Cole Vita, a UNC Chapel Hill graduate with a B.S. in Computer Science and a minor in Data Science, didn’t always care much about personal style. His nature was just to wear whatever was in front of him.
“My mom would find me an Abercrombie T-shirt and buy me one in five different colors,” he said. “And I’d say, ‘sounds good, cool, I’m rocking this for the rest of my life,’ and I think that’s because I didn’t know what I liked.”
Vita originally had an interest in economics, but when he began taking computer science courses, he realized building things from scratch was his specialty. And of all things, he eventually aimed this interest at the process of clothing shopping, where he’d noticed there was unnecessary friction.
This ultimately led to his founding Roam, the first online platform that “unifies social discovery and seamless shopping across every brand.”
What Vita had noticed specifically was that students would often have multiple browser tabs open for each site, bookmarking pieces scattered around different shopping carts and lists.
“It’s total chaos,” he said. “And there’s no path to understanding or capitalizing on what their style is and how to find it.”
With that realization, he moved past his personal closet indifference and decided to build something that helps people discover their personal style. Roam is a digital solution for the common friction in the online shopping sphere, as well as a tool to fuel and support personal style and individuality.
The startup’s platform is available via website or app with a minimalist interface, shareable lists and an “explore” page similar to TikTok, on which users can discover new pieces they may like. The platform mainly targets Gen-Z users, 79% of whom are mobile-first when it comes to online shopping (a number that has even led companies to drastically shift how they design their sites).
Discovery and Personalization
There are two key aspects Roam prioritizes. The first is discovery, with an emphasis on social curation that addresses the difficulty many face when they aren’t initially certain of their style preferences. Vita noted that this uncertainty is partially responsible for online clothing sites having a 70% cart abandonment rate.
“Most people don’t find a product and instantly know they want to buy it,” he said. “They want to save it, they want to mull over and think about it.”
But often, that mulling over goes nowhere. With Roam’s emphasis on helping users discover styles they like, the thinking is that online shopping will become more purposeful and direct.
The other key focus is personalization—which Vita recognized is difficult to bring about when a user’s data is “fragmented” across multiple platforms. To solve for this, Roam serves as a single destination for users to curate their preferences without navigating back and forth between company sites.
The platform utilizes AI-powered algorithms to recognize a given user’s style across multiple brands they may browse, and uses that data to inform what might best complement that user’s wardrobe. It can group items into broader categories (like business casual, sporty, etc.) or more specific bundles according to the user’s style,
“It is not possible to make a good recommendation if you don’t know what bucket it falls into,” Vita said.
“The AI ultimately boosts the platform’s cross-brand intelligence, making its recommendations smarter for everybody.”
Funding and Challenges
Vita is currently bootstrapping Roam to support operations and prioritize essential costs. As for revenue, the startup has already partnered with assorted fashion brands to receive affiliate commissions based on every purchase made through the platform.
Vita noted that his greatest challenges so far have been creating the algorithms, communicating the pain points through marketing, and building the user style profile. That said, he stressed that the startup has done very well identifying its customer’s pain points through feedback sessions.
“That, to us, is [one of] the biggest rewards we can ever get because we know we’re solving a problem that actually exists,” Vita said.
QUICK BITS
Startup: Roam
Founder: Cole Vita
Founded: 2025
Team size: 2-10
Location: Charlotte, NC
Website: roam.shopping
Funding: Bootstrapped
In the future, the team hopes to join accelerator programs in the Charlotte area and leverage the connections available for further feedback and mentorship within the enterprise space. Vita also plans to introduce a new feature in the form of a wardrobe management tool that digitally assembles the contents of one’s wardrobe.
Vita is confident that Roam will be a major tool in fashion enterprise and for their user’s expression.
“In a $1.7 trillion market with no dominant player, we’re uniquely positioned to become the go-to platform for fashion shopping,” he said.
