This month, women’s clothier ModCloth will wrap its five-stop nationwide pop-up shop tour where the e-commerce fashion site was born — right here in Pittsburgh.
The ModCloth IRL (in real life) Tour will set up a temporary storefront at 625 Smithfield St., Downtown, in September, the company announced today. Since May, the tour also has made stops in Austin, Texas; Washington, D.C.; Portland, Oregon; and Denver.
ModCloth first experimented with brick-and-mortar models in 2015 with pop-up fit shops offering ModCloth’s signature vintage-inspired styles in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
“Downtown seems so very energized and active right now,” says vice president of stores and retail operations Elizabeth Cooksey, who’s based in ModCloth’s San Francisco office. “It felt like a really special area for us to be part of what’s happening.”
The shop — slated to be open Sept. 17-27 — will feature ModCloth’s hybrid online-meets-brick-and-mortar shopping experience, which means only some merchandise will be available for people to purchase and take with them.
In other cases, stylists will help shoppers place orders online and receive free shipping. The advantage is that customers can try on samples to see how something fits and feels on the body before buying it online.
The tour has been a chance for ModCloth to learn more about its customers, and for its customers to learn more about its clothes. In addition to working with stylists at the store, people can book a free hour-long one-on-one consultation with a stylist at www.modcloth.com/irl.
“The philosophy around our product structure is that we offer a very broad size range in an effort to include women of all sizes and shapes and body types,” Ms. Cooksey says. ModCloth caters to sizes XXS through 4X.
The pop-up will pay tribute to Pittsburgh by carrying selections by some local brands, including No Sleep Boutique, Moon Pine jewelry and Steel City T-shirts. Special Pittsburgh-themed graphic tees designed exclusively for the pop-up shop and an assortment of vintage apparel, accessories and home decor will be for sale, too. On select days, there will be live music and light bites from local restaurants in the shop.
While this is the finale for the tour this year, more chances to shop the ModCloth inventory in person could be on the horizon.
“I could see more ... happening in the future, but our ultimate goal would be to do something that's more robust along the lines of a permanent store or permanent stores," Ms. Cooksey says.
ModCloth was started in 2002 by Carnegie Mellon University alumni Susan Gregg Koger and Eric Koger. The company has 268 employees based in Crafton, 69 in San Francisco and 60 in Los Angeles.
Sara Bauknecht: sbauknecht@post-gazette.com or on Twitter and Instagram @SaraB_PG.
First Published: September 2, 2016, 4:00 a.m.
