Fashion’s Unexpected Data Treasure Troves

Data is gold for fashion brands — and now, there’s more places than ever to get it.

Shoppers’ journeys from interest piqued to purchase vary: They may find a product in a Substack newsletter, reach out to a fashion sourcer via Instagram DM to secure an in-demand item or tap their way to checkout after watching a video on TikTok. With more hands helping fashion’s most discerning consumers shop, they’re also gleaning information about what consumers want and how they’re buying it.

Inadvertently, this new generation of fashion brokers — luxury sourcers, shopping Substackers, stylists, Instagram tastemakers and more — have built little troves of consumer data. Many believe what they have access to is different than what’s already available and what brands can capture on their own because of their unique understanding of demand, intimacy with their carefully built audiences and birds’ eye-view of ebbs and flow of demand across brands, categories, and even between current season and vintage.

“Beyond e-commerce players and department stores who see what’s selling out, there’s a much broader pool of contributors at play now,” said Erica Wright, founder of the UK-based sourcing app Sourcewhere, which expanded to the US last year. “For brands taking all of that into account can be overwhelming …[but] it’s a way to build a bigger picture apart from just seeing trends and predictions.”

This information presents a business opportunity for these figures — though they’re still determining how best to use it. While brands have always been hungry for shoppers’ data, increasingly, there’s a growing appetite among consumers, too, fueled by a confusing, fast-moving trend cycle and a desire to make smart purchasing decisions. These data holders are testing ways to engage both: rolling out reports to satisfy their own audiences as well as building out strategies for working with brands.

“Being able to graph things out, especially when things move so quickly, is helpful to contextualise and visualise all the craziness in fashion,” said Madé Lapuerta, who runs the Instagram account Data but Make It Fashion, which analyses fashion trends using Lapuerta’s own method and counts 500,000 followers. “Talking about data and fashion and fashion tech is becoming more mainstream.”

What Shoppers Really Want

Digitally-savvy fashion voices with unique views on what shoppers want are figuring out ways to harness that information more formally.

Sourcers, who find rare items requested by clients, are one group looking to monetise their insights. Because sourcers act based on demand, they have a sharp view of what shoppers want (and are willing to pay a premium on) rather than what’s bubbling up on social media, what’s selling at retail or what people are searching for without real intent to buy, said Wright. That’s valuable information — with applications in forecasting and product and buying strategy — especially at a time many brands and retailers are feeling the pinch of uncertainty, she added.

They’re testing out different ways to do so: Gab Waller, for instance, known for her ability to find sold-out Alaia flats and Chanel bags, launched Sourced By, an app that aids and tracks the work of other sourcers, last year, and is currently preparing her first report showcasing Sourced By’s insights in hopes of connecting with brands.

The data also gives them a leg up in working with brands, even if it’s not providing it directly. Stylist and wardrobe consultant Allison Bornstein, for example, uses her understanding of shoppers’ pain points in getting dressed, gained through her popular virtual styling sessions (she estimates she’s done 25 a week since 2020) to work with brands on content, events for top shoppers and training salespeople on how to use styling to sell clothes.

“I have the information on what people want … When you’re in the fashion industry, you don’t know what all is happening, boots on the ground,” said Bornstein, adding she knows what consumers already have in their closets, what they’re getting rid of and how they approach shopping.

A community, particularly on Substack, can provide valuable information through engagement, affiliate sales, and active comments sections, even if just used to back up ideas: “It serves as reassurance for me in creative and editorial,” said Ali Pew, a stylist and the fashion editor-at-large of Cultured magazine, who writes “Uniform,” a shopping newsletter on Substack. “They are helpful insights to always have in the back of your brain.”

Some are getting more precise. Last year, popular shopping Substack Magasin launched a data-driven index that scores brands it covers based on chat and post mentions, clicks and orders using a proprietary method to show what brands and products are rising in popularity.

Data but Make It Fashion’s Lapuerta, a former consultant at McKinsey, has worked with labels including Tory Burch and The RealReal in a variety of ways, providing analysis on the success of campaigns behind the scenes, or partnering on posts. Sometimes, they ask her to do both. She says her understanding of language of the internet — trend lines and charts come alongside memes — is key.

“My voice and the speed at which I talk about things is really important,” said Lapuerta. “I know how to communicate this information in a way that resonates, makes sense and intrigues people. People want to work with me instead of a guy that doesn’t have the knowledge of fashion even though he can do the software just as well.”

The Data Hungry Shopper

Shoppers, as well as brands, are more curious to see the data behind what is trending and why.

Waller said the shift became evident to her when she was tapped to write a dispatch for Vogue on her top-requested products last year. While she’s looking to build brand partnerships, a big reason she’s formalising her data collection is so that she can post insights to engage followers.

There’s a white space in fashion coverage, said Lapuerta. Consumers want a deeper, more concrete understanding of what’s really going on and why, beyond simply what’s in or out.

“When I was becoming interested in fashion, I would read Vogue and listen to podcasts and it just felt like everyone’s opinion,” said Lapuerta. “When you see an article that’s like ‘Converse are in’ and then you see another that says ‘Converse are out,’ it’s a little confusing.”

Retailers are catering to this growing interest, too; last week Vestiaire Collective published a buying guide that ranked products resale value, based on an analysis of 400 brands’ pricing, desirability and long-term worth. The goal was to help choosy shoppers make “informed decisions and invest in pieces that retain value over time” in a landscape where the price of luxury goods and awareness of the negative impact of fast fashion are both rising, said co-founder and fashion director Sophie Hersan in an email to BoF.

Lapuerta has become a resource for her followers — who reach out via DM — on what to buy and when: “Especially with the rise of the microtrend, people want to feel good about what they’re putting their money toward,” said Lapuerta.