Category Archives: Behind the Scenes

Please let me be the first to introduce you to KassiesCloset 2.0 – it’s new and improved, and it’s right around the corner. The new Closet is soon to launch featuring new stylists, geographic trends, and a filtering system of the outfits to be able to view just what you want to see.

It’s been a work in progress. It’s a labor of love, but everyone involved, from the stylists to programmers, all believe in the mission of the Closet: to help women look good and feel good, so that they can pursue their passion and fulfill their purpose.

Making a difference, one outfit at a time, that’s the Closet way.

I’ve just returned from a fashion show for fall, and I have to confess that I’m conflicted. As much as I cherish heat and 90 degree days, I’m eager for Fall 2013 thanks to the gorgeous things I saw floating down the runway.

The three big themes I saw for Fall 2013 are…
1. Asian prints and necklines: Asian brocades and floral patterns are going to be big for Fall, in rich shades of black and deep green
2. Plaids and tartans: Patterns big and small
3. Highs and lows: Skirts and dresses above the knee in front and below the knee (but above the calf) in back

I’m drinking coffee. I’m actually drinking espresso. And I don’t ever drink coffee. Like ever. Chai – yes. Decaf – yes. Coffee – no. Straight-up espresso – never. I hope I stay up, wired, sleepless for 4 days straight rather than spend another evening going to bed exhausted from not having really any reason to be.

I think all the aggregated hurried and harried days of running SimplySoles have just caught up with me. And now that I sold it, it’s like the a tidal wave of exhaustion day after day. WTF? Aren’t I supposed to be swinging from the chandeliers for having built and sold a business? Shouldn’t I be more energized than EVER to make the Closet into something breathtakingly spectacular, that makes you gasp like the first time you ever saw a Cirque du Soleil performance? WHY YES! That’s exactly how I should feel.

So to jumpstart my jumpdrive, I brewed a cup of joe.

Let the mayhem begin.

This week being a short week inevitably means chaos. I feel like I’m just another turkey with its head cut off, running in circles without direction. But then I remember what we are counting down towards – Thanksgiving. So while it may be easy to be stressed, I’m trying to keep it all in perspective. Instead of worrying about what needs to be done, I’m going to recap what we just accomplished, hoping that will help me count my blessings and not my to-dos.

Recent closet progress…

1. We are putting the finishing dressings (get used to the turkey day references) on our new home page.
2. We had a gaggle of new users sign up for the site.
3. We removed the mandatory login requirement on the site, making outfit browsing as smooth as gravy.
4. Our data recommendation engine has started to baste, and should be ready to come out of the oven in early 2013.
5. And the pumpkin pie is that it’s a small, small world (two “too crazy” connections were made just last week).

Can’t wait for the other white meat! I’m ready for the gobbling to begin.

Last Wednesday we busted out of the Closet and into Dave & Busters to host/attend a baby shower for Megan, one of the Closet Stylists. What better way to celebrate a baby than battling it out air guitar and air hockey style.

And oh the things I learned…

(1) For instance, I knew David, my partner in the Closet, had mad coding skills. But I never knew the correlation between coding and Guitar Hero until last Wednesday.

David & our “smarter than spock” programmer, Jonathan – Rockin’ It “Rush” style:

(2) While each of our Stylists know what to wear to a race, Brianna, our graphic designer, knew how to take the checkered flag (winning three times in a row).

Our Stylists and Graphic Designers Fighting to the Finish Line:

(3) An overflowing mound of tickets that makes you feel like you ruled the Black-Jack tables in Vegas, buys you embarrassingly few trinkets and treats. (Think 200 tickets = 1 wrapper of taffy.)

Undeniably Megan’s baby made out the best, but watching the Closet team bond over Skee-Ball and Speed Racer was money well spent.

This is a true story.

Has anyone heard of the Boy and the Starfish story?

I had not, until just recently.

This past July 4th, on a long solitary walk along the beach, I found myself practically stepping on a beached starfish clearly washed up from the receding tide. With the curiosity of a child, I picked it up, noticed it was still living, and instinctually ran to the waters edge to cast it back into the sea. My eyes darted around and I noticed that with careful observation there was a stranded starfish every couple of steps. They all looked like they were desperately trying to inch their way from the tide pools back to the safety of the expansive ocean. I tried picking up a few and putting them back in the ankle deep tide pool. But as soon as I did, quite bizarrely, they’d  start schooching their way out of the water back across the 30 yards of beach to the breaking waters. And that’s where I found them. Seemingly hopeless, spent, and waiting to dry out and die in the 100 degree sun some 15 yards from safety and freedom.

I spent the next 2 hours searching for and in my mind rescuing these starfish from unintentional suicide.

People would walk past and ignore me. No one bothered to help, and no one seemed to care.

When I had finally made it back to the land of the masses – beach umbrellas, blankets, and balls galore – I spotted one last starfish just on the edge. As I reached down to throw it back in the sea, an attractive young mom with an infant told me not to bother. Apparently as she knew it, starfish that had “gotten that far” to shore were certain “goners.” They couldn’t be saved or maybe just didn’t want to be saved. I was immediately discouraged as I either spent 2 hours away from the family on a hopelessly meaningless mission, or I just learned a lesson about human nature – it’s easier to not do and make excuses, than to do something that requires effort, time, and perhaps some empathy.

The first thing I did when settling back into my beach chair was to grab my phone and google starfish – and that’s when I came upon the seemingly well-known story of the Boy and the Starfish.

One day a man was walking along the beach when he noticed

a boy picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean.

Approaching the boy, he asked, What are you doing?

The youth replied, Throwing starfish back into the ocean.

The surf is up and the tide is going out.  If I don’t throw them back, they’ll die.

“Son,” the man said, “don’t you realize there are miles and miles of beach

and hundreds of starfish?

You can’t make a difference!”

After listening politely, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish,

and threw it back into the surf.  Then, smiling at the man, he said

“I made a difference for that one.”

To date, after reading countless articles and now knowing more about the starfish than I ever really intended to know, I haven’t found one shred of truth to that woman’s hypothesis that starfish on the beach are guaranteed goners.

So the moral of the story here is: Do what feels right. Even when no is watching. No one cares. And no else believes.

The idea for this site came in a dream. It was Thanksgiving 2010. Today is June 1, 2012. The site took nearly a year an a half to launch and this is just phase one.

The Closet in its full glory will  be a destination that combs the web (yes all of it) for relevant products that appeal to you served up in head-to-toe outfits because that’s how we dress, across brands, from various stores, with an eclectic intermix of inexpensive and designer products.

A site curated by you, for you.

When we first started developing the site, we quickly realized that the data points needed to build complicated algorithms to track User preferences were going to take time to accumulate. So Matt (the “experimenter of all things web“) came up with the idea of having a team of stylists build outfits. So while we amass data, there’s something for Users to immediately react to. This way, we are able to learn what Users, what YOU, like and dislike with interactions on the site vs. asking a series of questions which never really lead to the right conclusion. After all, style is personal.

Imagine being able to shop from one site that pulls products from all your favorite stores and delivers it in coordinated outfits that incorporate existing products that we know you already own.

Now imagine checking out with one shopping cart – 5 sites, 7 products, one click.

That’s where we are going.

This is just the beginning.

And today I give special thanks to David (the “Algo-Master Sir-Mix-Alot Web Spinner”) and Jon, who David says is “smarter than Spock”. Without you guys, Kassie’s Closet would only exist in my house.

P.S. – Matt posts these blog entries, as you can probably tell per his self-proclaimed title in the group shot

I’m a person who likes options. I may always order the Penne pasta at Cafe Deluxe, but I don’t want it to be the only thing on the menu. I may wear the same pair of shoes twice a week, but I like having a closet full  to choose from. I may always select the same shade of You Don’t Know Jacques from OPI, but I love the wall of color selections at my neighborhood nail salon.

For me, selecting web designs is no different. I need options, which is why I’m addicted to 99Designs.

Matt Craine – one of my Closet partners-in-crime, is highly suspicious. Sometimes I think his job is to doubt and to challenge. Case in point, he used to think that a crowd-sourced design site was for wanna-bes and has-beens. But thanks for a contest held for one of my other businesses, ohhhhh has his opinion changed.

Here are the top three reasons why I love 99Designs:

1. You see different, unique perspectives of and approaches to the same job for one all-inclusive price. (Hint: The more feedback you provide the better the contest entries.)

2. It’s so easy to set up. (Hint: the more initial direction you give the designers the more relevant the entries.)

3. I proved Matt wrong, indisputably, and that’s a personal high.

The biggest rivalry in sports…so some say: Duke v. Carolina. Two colleges 8 miles apart. Two outstanding, renown basketball programs. It’s what my extended and immediate family looks forward to with an enthusiastically coordinated collaboration of team spirit. As the expression goes, we bleed Carolina blue.

And yet, last night while the game played, I was tuned to my computer instead of the TV. We were on countdown for the first round of Kassie’s Closet invitations to be extended – 14 months in the making. I had more built up anticipation for the glorious Closet launch than for a glorious Carolina victory.

I don’t usually credit Duke or Duke players with much. It’s part of the rivalry and is mutual I assure you. But I will say that while Carolina didn’t win, I hope the Closet has as much magic as Austin River’s impressive (aka heart-breaking) 3 point, buzzer-beater. Then I’ll really have something to celebrate!

Got to give a shout out to Wufoo.com online form builder who’s just saved our butts.  We knew we needed some kind of feedback system when launched Kassies Closet. How else would anyone be able to tell us how awesome it is???? (or what we forgot. eeek!).

But we didn’t want to devote time to building one ourselves, and most of the well known 3rd party feedback services required that we make our users register first before they could leave their comments. Lame.

Enter Wufoo, who I stumbled across while pre-registering for new beta startup Cheers. It’s just awesome. I registered and built a form for user feedback in 10 mins. Dropped in some code on our site and viola!  It’s super easy to use, not expensive, and has tons of reporting features and customization options. Hats off to Wufoo. Thanks.