The nista journal

Field notes

Four stores. One avatar. A closer look.

What our Zara, Aritzia, SSENSE and Depop image tests produced—and the details that changed along the way.

A striped Zara shirt appeared in our test. So did matching trousers we had not selected. Here is why the difference matters.

Our SSENSE shirt example kept an underlayer from the source outfit. A closer look at what a layered photo can leave uncertain.

A back-only Depop listing produced a plausible front. Why an attractive preview cannot verify an unseen part of a secondhand item.

Our Aritzia dress result is an illustration. Here is what we observed, what we could not compare and what still needs checking.