Pose, a new free social fashion app for iPhone and Android, announced Tuesday that it has raised $1.6 million from True Ventures, GRP Partners, and Founder Collective, with participation from angel investors Dave Morin and Shawn Fanning.
That’s pretty interesting because a year ago both Morin (former Facebook Platform Manager) and Fanning (Napster founder) started another four-letter photo sharing company that starts with a “P”: Path. But Path is more of a bare bones social network, albeit one focused on sharing photos with a limited group of friends. Pose, on the other hand, is all about fashion.
Intended to enhance the in-store shopping experience, the mobile Pose app encourages users to photograph items while shopping; the user can then add details to the item’s entry, like price and the store where it was snapped. A single item can even have multiple photos added, if it’s important to see from different angles.
These items can then be shared with friends and family via email, Facebook or Twitter.
Pose compiles a host of feeds for users to peruse in search of style. The “Mine” feed simply aggregates the user’s submitted items and the “Everyone” and “Popular” feeds presents just what you’d expect. There’s also a special “POSErs” feed which is curated by fashion experts selected by the company, including designer Norma Kamali, celebrity stylist Melis Kuris and Lauren Sherman, the editor of Fashionista.
The app is already available for iPhone (in beta) and Pose says it’s coming to Android “soon.”
While social might be the overarching movement taking tech by storm, two of the more successful smaller niches within that would have to be fashion and photos. Pose melds these beautifully, but it’s not the first. Fashism is another photo fashion service that lets users ask each other for fashion tips by uploading photos.
As with other services that have a heavy focus on location, Pose’s business model will likely depend on partnerships with retailers.
