StylistPick appoints ex-Marie Claire editor as co-founder before competitors turn up the heat
by Steve O'Hear
on May 9, 2011

As the competition looks set to turn up the heat, StylistPick, the fashion buying site backed by Accel Partners and Index Ventures, has appointed ex-UK editor of Marie Claire, Juliet Warkentin, as Chief Creative Officer and Co-Founder.

Most recently, Warkentin was Content Director at style trend analysis firm WGSN, while prior to this she has also held the role of Internet director at Arcadia Group (Burton, Dorothy Perkins, Evans, Miss Selfridge, Topshop and Wallis).

Founded in 2010 and originally seed-funded by Stefan Glaenzer and Robert Dighero of White Bear Yard, and Index Seed, Stylistpick is a fashion buying website for shoe and accessory shoppers but with a neat twist to the buying club model: Customers signup to StylistPick and are asked to take a short quiz to “identify their fashion profile”. Then each month they receive tailored recommendations for fashion items such as shoes and bags via a monthly-subscription, which includes the items themselves.

It’s also a model that is strikingly similar to Shoedazzle in the U.S., which is funded to the tune of $23 million and is also said to be planning on entering the UK later this year, while the infamous Samwer Brothers are thought to be cloning the subscription model, possibly via their existing property Zalando, a European Zappos clone. That’s perhaps not surprising: the shoe market in the UK alone is estimated to be worth £8 billion ($13 million) per-year. On that note, StylistPick membership is said to be doubling month-on-month, although the company doesn’t say what that figure is.

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  • http://twitter.com/PaulH Paul Henriques

    How can you ‘appoint’ someone as a “co-founder” a year after the company launches?

  • http://twitter.com/sohear Steve O’Hear

    I suspect it reflects their status within the company and, specifically, the equity they hold. That’s how it usually works when the co-founder title is applied in retrospect.

  • http://twitter.com/katiec Katie

    A great sign to see fashion startups with these kinds of innovative models springing up in the traditionally risk-averse EU consumer space.

  • http://twitter.com/IqbalGandham Iqbal

    So how much equity does she hold ?

  • Doug M

    Good luck to her and StylistPick – although I have to say that is an odd (and misleading) job title to use for someone who comes in after a big Series A/B.

  • Doug M

    £8 billion = $13 million. That explains a lot.

  • Sonny

     This will be a great test. Stylist Pick is obviously a copy of shoedazzle.  We always hear how U.S startups are better etc. Now if a U.K company with the same model, which is funded, with a headstart in its home market gets beaten by a U.S competitor then that will surely reinforce the notion that American startups/tech companies are better at executing, more aggressive etc.

  • http://discountcodehq.co.uk Leo

    37signals appointed DHH a sort of co-founder after a few years in business. If what they bring to the game is valuable enough then it makes sense.

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