Friends With Measurements

The Opportunity

"It's safe to say that most people who shop for clothes online have trust issues." This insight from one of FriendsWithMeasurements.com's (FWM) very first beta testers captured the core problem the platform would aim to solve. In the winter of 2017, the concept began with a simple idea: a Chrome extension that would display customer photos whenever users visit a catalog page from a participating clothing brand. The goal was to address the common frustration of buying something online that looks great in the photo, only to receive a much lower-quality garment or a product in the wrong size.

The platform was designed to generate revenue by displaying customer images of high-quality clothing alongside tracked affiliate links that pay out a small commission for user clicks.

Establishing Customer Personas

The early development team collaborated with a software group to create a searchable catalog of clothing reviews for high-end brands local to lower Manhattan. The research process involved visiting clothing stores in the financial district, including Modcloth and BrooksBrothers, to arrange photoshoots with models and photographers. The team distributed Starbucks gift cards to retail workers and engaged with them to gather insights about online shopping experiences.

These retail store photoshoots provided valuable opportunities to gather feedback from various stakeholders. Conversations with store employees, including a Modcloth employee who managed their online marketing presence, provided industry perspective. Models testing the mobile website offered user experience insights, while spontaneous interactions with shoppers from the financial district and tourists helped shape the platform's understanding of customer needs. These interactions led to the development of three primary customer personas.

The Cautious Online Shopper represents consumers who approach online clothing purchases with skepticism. These shoppers are often over 50, unfamiliar with social media influencers, and struggle with size selection due to their unique body types. This group includes individuals who are particularly tall, short, or plus-sized, as well as those shopping internationally or seeking specific clothing features for religious or modesty reasons.

The Brand Manager archetype encompasses e-commerce professionals responsible for driving online sales. These individuals invest in social media marketing, compete with major platforms like Amazon and AliExpress, and view customer returns as a significant business expense. Whether they're independent designers, Shopify store owners, or employees of larger retail brands, they share a common goal of reducing returns while increasing sales through effective product presentation.

The Content Creator represents professional and semi-professional models who monetize their online presence. These individuals typically maintain revenue streams through Instagram, blogs, or affiliate marketing platforms while balancing modeling with other career pursuits. They often combine their fashion content with other interests such as performing arts or advocacy work, using their platform to promote both products and social causes.

The Iterative Prototyping Process

After developing a functional beta version of the Chrome extension, the team initiated structured user testing. Recruiting through university email lists with an offer of "$15 for 15 minutes of feedback," the project gathered insights from approximately 40 interviews across Ithaca and Roosevelt Island campuses. Each testing session began with volunteers sharing recent online shopping experiences, followed by observed interactions with the platform and photo uploads. Between testing rounds, the team analyzed feedback patterns to guide feature prioritization. Here's how the platform evolved through three major iterations.

Iteration 1 - Chrome Extension

The initial Chrome extension activated when users visited participating online clothing stores (including Modcloth, Equipment, and Vineyard Vines). Upon viewing a catalog page with user reviews, a sidebar would appear displaying photos and comments from previous shoppers who had shared their measurements for size reference.

Users could earn reward points by contributing their own photos and reviews, which could later be exchanged for gift cards to partner retailers. However, early feedback revealed several challenges: users struggled to transfer photos from phones to laptops for uploading, installation instructions were often overlooked, and many users were confused about Chrome extension permissions.

Iteration 2 - Searchable Web Catalog of Customer Reviews

Responding to user feedback, the platform evolved into a searchable web catalog with several key improvements:

• A redesigned welcome page with clear graphics explaining the shopping journey

• User profiles displaying review history and reward points

• Mobile-optimized photo uploading

• Administrative tools for bulk review imports

  
  

The new interface allowed users to search for specific clothing items and refine results using criteria like body measurements or occasion type. When users found relevant items, they could access customer photos and purchase through affiliate links to partner retailers. While this iteration solved many initial challenges, feedback indicated that the limited catalog size (approximately 700 products) and lack of size standardization across brands remained significant obstacles.

Iteration 3 - Catalog at FriendsWithMeasurements.com

By late 2019, the platform began shifting toward a B2B model, focusing on partnerships with independent fashion designers and brands. The team attended industry events and offered complimentary marketing services to build relationships with potential partners. However, the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 disrupted these efforts as fashion events were canceled and demand for high-end clothing decreased significantly.

In 2022, the platform was rebuilt as FriendsWithMeasurements.com, incorporating a new approach to content sourcing. The team developed a data scraping system to collect customer review data from Amazon.com, focusing particularly on women's dresses where reviewers often included photos and detailed size information. This pivot provided several advantages:

• Access to a larger, more diverse dataset of customer reviews

• Improved size information through Amazon's standardized ordering system

• More representative body types in customer photos

• Direct integration with Amazon's established e-commerce infrastructure

Key Lessons Learned

Start with Existing Data: The early focus on creating original content through photoshoots, while valuable for building brand partnerships, proved resource-intensive. Leveraging existing customer images from e-commerce platforms could have provided a faster path to minimum viable product. While original content helped secure partnerships and affiliate memberships, starting with publicly available review data would have accelerated early development.

Leverage Existing Solutions: The team initially invested significant resources developing custom database solutions, particularly for bulk review uploads. Later discovery of similar features available through Shopify highlighted the importance of researching existing solutions before building custom tools. These resources could have been better allocated to improving the mobile user experience.

Understanding User Privacy and Comfort: Photo sharing proved more complex than anticipated. Various factors affected users' willingness to share photos, including:

• General privacy concerns

• Religious and cultural considerations

• Gender differences in comfort with photo sharing

• Technical barriers for older users

• Age-related hesitation with social media-style interactions

  
  

These insights suggest that review platforms need to account for diverse user preferences and privacy concerns, particularly when targeting demographics like men, older adults, and users with specific cultural considerations.

Special Thanks

The development of FriendsWithMeasurements.com was made possible through the contributions of many talented individuals.

Leadership and Development

• Vlad Lockshin (TurtleOS) - Provided crucial mentorship and development support that made the project possible

• Vladyslav Mykhalchuk - Lead developer who built key components using React, Shopify, Unity, and Babylon.js

• Danara Buvaeva - Created the financial plan and provided startup competition strategy

TurtleOS Development Team: Roman Cantelearist, Abdellah Alaoui, Chukwuemeka Chima, Ilja Satchok, Roman Semin, and Pawel Ishchenko developed the React app and Chrome extension.

Business Development Team (2020): Sameer Jyotindra Shah, Absetou Diakite, Aditya Pratap Singh, Gregory David Wool, Stephanie Zhang, Jamie Xu, Benjamin Moll, and Autumn Cramer.

Content Creation

• Models: Ashton Thompson, Auran Alam, Chioma Ofodile, Claista Guibert, Dominique Moreno, Edwin Rosario, Garhay Mei, Jaiden Thompson, Katherine Beard, Katherine Rodriguez, Kittiphong Mekdara, Krystal Daniels, Lawrence KOO, Maria Manrique, Maxime Tondre, Michael Cumming, Rachel Maley, Rachel Wynn, Rosa Paula, Sade Collins, Sophia Eugene, William Hofmann

• Photographers: Indie Jansons, Evgeniya Kuznetsova, Herti Shaka, Taiwo Bamisile, Phani Kumpatla, Yana Tenzik, Mike Cicchetti, Erica Lin, Raul Egusquiza, Navish Rampal, Alex Phillips

  
  

Early Support

• Beta Testers: Special thanks to the Cornell University and Cornell Tech community members who provided invaluable feedback during early testing phases