Nothing to wear? Bengaluru-based startup promises to deliver clothes in just 60 minutes. Here’s my experience!

How many times have you stared at your (sometimes overflowing) wardrobe in horror and yelled “I have nothing to wear”? Speaking for myself when I say this: way too many times. Have I bailed on plans for this reason? Also yes. And this is why when I first came across Slikk, I was more than a little intrigued.

“If you can have groceries delivered to you in a few minutes, why shouldn’t the same apply to clothes?”, the app’s advertisement taunts. Slikk promises to deliver clothes in just 60 minutes in Bengaluru, where it already operates.

Today’s GenZ and young millennials are highly impulsive shoppers, making them a key target group for fast fashion brands, says founder Akshay Gulati.

Their impulsiveness is fueled by the constant influx of new trends and designs, alongside faster delivery options. Slikk aims to address this by offering fresh collections from emerging fast fashion brands every week, along with a 60-minute delivery window, providing a unique shopping experience compared to traditional fashion platforms, he adds. He did not have to call us out like that.

Anyways, I wasted no time in downloading the app and picking out some pieces of clothing. While the sizing charts weren’t as detailed as I would’ve liked and there weren’t too many options to choose from, it seemed to do the job — considering the startup began operating only recently.

But what really caught my attention was that not only did Slikk offer a 7-day return, it also had a “Try and Buy” option. Here, the user would have to pay Rs 50 in addition to the standard delivery fee and Slikk’s delivery executive would wait for 10 minutes at your doorstep so you could try on the products and return what wasn’t to your liking immediately. Pretty neat, no?

However, my love affair with Slikk ended sourly almost as soon as it began. After I’d added some pieces of clothing, selected the “Try and Buy” option and applied the first-timer discount coupon, it wouldn’t let me make the payment.

I tried selecting both — the Cash on Delivery and Online Payment modes — several times. But the page wouldn’t budge. I even tried using the website, in case there was a glitch with the app, but that didn’t work either.

While I was a little disappointed, the experience gave me the impression that Slikk needs a little more time to optimise its user interface and maybe collaborate with more brands before I can start relying on it as a chronic last-minute shopper.

Meanwhile, reports suggest that Slikk has already raised $300K in its pre-seed round led by Better Capital, with participation from Untitled Ventures. The startup will be using the sum to scale to over 100 brands, a dark store — a retail outlet or distribution centre that exists exclusively for online shopping, and expand delivery coverage to 70% of Bengaluru’s pin codes. Further, Slikk also aims to broaden its offerings to other metropolitan cities in the country and also include beauty, personal care and home decor to its collection.