Personalized styling services at your fingertip | Founder Heidi Shara tells us all about Dubai-based Wear That

It’s 2018, and Heidi Shara wakes up with an idea that’s about to change the game. Originally from Australia, Shara landed in Dubai almost 10 years ago to work in luxury retail before she eventually took a leap of faith and embarked on her entrepreneurial journey. After having styled countless of women across the globe and dedicated over 10 years to Fashion Buying for both luxury and mass markets, Shara couldn’t help but observe the existing demand for personal styling services for non VIPs, for women like you and me, who just wish to not think and look for hours before every single event. 

By Cynthia Jreige

Supported by years in the industry and the clear gap in the market, Wear That saw the light with the mission to be “every #realgirls styling solution.” 
So what exactly does Wear That propose? The base principle is simple: a digital platform, Wear That “creates personalized looks for women to try before they buy in the comfort of their own home, with a real-life personal stylist just a WhatsApp away.” Aka you don’t have a single reason left to tell us you’re too busy now. 

The company’s business model propose a unique feature, personalization at scale, “using technology and algorithms to not only provide the ultimate personalized experience, but optimize business efficiencies,” in other terms, a revolutionizing way to shop. With such innovation at our fingertips, it’s with no surprise that Wear That has seduced not only clients, but over 200 partner brands: “We love to introduce our clients to unique brands that they can’t get anywhere else, as well as the labels they know and love. At the start like any startup getting brands and suppliers onboard is difficult however there was a deep belief in what we were doing(…)”  

Once you sign up, you’ll find at the other end of your Whatsapp text, a stylist who will be there to answer all your questions and be your fashion fairy godmother. Asked on how such stylists are chosen to work at Wear That, Shara expressed: “We look for stylists based on their capacities to address the different body shapes, lifestyles, needs and requirements of the women in the UAE and across the region, but who ultimately thrive on making women feel confident and comfortable in their outfits. We have stylists from all over the world, with a mix of ages, backgrounds and sizes and shapes. All of these qualities are used to determine which client they will have the pleasure of being matched with.”  

Those clients are women of over 60 nationalities with “British, Indian, Arab (expat and local) at the top, followed closely by a wide range of European and North American clients.” 
A testimony of the company’s success, the average basket of the Wear That client has “increased in 2022 across [their] clients with double digit growth month on month.” However, Shara notes an interesting decrease for higher priced items (1000 AED+) “across most nationalities” while customers from UAE, KSA and Lebanon “are buying higher priced items across the board.” With a highly personalized business model, which is able to “understand the consumption patterns and behaviors across different nationalities as well as various age groups, body shapes, sizes and occupations,” the satisfaction and loyalty of the users have been boosted, resulting in 75% retention rate in 2022. 

Mainly counting on the word of mouth to increase their visibility, Shara shares the importance of social media, digital marketing, events and PR as significant tools for growth. With her success, we were curious to ask Shara about her tips on how to start a fashion business. “Consistency is key. Being consistent allows you to establish awareness, build trust and deliver your services efficiently. Also, by listening to your customers you’re fundamentally providing a window to manage customer experience, customer satisfaction, fuel customer loyalty, improve your products and services.” 
 
With all this, what does Wear That dream of achieving now? “Wear That world domination! There are a lot of growth opportunities ahead for us and we want to continue to innovate the industry and the way women shop. The further we can spread the positivity of our shopping experience to women, the better!” 





Discover more on Wear That’s website right here!