About Try It
Why Try It exists
The idea for Try It actually came from my wife Franzi.
At some point she showed me a social media video of a wardrobe with a built-in screen that displayed what was inside. My first thought was pretty simple:
Huh? Why on the wardrobe itself? I can just open it.
If clothing is going digital anyway, then it should be where I actually need it — no matter whether I'm standing in front of my wardrobe, out and about, or still lying in bed in the morning.
I couldn't stop thinking about it.
Because a lot of people probably know that moment: the wardrobe is full. In theory there's plenty to choose from. And still you end up wearing the same things over and over.
The longer I thought about it, the bigger the idea got. A simple "Look, this is cool" eventually turned into Try It.
At first I just wanted to build Franzi a tool that would make exactly that small daily struggle a little easier. Less time in front of the wardrobe. More clarity. More ideas. And maybe a bit of the fun back in putting things together in new ways.
Not by an app telling her what to wear.
But by making visible what's been there all along.
Her standards pretty quickly became my benchmark.
A few years earlier I'd already started a fashion label: Ikonstyle.
Back then I wanted to contribute something in my own way. I'm not the type to protest loudly or tell other people how they should live. So I tried to carry a small message out into the world through something from everyday life: clothes.
Ikonstyle was made up of everyday clothes and basics, carrying small icons and thoughts. Things that might stick with someone for a moment and, ideally, get them thinking about their own actions.
At the time, we cared not only about how clothes look, but also about how they're made. We were part of the Fair Wear Foundation and worked exclusively with textiles from Stanley/Stella.
I was young, curious and had far less of a clue about some things than I thought back then. Marketing in particular.
Ikonstyle ran alongside a 40-hour job, and after about two years I shut the brand down. What was left wasn't a big company, but something that was probably worth more: a pretty thick book of experiences, mistakes and things I'd do differently next time.
Several years, a fair amount of professional and entrepreneurial experience and quite a lot of life later, here I am writing these lines.
And somehow that's why Try It doesn't feel like a completely new chapter.
More like a continuation.
Sustainability still matters to me in all of this. But Try It isn't meant to make anyone feel guilty, or to tell anyone to buy less or consume "better".
I believe in a simpler idea:
Maybe there's far more in what we already own than we can see right now.
If Try It helps you rediscover a forgotten sweater, build a new look out of pieces you already know, or just figure out a little faster in the morning what you feel like wearing, then that's already quite a lot.
And if that quietly grows into a more conscious relationship with your own wardrobe over time, all the better.
Try It isn't meant to be a product that tells you who to be.
It's meant to help you make more of what's been yours all along.
Christopher
Founder, Try It