If I go to Pandora and tell the Web site what music I like, Pandora will not only play my favorite tunes, but it will also recommend me some new music. Even social sharing sites like StumbleUpon depend completely on building up a knowledge database about your “likes,” before it can start feeding you constant updates that it knows you will like.
So, where’s the site that will listen to what I think about fashion and then recommend me a pair of jeans or a stylish new T-shirt?
StyleCaster, which just raised $4 million in Series A fundraising, wants to be that site.
The fashion site is built upon three fundamentals: Content, Shopping, and Community. Logging into the site, one instantly senses the Community aspect, as you are required to enter key profile information and encouraged to fill out the rest of your profile with a photo and a list of your favorite designers. A community of fashion experts and fashion lovers, the site hopes users will connect, swapping ideas for their favorite outfit.
StyleCaster wants to be the number one stop for everything fashion. In the Daily Looks section of the site, models wear put-together outfits in 360-degree images for detailed viewing. Next to the model is a breakdown of each separate piece of the outfit, which can be “Added to your closet” or “Never shown again.” Once you build up a collection of your favorite styles, StyleCaster will recommend you clothes that you’d probably like in its online store.
Rounding out the site with tons of fashion-related news and a seamless shopping experience, StyleCaster may be on its way to being a central fashion hub. Its still just starting to grow, though. The site only features content for women right now, but men’s clothing should be just around the corner.
The $4 million, invested by Quicken Loans chairman and founder Dan Gilbert, will be used to increase the site’s content alongside the creation of new applications for interacting with the site. The money will also be used to implement an advertising network, which could be StyleCaster’s solution for a quick money-maker in the site’s early stages.
