Fashion · AI · iOS & AndroidA personal stylist in your pocket
SmartUp turned Alison Lumbatis’s Outfit Formulas method into an AI-powered fashion app: ALI, a conversational style assistant, weather-aware daily formulas, and a creator community, all built on top of her proprietary styling methodology.
Alison Lumbatis founded Outfit Formulas out of her own battle with decision fatigue while working from home: think of it as “meal planning for your closet.” With a predominantly female subscriber base and a focus on inclusivity, accessibility, and practicality, the brand had a devoted following, but its v1 app told only part of that story.
That first version, migrated from Facebook groups, was a one-way content feed with no personalization. Users saw little value and questioned the subscription. SmartUp came in as a genuine product partner, not just an execution shop, to rebuild it with AI at the core, a full accessibility overhaul for the 40+ demographic, and the reliability of a paid service.
The rebuilt product grew subscription revenue 567% (from $150K+ to over $1M), reached #150 in the App Store Lifestyle category, and turned a passive audience into a community that opens the app every day.
- Client
- Alison Lumbatis, CEO & Founder (Outfit Formulas)
- Category
- Fashion / Lifestyle · Subscription app
- Platform
- iOS & Android
- Role
- Product Partner — AI, redesign & scale
- Result
- +567% revenue ($150K → $1M+)
- Reviews
- Clutch, G2 & App Store (1,000+ ratings)
A paid app that didn’t yet earn its subscription.
The v1 app only allowed passive consumption: no way to personalize outfits or interact with a community. That created a value-justification bottleneck for a paid product, with users complaining it was “too expensive for just one outfit per day.” The core Outfit Formulas method needed to become interactive software, not a static feed.
On top of that sat three hard technical constraints. Accessibility for the 40+ core demographic: increasing text size broke layouts and hid information, so the entire design system had to support dynamic typography. Scale and uptime: as a paid service, zero downtime was non-negotiable while growing from a base of 5,000 users. And payments: legacy Facebook subscribers and new in-app purchasers had to be unified behind a single SSO and account system.
Everything a woman needs to get dressed with confidence
What We Built
ALI — AI Style Assistant
The app’s most popular feature: a conversational AI assistant trained on Outfit Formulas’ own proprietary styling methodology, with guardrails that keep it in Alison’s brand voice. Users ask ALI what to wear and get back real advice plus generated outfit images built from the pieces in their own closet.
Weather-Aware Daily Formulas
A daily outfit formula ready every morning, personalized by location. SmartUp proposed integrating real-time weather so recommendations account for actual conditions, not just the calendar. Each formula breaks down into its component pieces (blazer + top + bottoms + shoes) pulled from the user’s wardrobe.
Community & Affiliate Marketplace
A social layer where members share their looks publicly or privately, record their Outfit of the Day, and track how often each garment gets worn. Shoppable affiliate links are woven throughout, generating commission revenue and replacing in-app purchases as the monetization model.
Smart Wardrobe Tools
A toolkit that goes beyond daily outfits: a virtual try-on (“see it styled on me”), a packing planner, a closet clean-out assistant, and a 14-day styling program. Behind the scenes, a role-based admin panel (Marketing, Outfit Specialists, Admin) with live preview, content management, and feedback surveys.
From a feed nobody valued to a $1M+ community
Results
Revenue growth, from $150K+ to over $1M in annual subscription revenue
Ranking in the App Store Lifestyle category at the peak of launch
Click-through rate on the app’s daily outfit suggestions
Growth in active subscriptions over the last year, on top of the launch surge
Alongside the headline numbers, the rebuild scaled the active base from 5,000 subscribers to 10,000+ downloads on Android (with a larger base on Apple), earned 1,000+ App Store ratings and 800+ five-star reviews, added a new affiliate revenue stream, and held zero downtime throughout, all while a complete design-system overhaul made the app usable for the 40+ demographic it was built for.
“Their vision was impressive; they brought ideas to the table that we hadn’t even thought of.”
Alison Lumbatis · CEO & Founder, Outfit Formulas · via Clutch