Stitch Fix’s New Freestyle Program Lets You Shop Their Collections Without Being Tied Down to a Subscription (& We Love It)

• Functionality: 19/20
• Ease of Use: 18/20
• Value: 19/20
• Selections: 19/20
• Overall Impression: 18/20
• Total: 93/100 

Stitch Fix is known for their fashion subscription boxes where a stylist curates clothes for your your personal style fit preferences, based on a fairly in-depth quiz. For anyone who suffers from decision paralysis, having a professional make the selects for you is a great option. As a control freak, though, it’s tough to relinquish that type of power over something I care so much about—my wardrobe. But recently, the brand opened their site to some good ol’ online shopping with its Freestyle feature. Since I’m working on building a capsule wardrobe at the moment, I was curious to see if I could find a few pieces to age well with my minimalist collection over the next few years (like, ahem, this gorgeous French Connection sweater). Here’s my experience with FreeStyle—the pros, cons and everything in between.

The brand’s style quiz will guide you through different ensembles and you basically just choose if it’s your style or not. This will help add some personalization to the outfits that are recommended for you. Plus, you can enter your sizes and they will automatically be selected when you click on a piece you love (this was so helpful so I could see what was out of stock right away). I did find that a lot of the images in the quiz were kinda outdated (a pair of ripped skinny jeans in 2022? Eek) which made me wonder if they site could really understand my personal taste. Fortunately, the actual products I sifted through were on-trend and of the moment. 

The quiz was long, but it was cool to the see the fruits of that effort: a whole section named after me with looks put together that they think you’ll love. While real stylists curate the Stitch Fix boxes for customers, this page is auto generated based on your input and other items you’ve viewed. I loved being able to shop the individual pieces in these looks without having to search for them on the site. For the most part, I was pleased with how well the quiz captured my style (hello, balloon sleeves, chunky heels and *lots* of neutrals.) The way pieces are laid out and paired with a full outfit helped me visualize if I would actually wear it or not. If you like the sweater but not the pants, you can click on one without the other. If you aren't feeling the My Looks section, don't fret, you can also search by other categories too, like brand, specific clothing types, new arrivals, under-$50 and more.

My biggest beef was more of a technical one: The page kept reloading to the top after I clicked back from viewing a single item—every online shopper’s nightmare. As for the personal styling,  sure, there were a few selections that weren’t my style (looking at you, fitted blazers and Chelsea boots). But did I find some staples to add to my wardrobe, like these Dolce Vita booties and this Free People sweater, that I’m not sure I would have come across in my typical shopping experiences because they aren’t my go-to brands.

I enjoyed shopping on Freestyle. It was like hybrid of perusing on a Nordstrom or Verishop with the personal stylist angle of StitchFix, which helps narrow down the endless selections. I am pretty set (read: completely set) and confident with my personal style, so I’m not sure I always need the extra help from a curator, but for someone who’s trying to nail down their vibe, I do recommend trying out FreeStyle since it’s a healthy mix of guided and free-for-all shopping.