2021 Battle of the Fashion Boxes: Stitch Fix vs. Trunk Club vs. Wantable

The year is 2021 and it has been a year since I bought a piece of clothing in a store. Maybe longer, actually - even in the pre-pandemic days I was doing most of my shopping online, clothing included. 

I've seen clothing subscription boxes and felt it was time to give not one, but three, a try. Stitch Fix vs. Wantable vs Trunk Club - which was best? Instead of doing the normal thing and just trying one, in an effort to find the best style box for me and to determine if Stitch Fix's competitors were worthwhile, I decided to fill out profiles with three separate services and pit them in a subscription styling box death match. 

Wantable Review

Up first, because it arrived first, is Wantable. Of the three services I tried, this was probably the one I'd heard the least about. 

The Gist: Wantable sends you 7 items, and if you keep 5 you get a discount of 20% on each item. It has the usual style quiz and then something called a "stream" of live items you can request to be included in your box. There's a $20 styling fee that you'll pay if you choose not to keep anything, otherwise the $20 styling fee goes towards the cost of any item(s) you keep. They have a "style" edit, an "active" edit (athleisure clothing), and a men's edit. I opted for the style edit. I didn't interact with a stylist, and there was no option to really preview the items you were getting. They're a surprise until the day they show up. 

Wantable Average Price Per Item: I chose the least expensive option ($50 - $100) and the average cost of all 7 items was $62 per item  

Referral credit: Sign up via referral (mine or elsewhere) for a $25 credit: https://www.wantable.com?invite_token=WPz4wkqlVVY

The Clothes: 

3 sweaters - one white (The Jean Top in Whipped Cream and the Beckett Top from Thread & Supply), two striped  

1 pair of ponte leggings (Ponte Leggings from Matty M)

1 pair of jeans (Distressed Jeans from Vervet) 

a t-shirt dress (The Zetta Dress from Tart) 

a knit blazer (The Nisha Textured Knit Blazer from Tart) 

Looking at these items on paper, I wasn't that impressed. A few were requests pulled from my stream, but the overall look of the items felt on the young side to me. But when I tried them on, I was surprised at how much I liked. Here are a few poorly lit selfies that show most of the items: 

The biggest surprise for me was the fact that I liked the jeans they sent me - I avoid jeans like the plague, and I really hated the idea of wearing distressed ones. I was also a fan of the chevron white sweater, the ponte leggings, and the black knit blazer. There were some definite misses, like this striped navy top that somehow managed to be too long, too wide, and too tight all at once. The t-shirt dress was a good idea in theory but just way too tight across my mid-section and had more of a juniors vibe than I expected. 

The Verdict: Liking 4 out of 7 items is pretty great, and for this particular box I'm struggling to pare down my list of items to keep. If I had any complaints about this box it would be the lack of stylist communication, lack of preview, and the fact that the styling feels more like some random pieces rather than put together outfits. That said, what I liked most about this box is that they offered me some items I would never have thought to choose and I liked many of them. It pushed me out of my comfort zone. 

Stitch Fix Review

The Gist: Stitch Fix sends you 5 items and charges a $25 styling fee. Like Wantable, the styling fee can be put towards the cost of any clothing you keep, and if you keep all 5 items, you get a 25% discount on the order. There was a style quiz, no back and forth with a stylist, and a preview of items was available only after the box shipped. 

Stitch Fix Average Price Per Item: What does Stitch Fix cost? I chose the least expensive option ($50 - $100) and the average cost of all 5 items was $55 per item. 

Referral credit: Sign up via referral (mine or elsewhere) for a $25 credit: https://www.stitchfix.com/invite/chprt8tk24?sod=w&som=c

The Clothes: Pictured below: The Sonole Open Drape Fabric Cardigan, Boody EcoWear High Waist Pocket Leggings, Threads & Thought Pascarelli Feather Fleece Tunic Pullover, Fortune + Ivy Christelle Button Down, Z Supply Eleisha Back Detail knit top

The Verdict: I'm not sure how to feel about this one. Several of the items - the cardigan, the leggings, the black sweater - look like something I either own or should own, so in that sense the stylist did a great job of guessing at what I liked. But I also felt like all of these were items I could have chosen for myself (or have chosen for myself) at a better price, and none of it really formed a cohesive outfit or helped me feel like it was advancing my fashion game. Though I would wear all of them with the exception of the polyester button down. In a reverse of the Wantable situation, I'm actually not compelled to keep any of them but have a credit to use, so I'll most likely keep the cardigan. 

Trunk Club Review

The Gist: Last up is Trunk Club, which is a styling service from Nordstrom. Of all the boxes, Trunk Club sends the most items: I received 10 in total, including 3 pairs of shoes. There are trunks for menswear and also specific themed trunks, like comfy winter essentials and activewear. There's a $25 styling fee that goes to the cost of items, and unlike the other boxes, there is no discount for keeping a specific number of items. One thing I loved about Trunk Club is that you have a chance to see "round 1" of the clothing suggestions from your stylist (along with their note) and can reject as many of them as you want. In my case I liked the look of everything my stylist chose but I rejected a necklace and purse because I wasn't interested in those accessories. When you reject an item, the stylist will choose something new in its place and then ship out the box. 

Trunk Club Average Price Per Item: What does Trunk Club cost? The answer might surprise you! I chose the least expensive option ($50 - $100) and the average cost of all 7 clothing items was $38 per item and the average cost of 3 pairs of shoes was $67. This was a surprise to me, as I expected Nordstrom to be the most expensive, but there are also a lot of year-end sales right now and many of my items were on sale (items in your box will match the price in stores). 

Referral credit: Sign up via referral (mine or elsewhere) for a $50 credit: https://www.trunkclub.com/invite/YT4Y44

The Clothes: Since I received 10 items, it's a lot to show, and some items were more worth showing off than others. I received 3 pairs of shoes, including 2 boots and 1 pair of comfy Toms flats, a black cardigan with bell sleeves, a black turtleneck, a few plain tops, bootcut jeans, and gray linen pants. One thing I loved about Trunk Club is that the stylist focuses on putting together full outfits and includes images of how to put them together: 

The Verdict: For the "preview" feature alone this was a really fun experience for me. Once again I received a pair of jeans that I actually like, which shocked me, and I'm struggling to decide what to keep here. I loved all 3 pairs of shoes and the jeans but will probably try to limit it to 2 pairs. Even the things I passed on I appreciated having to pull their full outfit suggestions together, and I received a nice mix of basics and things I wouldn't have chosen myself. I liked that everything they offer is from Nordstrom so I can buy more from the brands I like, and of all three boxes the clothes felt the most age appropriate for me. On the negative side, everything I received was white/black/gray, which is already a go-to palette for me, so the color choice was not very far out of my comfort zone. 

Stitch Fix, Wantable, and Trunk Club - Which one is best? 

I'm really torn between Wantable and Trunk Club as the overall winner here. Wantable was the better box for giving me interesting and new pieces to mix into my wardrobe, while Trunk Club delivered the most value in terms of giving me staple pieces, including shoes and potentially accessories, as well as the broadest number of items to choose from. For a seasonal wardrobe update or to find something specific I'd probably lean towards Trunk Club, which seems like it has the biggest inventory of all three, while I'd be interested in trying Wantable again just for the fun of it. I wasn't unhappy with Stitch Fix but it offers the fewest items and and just felt the most plain of all three (though I have heard they are having inventory issues at the moment).