Ever get bored of trawling through the thousands of products on ASOS looking for some inspiration, or staring at what you have in your wardrobe and deciding you have nothing to wear?

That's where services like Stitch Fix come in. Here's everything you need to know about Stitch Fix, including what it is, how it works, the brands involved and how much it costs.

What is Stitch Fix?

Stitch Fix is an online personal styling service for men and women, available in the UK and US. It's been around since 2011 and it has over a million users.

Users fill in a Style Profile, after which one of the personal stylists from the Stitch Fix team will hand-pick items that should suit your taste and budget, as well as any needs you have mentioned in the note to stylist section, such as a wedding or party you need an outfit for.

Your "Fix" will arrive with five items by a date set by you, along with a note that offers various styling tips, helping you figure out how to wear the various pieces. After the Fix has been delivered, you have seven days to try the pieces on at home and return anything you don't like. 

There's a prepaid returns label in the box too, but if you don't want to use the service offered, there are alternatives you can use on the Stitch Fix website. You can choose whether you sign up to receive a regular Fix, such as monthly, or choose on demand.

How Stitch Fix works 

The first step of Stitch Fix is filling out the Style Profile, which takes around 10-15 minutes and asks questions about your sizes, budget and the kinds of styles you like. The Stitch Fix app will push notifications to you to rate different styles between your Fixes to help the stylists to get a better idea of what you like. You can turn these off though. 

After you've completed the Style Profile, you'll need to pick the preferred date you want to receive your Fix delivery. When the stylist starts picking your items, you'll pay the £10/$20 styling fee, which is then deducted from anything you buy from the Fix.

You'll get a shortlist of options prior to your Fix being sent out that you have 30 hours to choose five items from. If you choose less than five items, your stylist will pick new items to complete your Fix and you can choose not to view the shortlist at all and get a surprise instead.

When you get your Fix, you have the opportunity to try everything on at home and you have seven days to choose what you want to keep and what you want to send back.

Once you've decided, you sign into your Stitch Fix account, and pick what you keep and return, as well as give feedback on the items. You get a 20 per cent discount if you buy all five items in the UK, and 25 per cent in the US. 

Once you checkout, you'll be charged for the items you keep, if any, and you then just need to seal the box back up, stick the prepaid returns label on the box - or print a different one - and take it to the respective drop off point, whether a post office or Hermes shop in the UK, for example, or a USPS mailbox in the US. If you don't like anything, you are only charged the initial styling fee. You need to make sure all the labels are still on the items you are returning.

You can then choose if you want the same stylist for your next Fix - if you have one booked, a new stylist or tell Stitch Fix you don't mind either way and they will choose for you.

In the US, you are also offered something called Your Shop, which is an online shop where you can instantly buy pieces whenever you like from a list of curated items all suited to your style, size and budget.

Which brands does Stitch Fix use? 

Stitch Fix offers multiple brands, with clothing pieces ranging from an average of £40 to an average of £160 in the UK and between $25 and $500 in the US. You'll typically only get items that are close to the budget you selected in the Style Profile though so you shouldn't get a £150/$150 jacket in your Fix if you said you would only normally pay £50/$50 for a jacket.

Here's a list of some of the Stitch Fix brands across the UK and US. There are over 60 in the UK and over 1000 in the US:

  • All Saints
  • Boss
  • Baum Und Pferdgarten
  • Mint Velvet
  • Rag & Bone
  • Gant
  • Michael Kors
  • Marella
  • Phase Eight
  • Mango
  • Samsoe
  • Oasis
  • Hobbs
  • Ted Baker
  • Warehouse
  • Whistles
  • Maison Labiche
  • Paige
  • Monsoon
  • Boden
  • Tiger of Sweden
  • Equipment
  • Scotch & Soda
  • Calvin Klein
  • Just Cavalli
  • Jack Wolfskin
  • Free People
  • French Connection
  • J Brand
  • Joules
  • Matt and Nat
  • Sweaty Betty
  • Karen Millen
  • Joie
  • Tommy Hilfiger
  • 2NDDAY
  • Closet London
  • Crew Clothing
  • Damsel in a Dress
  • DAY ET
  • DL1961
  • Emily & Fin
  • Flag & Anthem
  • Gestuz
  • Great Plains
  • Ilse Jacobson
  • In Wear
  • Lost Ink
  • Louche
  • Mavi
  • Moss CPH
  • Original Penguin
  • Selected Femme
  • Selected Homme
  • Six Ames
  • Soaked in Luxury
  • Storm & Marie
  • Sugarhill Brighton
  • Vero Moda
  • Victoria
  • Winser London
  • Y.A.S.
  • Toms
  • Kate Spade
  • John Varvatos

How much does Stitch Fix cost and how many items do you get?

Stitch Fix isn't a subscription service as such so there isn't a monthly fee, or at least not a traditional monthly fee. 

When you sign up, you choose how often you want to receive a Fix, with every 2-3 weeks, every month, every other month, every three months and on demand all options. You can change this at any time though, as well as move a Fix back, forward or skip it altogether, depending on what you might have going on. You can also cancel your Stitch Fix subscription at any time.

For each Fix, you pay a £10 or $20 styling fee, but this is redeemed against anything you purchase from the Fix. Each Fix contains five items, though Kids Fixes in the US have between 8 and 10.

What sizes does Stitch Fix cater for?

Stitch Fix is available for women in UK sizes 6-18 and US sizes XS-XXL, and plus sizes in 14W-24W, 1X-3X.

Stitch Fix is also available for men in sizes S-XXL, waist 28-38 and inside leg 30-34 in the UK and XS-3XL, waist sizes 28-48, tall shirts, and inseams 28-36 in the US. 

Stitch Fix is currently not available specifically for teens or kids in the UK. Plus sizes and kids are catered for in the US, as well as maternity, petite, big and tall. The kids sizes in the US range from 2T-18.

What is Stitch Fix like and should you try it?

We use Stitch Fix every other month and we have both the men and women's boxes coming to our home. There's yet to be a time where we haven't kept at least one item from the Fix, very often keeping more than half. 

We love Stitch Fix for finding items that we may not otherwise have come across, and we've found the quality of all the clothes in our Fixes to be excellent so far. 

While you set guidelines in terms of how much you'd be willing to spend on various items, such as t-shirts or dresses when you sign up, we do sometimes find that things are a little pricier than we would be willing to pay when they arrive. That said, there are times when we've loved something so much that we've bought it in the end anyway.

It's certainly worth trying Stitch Fix at least once in our opinion as even if you get one shirt or one dress that you love, that's better than none. Plus, it's an exciting day when the Stitch Fix box arrives.

Where is Stitch Fix available?

Stitch Fix is available in the US and the UK. You can use it on a browser or download the app for iOS. An Android app is being worked on. We recommend using the iOS app if you have an iPhone as it makes everything a little easier.

Can you gift Stitch Fix?

Stitch Fix offers gift cards in the US, which you can gift and the recipient can then use towards anything they buy from their next Fix. Gift cards are currently not available in the UK. 

How to cancel Stitch Fix

If you want to cancel Stitch Fix so you stop getting them, change your Fix frequency to On Demand. This means you'll need to book each Fix individually any time you want one.

In the iOS app, tap on Account in the bottom right corner and select 'Fix Frequency & booking'. From here, tap on the arrow showing how often you get a Fix and select 'On Demand: I'll book each Fix'.

On the Stitch Fix website, sign into your Stitch Fix account and tap on the three dots in the top right corner. From here, tap on Account and scroll down to Fix Frequency and tap on Manage Fix Frequency. You can then select 'I want to stop receiving automatic Fixes'. 

What are the alternatives to Stitch Fix?

Stitch Fix has several competitors, including Personal Shopper by Prime Wardrobe in the US. There's also Thread, Nordstrom Trunk Club and Lookiero, among others.

All offer a similar idea, but brands and prices vary across them.