Patience is a virtue, but when it comes to getting the bag of the season, or a forever-waitlisted pair of shoes, it pays to be a little aggressive. Luckily, there’s an app that does the elbow pushing for you. PS Dept. hunts down everything on your stylish wish list, providing early access to exclusive and limited edition collaborations, and ships them to your door.
Here, founder Michelle Goad reveals what kind of magic is going on behind your cell screen.
How do you get your hands on these super-exclusive products?
That’s our secret sauce! We’ve built out a massive network, over 10,000 sales associates, top retailers, brands, etc. who we can ping requests to and get our clients the best answers—think of our network as the largest black book of fashion contacts out there. Hot items might sell out quickly in New York City or Los Angeles, which is why our network is so large, we reach everywhere the brands sell to!
Who’s your target client?
We serve the most stylish and in the know women around the world. Our clients are very busy, with work, with kids, or with both and don’t have the time to go from store to store, but loves the service we bring her taking out the hours of her shopping process. Since it’s all done via messaging in the app, she can be at her board meeting, while we’re sourcing her Dior booties she saw on instagram that morning and ship to her from a boutique across the country who has the last pair in her size.
What’s the benefit of this app over a typical waitlist?
Some of helping our clients skip the waitlist is our insider relationships. Since we deal with all the store interactions on behalf of our clients, we are considered one major customer of many of these stores, so that definitely doesn’t hurt. We most often get our clients pre-order access to hot items that are on our radar so that we can secure these in advance with the added benefit of having first dibs when they arrive.
What were the top 10 requested items in the last year?
In no particular order….
1. Dior lucite booties
2. Self portrait Azaelea dress
3. Chanel sling backs
4. Gucci Princetown fur loafers
5. Valentino Cosmos boots
6. Apple x Hermes double tour watch
7. Chloe mini faye in motty grey
8. Chloe Drew bags
9. Aquazzura Wild Things
10. Dior So Real sunglasses
