LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Flip Fit (“Flip”) launched today with $3.75 million in Seed funding, unveiling the first social media application that enables users to receive a “fitting room in their living room” of items they specifically requested to try after seeing those items on friends and influencers they follow. Flip brings all of the best parts of the in-person shopping experience—trying on different sizes and styles, seeing what your friends think, and easy returns—into your home. Flip’s innovative social media platform is poised to transform the industry by creating a social media experience where users can find inspiration for clothes, receive fashion pieces customized to their style, and benefit from first-of-its-kind peer validation as friends help users decide what to buy. The goal is to ensure that people purchase only what they will actually use. The Seed round was led by TLV Partners with participation from Lool Ventures.
Merging e-Commerce with Social Media
Flip’s Social Shopping platform blends the power of social media with the buying appeal of e-commerce. Customers receive pieces of clothing based on their preferences, likes and interactions. The fitting room is flipped into the living room, where they try on everything and share photos on the Flip social platform to get a thumbs up or down from friends on what looks best.
“Fashion shopping has always been a social experience,” said Nooruldeen Agha, co-founder and co-CEO of Flip. "The decision for today’s shoppers to buy happens once they receive validation from friends and family, but e-commerce has made shopping very isolating. We are connecting the social behaviors of shopping, which were previously only possible offline, with a virtual experience. Flip is embracing the physiological aspect of decision-making with a technology that is unprecedented in this space. We are excited to build a social media community at the center of fashion shopping."
Through the Flip social application, users receive inspiration for what fashion items they want to try on by flipping through photos of what other users are trying on. One of the essential elements of the Flip platform is the ability to share your new looks with friends to help you make your buying decisions. While providing support through voting (in a TikTok/Tinder fashion) yes or no for their community in their “try to buy” decision process, users are able to also request similar items to try on in the comfort of their homes. These social interactions within the platform help the company determine style preferences. Users will be rewarded with credit they can spend on new clothes for bringing their friends onto the platform ($10 for each new voting user) and for each vote they give ($1 for each yes or no vote).
“Flip is the evolution of social media and e-commerce – birthing the baby of Instagram and Amazon and creating the first physical product marketplace where your likes and actions impact the products you receive,” said Rona Segev, general partner at TLV Partners.
Revolutionizing Returns
Flip is also revolutionizing the issue of retail returns, by accepting it as a fact of shopping and implementing it as part of the business model. For Flip, returns are the default.
In today’s retail climate, returns account for 50 percent of items purchased in the US – and amount to a cost of $350 billion a year with 5 billion pounds winding up annually in landfills in the US alone. This is coupled with the fact that over 50 percent of people don’t return products because the return experience is too cumbersome – making this truly a $700 billion problem.
Flip is making the return experience seamless. The box includes a pre-printed return label and customers can choose exactly when they want UPS to come to their door and pick it up.
“Returns are our default. While the rest of the industry is fighting this phenomena, we are leaning into it,” said Jonathan Ellman, co-founder and co-CEO of Flip. “Almost half of all fashion shoppers bracket their online purchases, buying several pieces to try on at home with the intention of returning what doesn’t fit or what doesn’t match what they saw online. We believe returns should be as easy as the purchase and by making the shopping process more efficient and effective, we’re keeping clothes out of landfills and in your closet.”
Flip is working with more than 100 of the top denim and t-shirt brands across the US, including AG, JBrand, Hudson, Retrobrand, Boyish, MadeWorn, Junkfood, Mavi and Edwin.
About Flip Fit
Flip Fit is the first-of-its-kind Social Shopping platform, creating a “fitting room in your living room.” Users receive several pieces and sizes to choose from and easily return – at no cost – the pieces they don’t like. Shoppers also receive much-needed peer validation through the Flip Fit social platform which encourages interaction among users to determine which pieces look best and to curate the virtual closets of users. The goal is to enable customers to buy only what they will actually use. Please visit the company at http://flipfit.com or on Instagram @MyFlipFit.
Flip Fit Founders
Flip Fit is founded by Nooruldeen “Noor” Agha and Jonathan Ellman, two serial entrepreneurs with multiple successful exits under their belt. Noor is an Iraqi Arab and was raised throughout the Middle East. Jonathan, born in South Africa and raised in the USA, immigrated to Israel to serve in the Israeli Air Force. Together they are on a unique mission to flip the fashion industry and clothe the world.
