LONDON — Whering, an app that helps people create outfits from clothing and accessories they already own, has secured $7 million in seed funding, led by eBay Ventures and Google AI Futures Fund.
An announcement is expected Tuesday.
Whering has 10 million users worldwide, most of whom are Gen Z. They upload images of items in their closet and use the app to put together outfits, pack for travel and, in some cases, offer styling advice to one another.
The platform also gathers data about users’ habits in a bid to promote circularity, challenge people to buy less and to make their wardrobes work harder. According to Whering, 84 percent of users now wear their clothes more often, and most are buying fewer, better items. Nearly 70 percent say they have reduced fast-fashion purchases since using the app.
Whering, which has raised nearly $14 million in funding, including from the latest round, said the latest investment will support the next phase of growth.
The plan is to offer enhanced services powered by AI such as virtual try-on, increased personalization and a chatbot that offers styling advice based on variables such as the weather, or the occasion. In addition, Whering wants to be “a definitive data source” for the future of circular and personalized retail.
The site launched in 2021, and was initially inspired by the character Cher Horowitz and her virtual, mix-and-match wardrobe in the 1995 film “Clueless.”
The Whering styling app, which was inspired in part by the digital wardrobe in “Clueless.”
Chief executive officer Bianca Rangecroft said that while she loves the film, she founded the app for a variety of reasons. In an interview, Rangecroft said she struggled to get dressed in the early morning when she worked as a banker at Barclays, and later at Goldman Sachs.
“It would be 5 a.m. and all of my clothes would be thrown on the floor. I was always trying to find outfits, the stakes were high, and I kept thinking, ‘How are other women facing this challenge? What are the solutions they’re using?’” she said.
She found that her colleagues, even the top earners, were facing a similar problem. Some resorted to Google folders to track and plan their outfits, while others stored pictures of clothing combinations on their smartphones. No one had an ideal solution.
In addition, Rangecroft wanted to find a sustainable approach to getting dressed. “It became a personal journey for me, I wanted to buy less, and more in line with my values. And I wanted to see what I owned, and find new uses for my clothes and outfits. I wanted to do ‘Clueless,’ but in an ethical, circular way,” she said.
Having worked on the IPOs for Stitch Fix and Farfetch, she also learned how technology could supercharge fashion retail and marketing.
Working on those IPOs “also made me think about the data angle, and how we could ultimately leverage data to help people make better decisions about how they wear clothes, how they determine what’s worth keeping, and letting go of,” said Rangecroft.
Whering uses data to help its users to shop and dress more sustainably.
To that end, Whering will also explore resale and retail, using data to help connect Whering users with eBay and with the brands directly to make shopping as efficient as possible, and cut down on returns.
“We have access to such a vast amount of data that hasn’t existed before — not just what people buy, but what people actually wear, what they wear it with and how it makes them feel. For us, what’s next is helping people not just when they get dressed in the morning, but every time they interact with clothes, whether that’s buying, selling or styling. We have the data to do that in an incredibly personalized way,” she said.
Alexis Hoopes, vice president and global head of fashion, eBay, said the resale giant wants “to power recommerce, and empower the infrastructure that keeps fashion in rotation longer. This is exactly what Whering brings to the industry, and to closets everywhere. The fashion industry’s ‘buy, use, dispose model’ has been long overdue disruption, and with over 10 million users and digitized wardrobes, Whering is well positioned to be the catalyst.”
David Benjamin of Google AI Futures Fund said Whering’s vision for a digital, AI-powered wardrobe “that prioritizes both personal style and the planet deeply resonates with us. We are thrilled to welcome them to Google AI Futures Fund and to support their journey in redefining the future of sustainable fashion through cutting-edge technology.”
Whering users can create mood boards on the app.
Whering said its participation in GoogleAI Futures Fund will help deliver “cutting-edge technical solutions,” such as generating intelligent suggestions that adapt to a user’s mood, the weather, or an occasion.
Planned in-app launches include “enhanced,” which will automatically raise every uploaded image to a retailer-quality standard, smoothing wrinkles, adding ideal lighting and making them look like new.
Whering will also offer “gallery scanning,” which will enable users to extract and upload individual items directly from outfit photos in their camera roll; and “virtual try-on,” an addition designed to help users visualize how pieces work on their body.
