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Shop Look Isn’t Polypore...but so far: It’s a close second
Today is Day 1 of our Polyvore withdrawal and right now...it’s not going very well. In over a couple of hours: Polyvore has shut down, bought and sold to the highest bidder (by way of SSENSE), and has become like every other website for fashion (and not very interesting about it, I may add). We, the fans and loyal people of the world and interweb, who love and adore Polyvore as much as I do, won’t take this sitting down. So far, Stage 1 has begun: Denial and Shock.
A natural response for Polyvore people who found out that their favorite place to go, the website that made them feel good, a place where they could make friends, compliment, and create entire identities and personalities, is gone. A world where it was bright, crazy, unpredictable, and - above all - special made life beautiful and bearable. The feeling of pride and happiness in the sense of style and preferences is replaced by new feelings: mediocrity and bland.
For others, it was the only thing that gave them a sense of joy. A way for ordinary people to become different: to become high-end fashionistas and trendsetters without damaging their budget or bank account. It was modest but elegant; innovative and intriguing. A beautiful blend of code, fashion, and the love of the fashion world that made this dream a reality.
Now, I will be blunt, and you all deserve to know my honest opinion. I am an optimistic person: I firmly believe that good things will happen, that out of a dark world a bright light will appear. I have faith that Polyvore won’t be eliminated or taken down. Some of you might think of me as a naïve person, while others still believe that everything will be set right. Truth be told...I’m afraid. I’m worried that it’s not going to be enough and Polyvore might cease to exist, which is something I don’t want to happen (unless if I have anything to say about it).
The petition #BringBackPolyvore is going great so far. We’ve exceeded our 5k limit, and it’s on track to almost 7500 signatures. News buzz about our petition is spreading, and everyone is noticing Polyvore. However, if some people feel they should contribute a little more, you can email Oath Inc. (the company that owns Polyvore), and it’s CEO Tim Armstrong. Email the founders and CEO of Polyvore itself. Make your voices heard to him saying that to cancel or remove altogether the Polyvore website and program, is to remove and suppress the creativity and passions of the people.
Furthermore, with all this talk about a backup website in case, I submit to all of you: ShopLook.io. It’s putting some extra things on its site, but it’s an excellent alternative for Polyvore. Let me explain a few details about the website.
First of all, it’s cute; A trendy chic cute. It’s pure and bright, has a lot of potential for improvement, and is formatted the same as Polyvore. They are working diligently to make sure that Shop Look has some of the same features as Polyvore did, like the option of creating collections and fashion sets, clipping items to your profile and items list, commenting and liking fashion sets from other users, and sharing them on Pinterest.
To continue, there are some new features they’re adding throughout the upcoming months: developing a new iOS and Android app for portable usage. Being able to communicate directly with the user and a new thing they’re adding is commission sharing with outfit creators (from what I’ve read on the button that says for ‘Polyvore Users'). Right now, they’re still working on the site so it will take a while before everything is ready to go. The subscription is free, just like Polyvore, and you can follow them on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest to follow what’s going on.
For the next few days (or however long it takes), fighting for this beloved website is going to be a more significant challenge. But we have to remember that “An honest voice is sometimes louder than a crowd’s. Trust your voice.” - Reese Witherspoon
To sign the petition: https://www.change.org/p/former-polyvore-users-creative-minds-bring-back-polyvore?recruiter=7034817&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=share_petition&utm_term=triggered
Tim Armstrong:
Twitter: @tim_armstrong (that’s all I could find on him)
SSENSE IS GOING DOWN!!!
I was on the @BBPolyvore Facebook page and stumbled upon this: a photo of a customer complaint from a loyal SSENSE User about how the fashion site handled its acquisition of Polyvore. And from what I’ve read (and hopefully what you’ll read soon) this person is disappointed, disgusted, and disillusioned to this company’s business ethics...and I’m super happy!!!
This is the kind of change we need to expose as well as keep fighting SSENSE from their business ‘plan.’ Right now, we need to stand together - now more than ever - and keep protesting their products, website, and business for what they’ve done to us.
I don’t know when our beloved Polyvore will return or how, but I still have hope that the Polyfam is going to beat this...and I still believe that we will win this fight.
Our petition has reached 11K signatures and is on track for 15K at change.org. Repost this, tweet it, retweet it, show it on Facebook and Instagram, and let the world know: we are never backing down and we will never give up!!
Here’s the petition: https://www.change.org/p/former-polyvore-users-creative-minds-bring-back-polyvore