Strike a Match
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
Walking out of the house with a matchy-matchy shoes-and-bag combo is just not the way it’s done these days. A gal still needs to put accessories together, however, and for a little help, there’s the Web site6pm.com. Created by eBags, the site – whose name stands for “six perfect matches” – not only sells shoes and bags, but also recommends accessory combinations based on what you’re looking for.
If you’re shopping for shoes – a pair of Via Spiga black alligator skin sling back heels, say, or a pair of black satin pumps – the Web site searches its product offerings and recommends 36 bags (six at a time) from a variety of brands that could go with your shoe. Maybe a crocodile-skin bucket shoulder bag or black lambskin clutch. A pair of Diesel blue and white suede sneakers may present a green and blue messenger bag or navy gym duffle. And it works the same for bags. Click on a casual brown leather clutch and the site will offer you a series of brown casual shoes from sandals to stacked heel loafers.
The products available are from more than 230 brands including Cole Haan, Stuart Weitzman, and Charles David, as well as HOBO, Coakley, and the Sak. The customer can shop by gender, material, size, price, brand, style, and width, according to preference.
The goal at eBags was to create a new way of shopping. “Since online shopping began, it’s really been a catalog online,” co-founder and senior vice president Peter Cobb said.
The site gives shoppers easy access to new items that they may not even know that they need. “Most departments have shoes on separate floors from handbags,” Mr. Cobb said. “If you want to take a bag downstairs, you usually can’t. This is a virtual way to pair things together.”
Shoppers can go a step further by voting on these “perfect matches” to express how well they think each one goes with their product. The Web site then uses the information gathered from e-voters to constantly modify the product matches provided. “The fun thing is that the next time that product comes out, if a lot of people voted zeros, in ‘Survivor’ world it’s off the island,” Mr. Cobb said.
