A Charlotte-based fashion startup geared toward college-age women is preparing to launch at four local campuses this fall.
Adla was founded in March 2020 by Holly Leslie to give college women an online shopping experience curated to their own individual styles with less hassle than a typical online purchase.
The platform uses machine learning and data to curate the clothing put into customers' bags. That allows boutique brands and retailers to get the right style clothing in front of the ideal audience, Leslie said. The bags are delivered by Adla to shoppers' dorms or apartments. They're able to try on the clothing, choose what they want to keep and Adla will return to pick up the rest.
"Because we’re a college brand, in every school there are specific styles, so we have on-the-ground stylists at every school," she said. "Our fashion interns to tell us what is trending on each campus. ... We use that data, as well as previous purchasing trends of customers, to help curate the bag."
The platform has a chat function, which allows customers to communicate with their friends who are also using the service. Leslie said she's also working on building a social media-type application.
"Right now it’s an automated chat service, and you can add friends to that and create try-on groups," she said. "In the social app, which we're building out for fall semester, you'll be able to see what your friends get in their bags and build group chats."
Adla currently serves about 20% of women students at High Point, Elon and Duke universities, with a waitlist of more than 80 colleges and universities throughout the country, Leslie said. The service will launch this fall at UNC Charlotte, Johnson & Wales University - Charlotte Campus, Queens University of Charlotte and Davidson College, as well as Wake Forest University, UNC Chapel Hill and Wingate University.
"People value the convenience of online shopping, but it lags behind the experience of shopping in store, an experience that facilitates discovery, allows you to try on clothes before you buy them and is social," she said. "In a post-pandemic world, where some physical retail stores have shut down, Adla is reviving retail by bringing that in-store experience to people's homes and letting brands sell as they would in a physical retail store."
Leslie came up with the concept while she was attending college in London and struggling to find the right outfits for an upcoming vacation.
"I was scrolling through Instagram looking for outfits, and when the clothes finally came it was never the right fit or color," she said. "Then I'd spend time driving back and forth to USPS to do returns; it was never a good experience. I started Adla to really solve those problems with my e-commerce online shopping experience."
Leslie participated in Y Combinator last spring where she received a $150,000 investment. After completing the accelerator program, she relocated from San Fransisco to Charlotte and launched the startup. She said the decision to move to the East Coast was based on the number of densely populated colleges.
"That’s how we knew density was important," she said. "We can do 50 deliveries in an hour on these campuses to sorority houses or dorms."
