Forget Sales Data: Chicisimo Shares Research on What Fashionistas Take Out of the Closet and Wear

SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire - Oct 16, 2012) - Chicisimo, a leading social fashion community of women sharing their personal style, today announced its annual report on fashionista brand trends. The worldwide data and rankings give insight into which labels the most fashion-forward trendsetters are taking out of their closets the most.

Chicisimo is the fast growing social website and worldwide community where fashionistas and fashion brands come together to share their personal style, inspire one another, and discover new styles, brands, and products.

The annual Chicisimo report is unique in that it yields overall trend data on what brands fashionistas wear and how often they wear them. These stats go beyond simple sales figures to uncover a brand's true popularity. The report, which compares data from 2011 and 2012, compiles information from self-proclaimed fashionistas in the United States, Central America, South America and Europe. These worldwide trend-setters have combined to publish more than 200,000 photos (as well as brand information) on their personal outfits through Chicisimo.

"Retailers and brands already have had extraordinary insights on purchasing trends, but until now they have not had as much visibility into what consumers actually take out of their closet and wear," said Gabriel Aldamiz-echevarria, founder and CEO of Chicisimo. "Women -- by the millions -- are inspiring each other online by sharing their personal fashion information and photos online. They're also providing brands with new insights on how often fashion products are being worn after their purchase. It's the fashion equivalent to when Apple iTunes first launched Playcounts (now called 'plays') in 2003 to better understand people's behavior. Basically, we want to know what someone is doing with their outfit after they purchase it."

The full results of Chicisimo's survey can be found at http://chicisimo.com/fashion/top-brands-october2012/.

Highlights of the survey include:

• List of the 20 most-worn brands: Chicisimo ranked the most frequently worn brands on its site in 2012 (and compared these to 2011). The top 20 included Zara, H&M, Forever 21, BCBG and Chanel.
  
  
• Brand preferences varied by country: In the U.S., the top 3 brands in 2012 were Forever 21, H&M and Zara (note that 2 of these brands, H&M and Zara, are based in Europe). In the UK, the top 3 brands were Zara, Topshop and H&M (all three of these brands are based in Europe). Chicisimo also lists top brands that women wear in Brazil, Mexico, Germany, Poland, Spain, France, Italy and Portugal.
  
  
• Fashionistas love smaller brands in some markets: Italian (80%) and American (78%) women were the most likely to post photos of clothes not ranked in the top 20. In contrast, women in Mexico (68%), Germany (58%) and Poland (45%) were more likely to post photos wearing clothes ranked in the top 20.
  
  
• Top brands dominate in some markets: The stronger the #1 brand is in a certain market, the weaker the penetration of smaller brands in that same market. For example, when 49% of Spanish fashionistas get dressed, they wear clothes from Zara. This means that smaller brands have a harder time. In Spain, only 61% of fashionistas wore brands not ranked in the top 20.
  
  
• Zara's going global: Spanish clothing and accessories retailer Zara became the top brand in the UK, France and Italy in 2012, taking over from H&M in 2011. Zara continued its leadership in Brazil, Mexico and Portugal and doubled its penetration in the U.S. market.
  
  
• Strong ecommerce plays fuel growth: The brands with the highest ranking increases in 2012 over 2011 are the brands considered to have the strongest ecommerce platforms, including Zara, Asos and Mango.
  
  

About Chicisimo
Chicisimo ("super chic") is the social website and worldwide community where fashionistas and fashion brands come together to share their personal style, inspire one another, and discover new styles, brands, and products. Chicisimo fashionistas upload photos of their favorite outfits, provide and receive positive feedback from the community, and earn virtual "flower" awards while interacting with their favorite fashion brands. Visit chicisimo.com.