Shopping in stores or online both come with the same baked-in flaw that affects many industries today: Customers are forced to sift through a lot of items they don’t want just to find the items they do.

From streaming services to news feeds, we simply have too much choice. 

Trunk Club is solving that dilemma for the fashion industry by using stunning amounts of data, connecting customers with the items they like most.

By recording what consumers like through an intuitive swiping platform, Trunk Club helps stylists present customers with items that fit with their style. Gone are the days of aimlessly wandering around the sweater section or scrolling through a dozen pictures of jeans.

To find out more, meet some of the company’s team members ushering in the next era of customized shopping.

Nordstrom

View Profile

FOUNDED: 2009

EMPLOYEES: 1,000+, 700+ local

WHAT THEY DO: Trunk Club is a personal styling company that connects stylists with customers and ships new, quality clothes right to their door.

WHERE THEY DO IT: Chicago

PUT IT IN THE BAG: As a Trunk Club employee, you get to enjoy the fruits of your own labor with discounted pricing on Trunk Club and Nordstrom merchandise. 

COLD BREW AND A VIEW: When you’re not off enjoying some of the unlimited PTO Trunk Club offers, feel free to grab a cup of cold brew and snacks from the coffee bar, then head to the rooftop to take in the scenery. 

Sarah Finken-Hernandez, Software Engineer, Merchandising Team

Finken-Hernandez is responsible for taking heaps of data and turning it into something usable for the stylists to pack the best trunks for users. Going forward, she hopes to find ways to make an even more personalized experience for Trunk Club’s customers. 

You’ve been working with Trunk Club for almost three years. What was your first impression of the company and how has that changed over the past few years?

My first impression was what a great group of people — that impression has remained consistent. I came through a boot camp and there was a ton of stuff that I didn’t know. I started on the AppOps team, which is the first line of support and triage for all of our stakeholders using our apps. I was constantly asking questions about technology and our product, but there was not a single person who didn’t respond with enthusiasm.

How does Trunk Club use data to make users’ experience better? 

We present the data to stylists that is useable and sortable for them to pack the best trunk. Our team is responsible for ingesting all sorts of data from Nordstrom for price and availability and general product data like size, color, brand, and more. How do we get the best selection if someone is going on vacation or sensitive to certain price points? The more trunks we pack, the better we are able to answer these questions. 

What are some additional products that utilize data to make the user experience better?

We have a relatively new project called Autofill. When a customer looks at a trunk and requests to add new items — and the stylist cannot get to the request in time — we still want to make sure the user is having their needs met and receiving those additional items. Autofill will figure out what items to add in that will complement the items in the trunk based on what is in the trunk and what is removed.

What is your tech stack comprised of? How does Trunk Club encourage your team to discover new tools?

On the back end, we use Ruby and Sinatra, and the front end is primarily React. We use other tools like Kafka and Elasticsearch and deploy our code. For new tools, there is a clear direction of what needs to be done, but if there is a tool that is better for the job, the engineers have to agree that it makes sense — there is no limit for proof of concepts here. 
 

My first impression was what a great group of people — that impression has always been consistent.”

Trunk Club balances its innovation efforts between improving customer-facing products and internal processes. What benefits do you find this approach provides?

The better the app is, the better and more quickly users are able to finish what they’re trying to accomplish. Our internal apps are treated the same way we treat our customer-facing apps; we have dedicated teams that work on both. By providing high-quality apps to our internal teams, we help them do their jobs more effectively — this includes stylists, warehouse employees, and others.  

Mike Markowski, Vice President of Product Management

Markowski leads a team of product managers and product designers that defines and executes the strategy for Trunk Club’s product portfolio. He and his team work closely with Trunk Club’s engineers to deliver digital technology solutions.  

What steps go into deciding which products Trunk Club will launch next? What role do you play and what role do other members of your team play? 

Deciding what products to launch is driven by our product discovery process. Guided by our company and product objectives, we conduct extensive customer research to understand the most critical customer needs. One of the advantages we have is working right alongside our stylists, which allows us to experience customer pain points and establish empathy. By having a thorough understanding of our customer needs, we are able to identify opportunities, design experiences, and build technical solutions to solve the needs.

What are some of the products or innovations that your team has created that you’re most proud of? 

A couple of our key customer experiences launched this year include Your Picks and Style Swipes. Your Picks provides customers with a self-service opportunity to select products coupled with the advice of their expertly trained Trunk Club stylist. With this new feature, after the customer receives our exceptional styling service through a trunk, they are provided with the opportunity to add products from categories such as undergarments, accessories and jewelry. This has allowed us to become a one-stop shop for someone’s entire wardrobe needs. 

Style Swipes — think Tinder for clothing items — is an interactive and fun experience where customers quickly swipe left or right on different items to give their stylists a better sense of their style. By learning what customers like and don’t like, we enable our stylists to better understand their unique style, which allows them to create a more personalized styling experience.
 

One of the advantages we have is working right alongside our stylists, which allows us to experience customer pain points and establish empathy.”

You’ve worked for a number of major companies before joining Trunk Club. What differences do you see in how Trunk Club operates? 

Trunk Club really fosters an environment of creativity and innovation. Every individual is empowered to contribute ideas and own solutions to deliver great customer experiences. We’ve maintained a lean and agile structure, which allows us to quickly pivot to meet changing business, customer and industry needs. Coupling that with the support of our parent company, Nordstrom — an outstanding, proven leader in the fashion industry — we are well-positioned to deliver a unique and differentiated styling service to our customers. Customer obsession is a core value, and everyone in the org is passionate about the service we provide.  

In which ways does Trunk Club’s overall culture encourage tech innovation? In what ways do you feel like your team is on the cutting edge in your industry? 

Trunk Club prides itself on the personal touch and expert styling services we are able to provide our customers. However, the company recognizes the importance of infusing technical innovation and human ingenuity in order to deliver those services. We have a talented tech organization where everyone is focused on delivering quality technical solutions to support our core business objectives. By working directly with our stylists, service and other internal support teams, we are able to jointly identify valuable opportunities. 

Our platform and infrastructure was built in a way that allows us to quickly test, learn, iterate and adapt, ensuring we are always maximizing value in what we deliver. We’ve also built strong product engineering teams — consisting of a product manager, engineering manager, design lead, engineers and quality — around our products.