We are now living in an era of curation. While some of it is actually pro-consumer oriented, in the sense that small business owners or startups are actually trying to focus on differentiating themselves from “heartless corporations,” a lot of is branding and marketing. Donate a few bucks to some cause, no matter how small, and hire a blogger to highlight the latest trends— that sort of thing that feels personal, but is actually just as detached as the very competitors these companies are trying to best. Imprint is somewhere in-between, but it benefits from a sleek interface and a wide variety of items to choose from.
The gist is that you load up the app, and are presented with all sorts of accessories and clothing options, hand-picked by the creators of Imprint (and whatever designers decide to directly partner with them). Clicking an item will bring up a little story about it, explaining how the concept came about, and so on.
They range from cute and sincere to marketing jargon, so your mileage my vary when it comes to each individual thing. Once you’ve decided on a style, there’s options for colors, size, and a checkout process. There’s even a tab for sending in questions with a free live chat service (which I’ve yet to get a reply for after several days).
It’s…trendy, to say the least. There’s anything from $45 bangles to $1,000+ document portfolios, and plenty of things in-between, like $80 watches. It’s mostly tinted towards office types, but there are a few affordable (and I don’t mean “San Francisco affordable”) options.
It could definitely stand to expand though, with more categories, and even more items in specific sections—like coffee, which only has grinders, not beans or even cups. As the service evolves more items will be added naturally, but there are a number of holes to be addressed to date.
In terms of clothing and accessories though, they mostly have it covered. There’s outerwear, watches, pants, t-shirts, footwear, and even a category for denim. If any of this sounds enticing, you’re probably the target audience, and checking it out is probably a good idea.
Imprint is an iOS app that can be downloaded for free in the iTunes App Store.