OUR JOURNEY TIMELINE
Cricket Lee and Natasha Lee are influential figures in the fashion industry, revolutionizing every aspect with their pioneering concept of incorporating shapes to enhance fit and studying consumer behavior in response to this innovation. Introducing the novel idea of separating fit from style marked a significant departure from the status quo, and it has taken years to substantiate and refine this concept into an advanced technology that caters to both B2B within industry silos and B2C across all consumer touchpoints, from design to point of sale to social media interactions. Their vision proved to be two decades ahead of its time.
Cricket Lee boldly discarded the conventional one-fit model standard, embarking on an extensive research journey into body types and applications. Introducing the notion of a commercial standard to be embraced by multiple brands was groundbreaking at the time. She proposed global fit standards based on body shapes, introducing the original fitfinder and algorithms that redefined shopping experiences by creating a custom-like fit to individual customers. Cricket was a trailblazer in advocating for diversity in fashion by applying fit considerations to a broad spectrum of people, challenging the industry norm of relying on just one fit model and now tech filters.
Over a 26 year period, Cricket has studied every touchpoint around fit by creating with designers and selling clothing for women that would include her concepts by:
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Discovering the scientific changes in women's bodies by studying over 350,000 women plus data through the years. She determined how the human body changes by shape and no single fashion brand has been able to crack the code although many have tried to offer shapes. Shapes only work across the board so that a woman can discover her body type as one applied fit to her body and not have to try on the clothing regarding fit in any brand that licenses our technology.
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Studying design, fit tech, sourcing and fabric applications and factory certification.
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Going through many versions of a fitfinder to continually understand the purchase mentality better and more easily identify your body.
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Filtering the fitfinder through major retailers websites and shopping carts.
Natasha then came in 12 years ago and pulled together the beta fashion brand by offering one pant using a unique marketing model to prove it out.
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It took several years to figure out how to sell one pant and position the fit itself as compared to style.
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Once transactions were scaling we were able to perfect a first purchase customer service model.
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Adding colors and styles, the consistency helped configure new predictive planning models for the industry.
STUDY THROUGH THE YEARS
CRICKET'S RESEARCH TIMELINE
1997-2000
Mary Duffy Personalities on HSN
2001-2003
Scientific Research Begins
Cricket Lee held initial research inside top specialty discounter Target stores with permission of then SrVP of Merchandising. After partnering with a major brand house in NYC to build a Cricket Lee brand with body type patterns inside the clothing, their interest was in the fit system but not her personal brand.
Learnings:
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What she had created was a shape fit system concept, and the style wasn't relevant to the fit.
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No-one at the time had ever separated fit from style, so she started working on a fit only licensing concept.
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She started detailed fit research on women to determine shapes, had to throw out the current fit standards and vanity sizing methods to affect it. It had to include data and real women.
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She started with two shapes on the bottom, and the third bottom shape was discovered during fittings on many women.
2004-2006
Department Store Tests Begin
Fitlogic beta tech brand - 3 bottom shapes discovered for trousers only; addressing torso shapes for mass tests
Retail prices tested: $99, $235, and $347 bottoms; studied on air, inside brand marketing and POS messaging response.
Initial Department Store, Online and TV licensing tests
Tested with Garfield Marks at Nordstrom in 11 national markets, Jones New York in 19 Macy's East Doors and Jones Elements on QVC.
Results:
After the tests were completed with Nordstrom, they were ready to roll out. Nordstrom being the only store that set up POS how we asked using 3 ways with signage, they had an in department video of Cricket explaining the system. QVC sold out with first ever online Fitfinder invented by Cricket Lee.
There were 8 events in Macys stores with a spokesperson presenting. At the final event in Menlo Park, Cricket’s PR agent pushed her on stage where she interacted with the customers about the bigger promise and they were able to sell $5000 worth of pants in 1.5 hours.
Learnings:
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Wherever Cricket as the inventor spoke, women responded to the truth and promise and delivery of never trying on again
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Without adequate customer education in stores it is impossible to educate the consumer.
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Video or TV education necessary to educate women on a mass level. We must be able to own consumer awareness.
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There were hundreds of stories including New York Times and Today Show where over 500,000 women came to the site.
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Couldn't roll out because the consumer responded to Cricket's innovation personally, but the industry in those days wasn't ready for a plus-size older woman to lead the fit side of fashion.
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Nordstrom gave us proper support and exposure and wanted to roll out, but Jones' CEO did not want me to be the face of their brand so they took me
off the air on QVC and cancelled rollout of Macy's.
Revenue:
Nordstrom; 11 doors nationally and online, 7,000 units, $3,470,000
Macy's East; 19 doors - 15,000 units $3,525,000 (guessing - we were never furnished with this final information)
QVC; 20 minute PM style, sold out 14 minutes and waitlisted 1,000 pair $700,000. (Cricket on the air).
Activated Earned Media:
New York Times: "Clothes That Fit the Women, Not the Store" Michael Barbaro
New York Times: "A Woman Full of Hope in the Dressing Room" Melanie Warner
Today Show: Katie Couric and Cricket Lee
Over 200 blogs and articles written, tv appearances
2007-2009
Online and Designer Boutique Tests Begin
Retail prices: $79, $247, $600; studied online marketing and showrooming
Alex New York in BarriePace.com (International Womens Corporation sold to Chinese company mid test),
Sherry Cassin Cassin Collections (a new sportswear brand but she was in 4 floors of Bergdorf Goodman at the time)
11 designer boutiques successful through trunk shows across the country, but we didn’t have money for national marketing to build the brand and the pricepoint was too high for private label application at the time.
Learnings:
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The new owners of IWC cancelled the online marketplace during our test as it was only 3% of their business at the time.
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Women don't like alterations, and would buy multiple tops when the bottom fit was guaranteed.
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Trunk shows showed successful results.
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Needs brand marketing to build clientele.
Activated Earned Media:
Wall Street Journal Cover: "Cricket Lee Takes on the Fashion Industry" Ann Zimmerman
Chicago Tribune: "More Fitting Clothes Urged" Jaclyn Giovis
Revenue:
IWC Barrie Pace $247, 000
Uno, Dos, Tres $395,000
Sherry Cassin $900,000
Industry Retail Test Learnings:
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Too early for industry adoption e-commerce apparel only 3%.
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Can't offer programs at brick and mortar without indepdendent brand marketing.
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In designer boutiques, tested showrooming and drop shipping successfully.
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Designer chose a shape for stock, and custom made for the other two shapes.
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Was able to get licenses with Ann Taylor, Li&Fung (Vera Wang for Kohls), and Ellen Tracy.
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Vogue Magazine approached us for a strategic alliance and approached 7 top designers on our behalf, but no acceptance of new paradigm
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Recession halted development for lack of marketing funds, so decided to study consumer direct next and abandon retail tests without our own marketing budget.
2014 to 2018
Direct to Consumer Online Tests
Black Pant with Technology inside Beta Brands
Natasha Lee got involved and created a house brand to further test the concept, and prove out the consumer side of the study.
Team created robust predictive demand assortment models by shape (within 2% accuracy over 200,000 transactions)
Used direct response marketing.
Learnings:
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Took three attempts and two years to figure out how to sell apparel in less than a minute online with fit identification.
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Studied all customer interactions, photos of customers, returns reductions, marketing messages.
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First Purchase customer service protocol.
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Global certification standards completed (total 13 factories).
2010 - 2013
Event Tests
Cricket Lee with Fitlogic
Cricket Lee consumer direct events with Ewomen Network
Set up booth at two subsequent yearly shows to engage women to champion us to market
On stage presentation: eWomenNetwork International Conference 2011
For more information about these champions, Sandra and Kym Yancey
Event D2C Revenue:
$312,500
Results:
Revenue helped us refine the next stage of the fit application for more D2C building.
Events were not for us, we are built for big retail private label applications.
NATASHA'S RESEARCH TIMELINE
1,400,000 users through online fit quiz for personal fit identification
62,000 fit research of women to establish science in beginning
500M data points studied through the years to gain knowledge never before available
300,000 transactions totally eliminated fit-related returns (meaning we only allowed purchase of one size per person through shopping cart)
150,000 customer database collected
50,000,000 media impressions from major media - over 750 stories
17,000,000 social media impressions
We discovered that it is a consumer pull technology, meaning costumers will demand it once available.
Packaged, licensed and rolled out apparel collection with body types on HSN with Mary Duffy, owner of world’s first modeling agency for plus sizes and petites (sold to Ford Models) and writer of body-type book HOAX. Stretch knit merchandising concept with fit preferences used (no special patterns - just styles that worked for body types)
Learnings: Women responded to buying clothing according to their body type or shape and Mary had the passion and beauty to create a following.
Revenue: $3,000,000
Revenue:
$10,000,000 in 15 months in one pant online, adding colors after 6 months
Activated Earned Media:
Dallas Morning News: "Little Black Pant May be A Right - Size Revolution (Natasha Lee)" Cheryl Hall
Cricket Lee; Finalist - Industry Icon, Trendsetter (2016; 2017) Southern California Apparel Association
85,000 social media followers
In 2018, we licensed full program to Park Avenue Apparel to implement their own fashion brand.