How we rank brand alternatives
Every “brands like” recommendation on disco is scored, not guessed. We compare brands across six dimensions and combine them into a single similarity score. Scores are directional — a guide to what's worth trying — not an absolute verdict.
Style overlap
How much two brands share a core aesthetic — minimalist, workwear, gorpcore, athleisure, and so on. This is the heaviest signal: brands are first classified into style families, then compared on how strongly they share them.
Category overlap
What each brand actually makes — outerwear, denim, knitwear, footwear, accessories. Two brands can share a vibe but serve different wardrobes; category overlap keeps recommendations practical.
Price tier
Where a brand sits from accessible to luxury. We surface this both as an absolute tier ($–$$$$) and relative to the brand you searched, so you can deliberately trade up or down.
Fit & silhouette
Relaxed vs. tailored, boxy vs. slim, true-to-size vs. oversized. Fit is a major reason a substitute does or doesn't work, even when the look matches.
Colour & material palette
Neutral vs. saturated, natural fibres vs. technical fabrics. Palette captures the texture of a brand that style labels alone miss.
Cultural context
Provenance and scene — where a brand is from, the community it grew out of, and the references it draws on. This is what separates two superficially similar labels.
Each dimension produces a sub-score; we weight style and category most heavily, then fold in price, fit, palette and cultural context. The result is the 0–100% match you see on each recommendation. As our brand data deepens, these weights are tuned against real engagement — the goal is always the most useful substitute, not the closest label-for-label clone.