.

What we've done is taken the most overlooked body types - tall and thin, extremely athletic (body builders etc.), and heavier-set guys that want nice shirts, and built sizes that look good on them.

That said, I DO genuinely think that our medium shirt (the size I wear) fits better than any medium I've tried before. We've had a TON of feedback to confirm this.

Great advice on the checkout forwarding. Will definitely make that change soon!

I think there is a demand for t-shirts and henleys that a certain online-savvy, fit-conscious consumer demographic perceives to be customized.

In the states, if you fall into a certain number of body types and desire properly fitting clothing your options are very limited without tailoring. For me, even clothing that is aimed at my body type doesn't fit well. I appear to be on the extreme end or simply have too high of standards.

I know I'd pay a pretty penny for just a few shirts that fit exceedingly well.

This is -exactly- why we're doing what we're doing. What is your body type, if you don't mind me asking? Would love to see where you fit in our size scale and shoot you a shirt.

Really a great idea for a business. It won't likely go upsetting the powerhouses of the clothing industry but that doesn't mean there isn't a large revenue stream to be had on those of us who fall into these areas. Millions might be small sums for said powerhouses, but it could be life-altering revenue for a nimble and focused company and it's employees.

No need to send, I plan on ordering here shortly. :)

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