3 ms·

Stitch Fix Algorithms Tour

68 points by jbredeche 10y ago

zues 10y ago
I was just talking with my wife about this tonight. We were discussing the 20$ styling fee that is charged each month, regardless if you keep any of the pieces selected. The idea portrayed to their customers is that is a 'styling fee' for the human that hand picked the box of clothes specifically for her. "If I was setting up this business today", I speculated, "I'd just use ML and algorithms to do this." Ironic that two hours later I'm reading this. Granted, it does say that humans are involved. However, they point out that the requests made by customers are analyzed for key words to identify which pieces would match. Earlier my wife argued "I can tell Stitch Fix that I'll be going to Vegas for a wedding and will need a dress. Would an algorithm hand select a dress for warm weather?" "No" I replied, because an algorithm has no hand. Other than that, the answer is yes. No need to start a fight though :)
amelius 10y ago
I'm still wondering why google is so bad at finding me e.g. a pair of jeans of a specific brand and of a specific size.
- ericcholis 10y ago
  Too broad a tool for such a specific search. With that being said, they should have the data if merchants submit them via their product feed api. I too have always found google's product search capabilities to be lacking.
  - amelius 10y ago
    It is certainly lacking. Especially considering that Google is, as they say, using my personal data to offer me a better search experience. I'm starting to wonder what they are talking about if they can't even find me a pair of fitting jeans.
xb 10y ago
I tried out Stitch Fix expecting to return everything, wiling to eat the $20 fee. I have to say I am surprised with how well they have done, I have ended up keeping a fair amount of the stuff. Most impressive is how they can find pants that fit me. Of course I've been wondering the entire time how their data operation works behind the scenes, so this post is really enlightening, cool graphics too... and only some minor scroll jacking.
mgamache 10y ago
My wife and I have been using Stitch Fix for six months. The first box was magical, especially the fix for pants (as @xb noted). Part of difficulty (and noise) for SF feedback is that you get a discount if you keep the whole box. There's been a few items that I would return if I had to pay for it, but the discount i received covered the cost of the item so I kept it. That seems to mess with the feedback loop. The main complaint I have about SF is that after the fist few boxes it feels repetitive. The clothes all start to look alike. I now own three color variations of the same plaid shirt and two sets of the same shoe in different colors. My wife's complaint is that the 'I don't like pink' request made multiple times was ignored. She sent back the entire box last time. I will try and give them feedback and see what happens.

68 points by jbredeche 10y ago

zues 10y ago

I was just talking with my wife about this tonight. We were discussing the 20$ styling fee that is charged each month, regardless if you keep any of the pieces selected. The idea portrayed to their customers is that is a 'styling fee' for the human that hand picked the box of clothes specifically for her. "If I was setting up this business today", I speculated, "I'd just use ML and algorithms to do this." Ironic that two hours later I'm reading this. Granted, it does say that humans are involved. However, they point out that the requests made by customers are analyzed for key words to identify which pieces would match. Earlier my wife argued "I can tell Stitch Fix that I'll be going to Vegas for a wedding and will need a dress. Would an algorithm hand select a dress for warm weather?" "No" I replied, because an algorithm has no hand. Other than that, the answer is yes. No need to start a fight though :)

amelius 10y ago

I'm still wondering why google is so bad at finding me e.g. a pair of jeans of a specific brand and of a specific size.

ericcholis 10y ago
Too broad a tool for such a specific search. With that being said, they should have the data if merchants submit them via their product feed api. I too have always found google's product search capabilities to be lacking.
- amelius 10y ago
  It is certainly lacking. Especially considering that Google is, as they say, using my personal data to offer me a better search experience. I'm starting to wonder what they are talking about if they can't even find me a pair of fitting jeans.

xb 10y ago

I tried out Stitch Fix expecting to return everything, wiling to eat the $20 fee. I have to say I am surprised with how well they have done, I have ended up keeping a fair amount of the stuff. Most impressive is how they can find pants that fit me. Of course I've been wondering the entire time how their data operation works behind the scenes, so this post is really enlightening, cool graphics too... and only some minor scroll jacking.

mgamache 10y ago

My wife and I have been using Stitch Fix for six months. The first box was magical, especially the fix for pants (as @xb noted). Part of difficulty (and noise) for SF feedback is that you get a discount if you keep the whole box. There's been a few items that I would return if I had to pay for it, but the discount i received covered the cost of the item so I kept it. That seems to mess with the feedback loop. The main complaint I have about SF is that after the fist few boxes it feels repetitive. The clothes all start to look alike. I now own three color variations of the same plaid shirt and two sets of the same shoe in different colors. My wife's complaint is that the 'I don't like pink' request made multiple times was ignored. She sent back the entire box last time. I will try and give them feedback and see what happens.