If you're a woman who's 5"4 and under, you need to know about Bomb Petite.
Yulia Petryk, a woman of small stature herself, founded the site after she realised that even though the UK petite womenswear market is valued at $3.7 billion, there was not one platform which aggregated all that products and retail knowledge for 'pint sized' gals. Yulia has said that she wants to emulate Net-a-Porter's edit and she's well on her way to promoting Bomb Petite as as much of a community as it is an e-store.
It's rare for us to get completley sidetracked when exploring a new e-store by the savvy and interesting editorial content bannering across the site - for example, inspiration boards from the best petite bloggers and small streetstylers like Miroslava Duma, ttrends that best suit petite people and tips on how to make your legs longer. The site is as much a blog, as it is a retail platform. Style guides and excellent layout aside, Bomb Petite works with 24 retailers and 140 brands (a number that's sure to increase as they become more established) with 3,200 fans already following the site. Not bad for a site famously founded on an $850 investment.
For a first timer navigating their way around the site, may we suggest that you start with the top picks, where you can immediately identify what you are looking for through their helpful moodboards (need an outfit for work? Want a skirt for a part? Off on holiday? etc etc) with the picks divided into US and UK. The transatlanticism may peeve you mildly, but there's international delivery so if you're interested in getting to know some new US brands, you can get hold of them just as easily as the UK wide ones.
There is definite room for improvement - the edit is quite classic, so if you're looking for something quirky, you're not going to find it here. And not all the links always follow through to the featured product. But if you need an aggregation of clothing that will not swamp you like Bugsy Malone, then Bomb Petite is the destination for you. Plus, given that no-one else is doing this, it's got great potential.
In the meantime, here's what we'd be buying now:
Petite Ruffled Floral-Print Maxi Dress £49.92 INC International Concepts, Premium Skater Dress with Pretty Floral Embroidery £65 ASOS, Petite Slim-Leg Track Pants, £65 Michael Kors at Macy's, Lattice Sweater, £34.49 Maison Scotch at Nordstrom
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.