Stripes is a personal tailoring service that has connected consumers to tailors in the offline space, through technology. They just announced series A Investment from Smilegate Ventures, in a funding round worth $1 million.

This is not a new concept and there are dozens of similar services across the world. In fact a friend of mine struck upon the idea around fifteen years ago back in London. What Stripes has though, is first mover advantage in the Korean market, a market that is highly fashion conscious.

How Does It Work?

Customers use the website or mobile app to arrange an appointment for someone to come and take their vital measurements. Then all they have to do is wait for their tailored shirts to be delivered in the post.

This is a great example of the conversion of the offline and online worlds that is occurring at speed I Korea. While Stripes currently only offers shirts, they intend to use the funding to expand their range. Additionally they plan immediate geographical expansion, first concentrating on dominating the Korean market before looking overseas.

Stripes was launched in April 2013. To date the company has served 10k customers, with 50% returning for follow-up order within 6 months. The company has also shown a strong ability to scale, increasing orders by 70% per quarter since founding.

A spokesman from Smilegate said of the investment: “In the past in Korea male fashion has only been offline, But Sripes has been able to bring the offline experience to online.”

Seungjoon Lee, CEO of Stripes added “From this investment we will focus on further customization and expansion of our service offerings, and customer service.”

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