She admitted the process of building an expanded size range into the model was “painful,” because of the complexities added to the design and manufacturing process. “When we first started the company, about half of our first employees were not fitting a typical straight size, so it just made sense to go to a size 20 for now,” Zeng said. In perhaps one of the only elements that is not streamlined, Choosy is offering sizes 0 through 20, which means that the company must design, create and photograph two versions of every look created. It already has more than 22,000 followers on Instagram. In-house designers will select what to create based on data pulled from Instagram, using algorithms that comb trending celebrity posts with comments like “Where can I buy this?” and posts that customers have commented on with “#GetChoosy.”ĭuring a test run based on a pair of Jonathan Simkhai pearl jeans like those worn by Gigi Hadid at Paris Fashion Week, the company reported selling out within a matter of hours.

However, Choosy is looking to social media - rather than the runway - for inspiration. In the vein of existing fast-fashion brands, Choosy will offer clothes based on designer trends.

“To test out a style, they have to blanket all the stores to see if it sells. “Traditional fast fashion is essentially blanketing - they look at everything that happens on the runway and release everything,” said Zeng, a former investment banker whose family business is in textile manufacturing in China. In March, H&M reported about $4.3 billion in unsold clothes, and it reportedly burns some of the products it can’t sell at a power plant. In this way, said co-founder and CEO Jessie Zeng, Choosy hopes to avoid the unsold garments that plague fast fashion brands.

Choosy white dress