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Quture: AI Fashion Marketplace for GenZ
We are the GenZ fashion marketplace where style finds you. A viral thrifting app for Gen Z fashion enthusiasts, reaching 10K active users, $300K GMV, and $50K+ raised in just 18 months.
30K
Total Downloads
Across 5 college campuses in 18 months
10K
Monthly Active Users
Highly engaged fashion enthusiasts
$300K
Gross Merchandise Value
Vibrant p2p exchanges
9
MVP Versions
Rapid iteration from paper to production
Watch Demo: See Quture in Action!

02:02

YouTube

QUTURE "2 MIN PRODUCT BREAKDOWN"

Check out this video! You want to.. Quture - Where Style Finds You

Product Demo

Google Docs

Quture App WalkThrough

Product Website

www.quturefashion.com

Quture Fashion

GenZ AI fashion marketplace Where Style finds you

Product Pitch Deck

Google Docs

Quture Product Deck

2. Why are we building Quture?
As a environmental conscious fashion enthusiast, I've been obsessed with curating my daily outfits. Not just to look good, but to express who I am, my personal philosophy, made wearable.
My secondhand fashion journey:
Therefore, over the years, I tried everything to document my style and connect with others who shared the same obsession.
I tested apps, joined fashion forums, searched for communities. Nothing clicked.
I ended up manually snapping photos of my outfits and saving them in my Notes app, that was my style archive. (shown on the right)
When finding new pieces, the experience was equally broken. I'd scroll endlessly through sites, finding nothing that matched my taste or budget. Either wrong vibe, or way too expensive.
So I started researching online secondhand fashion industry,
Turns out, secondhand fashion is growing 7x faster than traditional retail, yet the average user experience is completely fragmented.
On R/secondhandfashion, secondhand fashion enthusiasts (especially GenZs) tell us over and over:
I love shopping, but after opening 30 tabs, the decision fatigue really kicks in. With all the social media algorithms out there, why can't we have outfits recommended to me and sold at the same place?
When we shop in the mall, we would let serendipity guide you to a piece that catches our attention. But online? You go to Pinterest for inspiration, Google for deals, then eBay to buy. So much friction, leading to even more lost transactions.
The Opportunity: $1.84 Trillion Industry Ripe for Disruption
72% of Gen Z find fashion inspiration on social media like TikTok and Pinterest, but only 1 in 4 actually purchase there. The disconnect between inspiration and action creates massive friction.
72%
Get inspiration from social media
TikTok and Pinterest lead fashion discovery
64%
Overwhelmed by cluttered fashion feed
Discouraging online secondhand shopping
58%
Jump 12+ online websites to complete a transaction
Creating massive decision fatigue
These are alarming and unacceptable numbers, especially for eCommerce which already struggles with conversion from attention to checkout. The fashion industry is massive yet wildly fragmented and outdated, especially underserving the Gen Z generation, our preferred eCommerce has shifted drastically.
Gen Z isn't looking for polished ads or soulless storefronts, we value authenticity, trust peer style, and seek real community. We follow what friends and creators wear. That's where true influence happens.
Changes need to happen.
It starts by addressing the key pains of secondhand online shoppers:
After conducting 200+ customer interviews, here are the most common pains and struggles we heard:
*We will dive into the more detailed customer findings in the next section (customer persona)
Core Secondhand Challenges
  • Retail is becoming generic, driving demand for independent brands as they are seen as trustworthy
  • Second-hand online shopping is expensive, inefficient and fragmented, despite high demand
  • Buyers struggle with platforms that lack intuitive design, but they constantly seek alternative solutions.
Key Pains
  • Fragmented discovery across multiple platforms leads to high CAC, and low LTV from average shopper.
  • Decision fatigue from cluttered feeds, too much noise
  • Lack of trust in seller credibility, scammers are common
  • Platforms optimize for consumption, yet no aesthetic customization or style validation, no community
In summary,
GenZ are tried of polished online ads, soulless fast fashion slop and outdated secondhand marketplaces.
They are looking for a platform that stands for their aesthetic, attracts like-minded fashion-forward peers, while putting the vibrant community first before consumption and conversion.
We value authenticity, trust peer style, and follow what friends and creators wear. After interviewing 200 GenZ secondhand shoppers,I started thinking:
What if there was a fashion Pinterest moodboard Gen Zs could actually shop from?
A space where outfit inspiration flows straight into a secondhand marketplace.
And, Quture was born..
3. Customer Persona
After narrowing down the pain point of Gen Z fashion shoppers, we realized in order to curate a vibrant marketplace and community, we also need sellers who not only care about making profit, but also understands personal branding, looks to share their aesthetic and allow their taste and authenticity to be the best sales pitch for their secondhand inventory.
At Quture, we are building a 2-sided marketplace, thus we have to identify and solve
→ The chicken-and-egg problem.
To put plainly, how do we engage high-volume sellers with good taste, thus attracting loyal and sincere buyers?
Therefore, when we conduct user research, we aim to find the nuanced pain points and friction points of buyers, sellers and people who both buy and sell.
In the span of 2 month, we conducted 200 customer interviews,
In-person interview at New York, LA, SF (Qualitative Data)

Google Docs

Customer discovery.MP4

In-person user interview recorded
Jenny - (Buyer Profile)

Google Docs

Jenny - Buyer Customer Interview.m4a

Ethan (Seller Profile)

Google Docs

Ethan - Seller Customer Interview.m4a

Quentin (Buyer & Seller)

Google Docs

Quentin - Buy & Sell Interview.m4a

A/B testing to gauge user onboarding friction (Quantitative Data)
Posthog tracking our App UX precisely down to every click, every possible friction point, optimizing via disciplined testing sprints. (Shown below)
Among frequent and infrequent secondhand shoppers, asking the important questions
  1. What is stopping you from buying more secondhand online?
  1. What are you most frustrated by platforms like Depop and Poshmark(current industry leaders)?
  1. How does it make you feel when you browse fast fashion websites Vs. secondhand fashion websites?
  1. What are some actions you take toward buying sustainable clothes? (Show do not tell, we have them show us their purchase histories, because people tend to exaggerate their sustainable efforts quite significantly)
  1. What are the online fashion communities you are the biggest fan of?
Customer personas we crafted:
Meet Our Primary Seller: The College Fashion Student Nicole
Meet Our Primary Buyer: The College Social Thrifter Victoria
Overall, buyers and sellers struggle in silence and are actively seeking alternatives:
SELLERS
  • Struggle to reach targeted audience, especially those looking for unique, curated fashion pieces.
  • Limited tools to effectively showcase products
  • Difficulty managing listings across platforms with a lack of integration for social engagement and sales.
BUYERS
  • Tedious and fragmented process to discover, define, and exchange personal style across multiple platforms (social media, search engines, and eCommerce sites).
  • Challenge finding used apparel that aligns with personal taste.
  • Frustration with lack of personalized inspiration, unpleasant having to sift through generic listings.
People who buy and sell
  • Struggle to find a marketplace that matches their aesthetics
  • Struggle to find a sense of belonging and community as most platforms are promotional heavy or doesn't support transaction.
With such complicated buying selling dynamic at play, we were able to identify that secondhand online demand is massive and growing exponentially, but marketplaces execution fail to keep up and lean into Gen Z purchase habits.
In order to solve this problem, we ought to dive deeper into how customers actually engage in shopping secondhand online.
Let's dive into the customer journey..
4. Customer Journey
Interview results show that the 200+ Gen Z online secondhand shoppers
95%
Cart abandonment rate
Low fit
12+
Websites viewed
Low Engagement & Swtiching cost
>30%
Return rate
Low trust
Let's break down this tedious shopper user journey
Step 1: Discover Aesthetics
Current Behavior:
Users get outfit ideas from TikTok and Pinterest but can’t buy where they’re inspired.
Friction Points:
  • 72% of Gen Z find inspiration on social media, but only 25% purchase there.
  • Context is lost when switching between TikTok, Google, and resale sites.
  • Decision fatigue sets in after opening 30+ tabs.
What Shoppers Seek:
A single place where inspiration and purchase coexist seamlessly.
2. Define Taste
Current Behavior:
Users form their style preferences mentally, but platforms fail to reflect or learn them.
Friction Points:
  1. 95% cart abandonment due to poor fit and lack of personalization.
  1. No adaptive taste profiling or size prediction tools.
  1. Unclear quality standards create low purchase confidence.
What Shoppers Seek:
AI personalization that understands their aesthetic, fit, and intent.
3. Search Deals
Current Behavior:
Users jump across multiple resale platforms to find matching pieces.
Friction Points:
  1. Average user visits 12+ websites before purchasing.
  1. 64% feel overwhelmed by cluttered, uncurated feeds.
  1. Low seller verification leads to scams and trust issues.
What Shoppers Seek:
A centralized, curated hub that filters noise and ensures trust.
4. Purchase & Retention
Current Behavior:
Users complete purchases on external sites and rarely re-engage.
Friction Points:
  1. 30% return rate caused by low trust and poor expectations.
  1. Checkout flow breaks across disconnected platforms.
  1. No community or feedback loop post-purchase.
What Shoppers Seek:
A trusted, in-platform exchange with social validation and retention built in
How does Quture collapse this fragmented journey into one seamless, delightful experience?
Step 1:
Awareness & Curiosity
Discovery through TikTok virality, friend invites, college flyers, and outfit-of-the-day reposts. Tracked with UTM-tagged links and invite trees.
Step 2:
Onboarding & Personalization
Google Sign-in, pick style genres, add measurements—personalized board appears in under 30 seconds. Users feel seen immediately.
Step 3:
Exploration & Engagement
TikTok + Pinterest hybrid UX. Scroll curated fits, save items, follow stylistic users. Moodboard browsing drives 2.3x longer sessions.
Step 4:
Exchange & Trust
Sellers upload 3+ styled photos with storytelling. Buyers make binding, time-limited offers. Trust layer shows ratings and visible trade history.
5. Product Roadmap
6. User Story & Acceptance Criteria
Understanding our users' needs and defining the success metrics for each feature for the team.
USER STORY
ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA
1) Personalized discovery
As a Gen-Z shopper, I want a curated feed that feels instant so I can find pieces I love without feeling overwhelmed.
In-practice:
Instant” should feel under ~2s per refresh on the app.
Functionality:
Show a ranked, taste-matched feed and learn from saves/hides/follows.
Performance:
Feed refresh target: under ~2s feels fast; never exceed ~5s cold-start (Android flags 5s+ as “excessive”), because slower loads crush conversion.
2) Visual search (photo → similar)
As a user, I want to snap or paste a photo and get close matches in seconds so I can shop what I see.
In-practice:
“Close” should feel like the top results clearly share color/silhouette.
Functionality:
Accept camera/gallery/link, then return a scannable set of similar items.
Performance:
First results should feel near-instant (~2s) because speed lifts conversion and reduces drop-offs.
3) Digital wardrobe + outfit suggestions
As a user, I want a simple way to build my wardrobe so Quture can suggest pieces that “complete the look.”
In-practice:
Users should see relevant suggestions within a breath or two after adding.
Functionality:
Add via camera/gallery/past purchases; show “complete the look” suggestions promptly.
Usability:
Keep interactions to a few taps; faster flows drive higher add-to-cart and conversion.
4) One-flow purchase
As a buyer, I want to go from discovery to pay in one smooth flow so I don’t second-guess.
In-practice:
The flow should feel like ≤3 quick taps with a clear total before pay.
Functionality:
From listing: select options, see full price, pay, get tracking.
Performance:
Keep it single-flow and fast because every extra second/step costs conversions (0.1s speedups can lift retail conversions ≈8%).
5) Trust & credibility (reliability first)
As a buyer, I want obvious trust signals so I’m comfortable purchasing from a stranger.
In-practice:
Confidence rises when I can see ratings, sales history, and verification at a glance.
Functionality:
Show seller rating, sales count, response time, verification.
Reliability:
Disputes receive a timely first response; visible status lowers abandonment near checkout (abandonment ~70% across e-commerce).
6) Lightning listing for high-volume sellers
As a power seller, I want to list in under a minute so inventory keeps moving.
In-practice:
Success feels like posting 5 items in about a minute, not five.
Functionality:
Batch add (camera roll/CSV), auto-fill details, quick publish.
Performance:
Faster listing matters because marketplace CVRs are tight (eBay typical 1–5%, Depop ~2–3%); time saved compounds into GMV.
7) Style posts → shop the look
As a creator, I want to post an outfit and tag pieces so followers can buy in two taps.
In-practice:
It should feel like content and commerce are the same surface.
Functionality:
Post photos/short video, tag items; tap-through to purchasable listing in ~2 taps.
Usability:
Social surfaces matter, Poshmark’s engagement model is a key driver of time-in-app and sales.
8) Smart alerts (price, restock, fit)
As a user, I want alerts that feel useful, not spammy, so I act the moment the right piece appears.
In-practice:
Useful = timely, relevant, and respecting quiet hours.
Functionality:
Opt-in alerts per item/type; deep-link to the exact listing.
Usability:
Keep notifications meaningful; too many pings push users away and erode conversion.
9) Campus/community invites
As a student, I want invites and local feeds so my circle can trade quickly on campus.
In-practice:
Momentum feels like new friends joining and deals appearing nearby.
Functionality:
Share a personal invite; new users land in a local, active feed.
Performance:
Local liquidity boosts conversion vs generic feeds (fashion CVR baselines ~2–3%).
7. Risks
DATA AND PRIVACY RISKS
Collecting and processing personal data (e.g., wardrobe details, shopping preferences) could expose the platform to privacy concerns and potential breaches
Mitigation:
Implement robust encryption and ensure compliance with privacy laws (such as GDPR). Provide clear options for users to control their data and opt-in for features.
Data security is the true cornerstone of every marketplace!
TECHNOLOGICAL RISKS
Offering too many advanced features (AI wardrobe, visual search, fashion boards) could confuse or overwhelm users, negatively impacting their overall experience.
Mitigation:
Prioritize user research to focus on the most valuable features and simplify the interface to avoid overwhelming users with too many options.
No AI feature should be a must-have, only cherry on tops!
USER ENGAGEMENT RISKS
Because Quture is a 2-sided marketplace, it is extremely difficult to acquire initial users on either side of the market. Additionally, second-hand fashion market is saturated with low platform switching cost, leading to scaling challenges at the beginning.
Mitigation:
We developed a strong marketing strategy that highlights Quture's unique value propositions: we turned a C2C marketplace into B2B, partnering with thrift stores on the sell side, and college campuses on the buy side.
Hyper focusing our GTM on high-volume buyers and sellers!
LEGAL AND COMPLIANCE RISKS
The platform could face legal challenges, such as handling disputes between buyers and sellers, ensuring proper copyright for user-generated content (fashion boards), and adhering to second-hand goods regulations.
Mitigation:
We deploy clear terms of service and policies to address buyer-seller disputes, and establish proper content moderation guidelines. Ensure compliance with laws related to selling second-hand goods and intellectual property.
Up-front clarity and legal guardrails are must haves!
8. Business Model (Intermediation)
Our intermediation model is standard in the secondhand eCommerce space, We take a 10% transaction fee off each transaction that takes place on the platform.
Average transaction value → 35 USD
9. System Architecture
Technical Architecture & Stack
Frontend: React Native
  • Fast navigation and visually rich card components
  • Shared components with strict TypeScript typing
  • Lightweight design system for cross-device consistency
  • Image compression and lazy loading on every card
Backend: Next.js + MongoDB
  • REST endpoints with clear API contracts
  • JWT authentication with secure token storage
  • Collections for users, items, moodboards, transactions
Analytics: PostHog + FullStory
  • Event tracking for invite trees, saves, follows, offers
  • Session replay during onboarding studies
  • A/B testing with simple feature flags
  • Funnel analysis for checkout outcomes
Performance Standards
  • Device matrix testing on 2 new + 1 old iPhone
  • Cold start time and scroll performance measured per build
  • Network error states that teach next steps
10. Go-to-market
Go-To-Market Strategy: Three-Phase Launch
Phase 1: Seller-First Seeding
Cohost vintage markets in NYC and LA to onboard high-quality sellers. Focus on power sellers: fashion students, curated vintage brands, and creators. Maintain invite-only supply to drive pride and trust.
Phase 2: Social Virality
Launch "Outfits from girls on my campus" TikTok series. Use AI-generated moodboard tools as viral hooks. Leverage founder-led content to tell the story and connect directly with Gen Z.
Phase 3: Flip Demand Loop
Once sellers list consistently, activate buyer demand through their following plus Quture's discovery UX. Push weekly aesthetic drops styled by AI. Capture interest through exclusivity and early access.
Results: Validation at Scale
30K
Total Downloads
Across 5 college campuses in 18 months
10K
Monthly Active Users
Highly engaged fashion community
50k
Non-dilutive Funding
Received high customer and investor
3.4:1
LTV:CAC Ratio
Profitable from Day 1 of beta launch
70%
Buyer-Seller Overlap
Creating a powerful network flywheel effect
70%
Buyer-Seller Overlap
Creating a powerful network flywheel effect
2.3x
Longer Sessions
Moodboards vs. Depop's product feed
Community Milestones
  • Partnership with Strike & Armour vintage collective
  • 1K+ Instagram followers in first 40 days
  • 15K+ likes on TikTok fashion content
  • 140 downloads and 50+ active hours in MVP week
Funding Success
  • $50K+ raised through non-dilutive grants
  • Multiple pitch competition wins
  • Early-stage investor interest secured
  • Revenue positive from beta launch
11. MVP
Design Principles That Drove Success
Moodboard-First Home
Taste and visual composition lead every decision. Users browse by aesthetic, not endless product grids.
30-Second Onboarding
First personalized board appears immediately after style and size input. People feel seen and stay engaged.
Story-Driven Listings
Three styled photos and context caption required. Buyers see vibe and fit context, not just price tags.
Credibility-First Offers
Clear time windows, visible seller history, binding commitments. Protects sellers while giving buyers clarity.
Building the MVP: 9 Versions in 18 Months
I led full-stack development in React Native and Next.js, conducting rapid iteration cycles from paper sketches to production. Each version shipped with a clear hypothesis, measurable change, and evidence-based keep or kill decision.
1
V0: Paper Flows
Outside-in design. Can users explain the product back after one minute? Establishing the core value proposition.
2
V1-2: Gray Wireframes → Clickable Figma
Navigation, information hierarchy, copy tone. Measured time to complete first save on InVision-style clickthrough.
3
V3-4: React Native Spike → Minimal Onboarding
Proved stack performance on older phones. Shipped Google Sign-in flow with instant personalization in 30 seconds.
4
V5-6: Moodboard Home → Storyteller Listings
Replaced mixed grids with composed looks. Required 3 styled photos + caption. Quality of supply and saves both improved.
5
V7-8: Trust Layer → Binding Offers
Added ratings, trade history, credibility panels. Clear timer and terms. Ghosted threads fell, accepted offers rose significantly.
Step 1. Ideation + Mood boarding
UIUX Ideation
Mood-boarding
Step 2: Figma Prototyping
Step 3: Product Flow & Logic
MVP Demo