‘Mannequins freak me out’: Inside Reformation’s new techie San Francisco store

There won’t be any mannequins in Reformation’s new San Francisco store. “Mannequins freak me out,” said Yael Aflalo, Reformation’s founder. “In stores, everyone does posters and prints signs and has mannequins. That’s just the way stores are, but they don’t have to be that way anymore. It’s antiquated.”

Reformation, which sells eco-friendly, on-trend clothing, launched in 2009 with an online store and a Los Angeles boutique. Since then, the brand has opened two New York stores, one in 2010 and the other in 2012. For its first new store in five years, Reformation is rethinking what the in-store experience looks and feels like by using e-commerce-enabled touch screens and fitting-room technology, and ditching old retail staples like physical signage, mannequins and cash registers.