Polyvore To Tempt Fashionistas To Create, Then Spend

Polyvore, founded by ex-Yahoo’er Pasha Sadri (he created Yahoo Pipes) will appeal to the fashionistas out there in the world.

Users install a bookmarklet and grab images from around the web (see demo here) – this part is very similar to what Kaboodle, recently acquired by Hearst, does.

They then take those images, plus any images others have uploaded, and create “sets” which are ensembles of individual items, put into, say, a complete outfit. Examples are here.

Sets can be viewed by others, commented, rated, shared, embedded into websites (which I have done above), etc. Users can also take items from the sets (or the set itself) and place it into their own collection for modification (Polyvore also links back to the original set for attribution).

http://s141.photobucket.com/flash/player.swf?file=http://vid141.photobucket.com/albums/r41/polyvore/polyvore.flv
Clicking on any item brings up information about it, plus a link back to the original page where it was grabbed. This is where the potential revenue model comes into play – As a user buys that ring on Amazon, for example, Polyvore can get a revenue share.

Sets can be tagged or favorited, and users can befriend eachother (its a social network). If someone uses an item that you originally saved/bookmarked, you get a status point. The site also runs themed contests to encourage competition and usage. Finally, since no new service is complete without a Facebook application, Polyvore has one of those, too.

The fashion industry is just ridiculously huge. We’ve covered sites that let (mostly) women show off their outfits. And the success of Sugar Inc., which just made its second acquisition, has been phenomenal. My guess is Polyvore will have its share of rabid users, too.