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Polyvore shutting down after Ssense acquisition

By Kristopher Fraser

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It ain't over until the fat lady sings, and the fat lady has sung at Polyvore. After recently being acquired by Montreal-based company Ssense, Polyvore, which was famous for being a go-to for making moodboards and collages, has officially shut down. Last week in a message on their blog Polyvore said, "The polyvore website will discontinue operations and the Polyvore apps will no longer be supported."

Needless to say, Polyvore users were less than happy. For many Polyvore users who had been with the website since it started eleven years ago, watching all their years of hard work and connections they formed go down the drain was heartbreaking. Polyvore has given the users until May 10 to have the option of downloading their work, but many users have said they are having trouble figuring out how. With little notice given to their users, the Poylvore and Ssense merger has already started off with a bit of chaos.

Lauren Coates, a Polyvore user, has actually started a petition that as of April 6 had 4600 of the 5000 signatures it was aiming for.

It's a wonder what interest a luxury streetwear site like Ssense would have in a company like Poylvore, but the answer was quite obvious. They wanted their user list. In Polyvore's goodbye letter, they told users that their user info would be shared with Ssense, including their e-mail addresses. Users do have the option to opt out, but if they don't, they can expected to be contacted with information about Ssense.

The next question is, what could Ssense possibly want with Polyvore's users. Sure, a few of them do fall into that category of luxury streetwear lovers, but Polyvore built their brand DNA on a democratized approach to fashion. Ssense, although it has a strong customer base and uses a diverse set of models, is very much a place for high street fashion. Ssense is known for selling 1800 dollar Vetements boots and 2200 Calvin Klein 205W39NYC coats.

Perhaps Ssense has new plans for beefing up their editorial department and including a more user interactive focus. Ssense might be expanding to include more accessibly priced brands, but that would change their entire company DNA.

Whether or not Polyvore's interface could come back in any real capacity is yet to be seen.

Polyvore