The Secret to Modcloth's Success: Be Cute and Nice

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ModCloth is a bigtime San Francisco success story. The online retailer's popularity is legendary, so in a feature on Sunday, the SF Chronicle sussed out the recipe for the company's secret sauce.

It's partly the merchandise: the site offers up retro-inspired and vintage clothing at near thrift-shop prices, but without the hassle of digging through mounds of moldy duds to find the big score. Another essential ingredient: the collections are well-curated by an adoring, social media-savvy fan base that contributes through up-voting favorite picks and submitting original designs.

The company's inclusive nature has also played a part in garnering the site a level of community involvement rarely seen in an ecommerce shop. Various styles and body types are represented, and the site also recently added an extensive plus-size collection.

So we decided to give the site a try, using comments and reviews to guide us towards the perfect Summer dress, and adorable lacy flats to match. And we feel pretty confident, thanks to user comments, that we actually ordered the correct size.—Esther Hahn
·Retro ModCloth bare fresh, flirty side [The San Francisco Chronicle]
·ModCloth [Official Site]
·Bay Area Dominates Fast Company's Top 50 Innovative Companies, 13 Are Fashion Startups [Racked SF]