Cladwell is an app that helps you dress using clothes you already own

Let's get extremely real for a second: I hate choosing clothes. For me, the pain I experience getting dressed every morning is about equivalent to the pain I'd experience if someone smashed me in the head with a frying pan, without the sweet relief of unconsciousness after. Even though I have a closet full of clothing items, I am not one of the lucky few born with an inherent ability to figure out how best to put them together to form a coherent and flattering outfit. You have to take so much into account when getting dressed — the weather, where you're headed once you get dressed, color, shape, pattern, accessories … it's all way too much. I've basically resigned myself to being somebody who cycles through the same three outfits that I'm most comfortable in that look sort of acceptable. Because of all this, the new and improved Cladwell app for iOS sounds like a crazy dream come true to me.

Cladwell essentially coaches you through decreasing the number of items in your closet until you're left with a sleek and minimalist capsule wardrobe. Once you've done that, the app will then give you expertly styled outfit suggestions based on things like current trends and what the weather's like that day. Because you'll use the clothing you already own, there's no shopping required (unless you want to completely overhaul your look). Cladwell isn't interested in selling you clothes, it just wants to help you wear them.

In order to use the app, you have to sign up for a Cladwell subscription. You can choose a monthly, six-month, or yearlong plan priced at $7.99, $35.94, and $39.99 respectively. If you want to just try it out for a few days to see if its for you before committing, Cladwell offers a three-day free trial. After that, according to their website, the steps for setting up your account will be as follows:

  1. Choose items from Cladwell's ever-growing database of clothing that are similar to the items you have in your closet (no photos required).
  2. Organize your clothing pieces by category. For instance, blazers might go in your "Work" category, whereas slouchy tees may go in your "Weekend" category. You can also make categories for each of the four seasons, or for even more specific activities like "Camping" or "Concerts" or "Vacation to Iceland." This way you can see clothes in their individual categories or view your closet as a whole.
  3. Once you choose your category, you'll automatically get three expertly styled outfits that are appropriate for the weather that day.
  4. After you've found an outfit you really dig and want to wear, you can choose to save it to a log. This is a really cool feature because after using the app for a bit, you may start to see patterns emerge that will help you gain better insight into what you love wearing and what you don't.
  5. Once you figure out what items of clothing you're never wearing, you can de-clutter your closet and get rid of them!

After all that, if you do choose to shop, you can more expertly choose pieces that will give you the most clothing combinations you love.

If you want to get a feel for the company's vibes, I'd recommend you check out Cladwell's blog for more info.

Thoughts?

Do you think using a service like Cladwell could help streamline your getting ready process? Let us know in the comments!

Tory Foulk

Tory Foulk is a writer at Mobile Nations. She lives at the intersection of technology and sorcery and enjoys radio, bees, and houses in small towns. When she isn't working on articles, you'll likely find her listening to her favorite podcasts in a carefully curated blanket nest. You can follow her on Twitter at @tsfoulk.