6 ms·

Note: These are stylists and not engineers. I've tried StitchFix twice and found their stylists pretty lacking in terms of value they add. They don't listen to

by safog 6y ago

Note: These are stylists and not engineers. I've tried StitchFix twice and found their stylists pretty lacking in terms of value they add. They don't listen to your requests and I'm sure most of them just have templates of stuff they send out w/o looking at what you liked / disliked. I'm fairly certain it's a role that can be very easily filled regardless of the Zipcode. In fact, I was pretty convinced until now that the stylists were just algorithms but it looks like I was wrong.

monkeydust 6y ago
Same, shocked they have this many human stylists when they seemed to make out they were using ML to predict taste.
realdlee 6y ago
I agree. Tried the service a few times and didn't keep a single item. A lot of their recommendations were actually from their own Stitch Fix clothing line, which felt like at best Gap quality for Gap full retail prices.
ptmcc 6y ago
I gave StitchFix a couple of shots. It was okay, I got a couple decent items out of it, but didn't amaze me. But I canceled when I very specifically stated in both my profile and my message to the stylist that I did not want any white/tan colored items (I'm fair skinned) or polo shirts (just not my style). My next order contained a white polo shirt and a tan knit beanie (in the summer!). smdh. I, too, figured it was just some algorithm dressed up as personal stylists, but knowing that it is actual people just makes it even more unforgivable.
syshum 6y ago
it always amazes me how many human filled jobs are very very robotic. It is often indiscernible on if a job is filled by a human or robot
fokinsean 6y ago
Anecdotal, but my wife is a stylist and is very much listening and providing individual feedback. She feels so bad when someone doesn't like what she picks so it's her goal to make them happy. Not all are bad.
- snegu 6y ago
  I believe this. I love the idea of StitchFix but have not had great experiences with them. I finally had a stylist explain that they just don't get much inventory that matches my style preferences. This makes perfect sense, since they need to stock clothes that will fit/suit the widest variety of people, which leads to a lot of baggy, shapeless choices.
  - arbitrage 6y ago
    Don't forget drab colours and ridiculous lapels and pleats!
  - fokinsean 6y ago
    That much is true, she often gets frustrated that she can't pick from their entire inventory.
arbitrage 6y ago
I love Stitchfix. In my experience, however, this is accurate. I've received orders from good stylists and bad ones. The bad experiences were exactly as described: my preferences were clearly not read, they specifically picked things I had already rejected on the style-carousel-rating thing. It felt like they just dumped a bunch of excess crap on me. When this happens, the pieces don't even fit right. Very frustrating. On the other hand, I have gotten shipments that were clearly respecting my requests and preferences. Those interactions absolutely send me over the moon, and make me much more likely to buy something.
trimbo 6y ago
My assumption has always been that it's a supply side problem to solve and their style choices are limited. If I made a business like this, I would source unsold/unwanted clothing at a discount and try to pair it up with people who might actually buy it. I've just assumed that's what they're doing... anyone know either way?
- fancyfish 6y ago
  I also had this conception, then learned most if not all of my items have been from Stitch Fix’s internal brands and that’s why I didn’t recognize any of them. I thought they were a curator of brands and styles I might want to check out, but it seems to me they’re running it like a D2C high-volume fashion label. So I’m guessing by owning the brands themselves they get even higher margins than if they were buying unwanted brands in bulk at a discount. And each of the brands goes for a certain generic style, e.g.: “Even Tide brings the vacation to your closet with a mix of coastal colors and mid-century modern inspired lines.” [1] Kind of a let down for me as a subscriber, but I still buy quarterly as I’m so bad at picking a wardrobe out on my own. [1] https://www.stitchfix.com/men/blog/the-service/exclusive-brands/ https://www.stitchfix.com/men/blog/the-service/exclusive-bra...
  - kradroy 6y ago
    I tried them out for 4 months. I kept one garment per delivery on average. I buy my clothes from thrift shops all the way to Barney's/Neiman Marcus. You can find quality at any price point. However, when their internal brands began showing up more and more in my boxes I started suspecting they were offloading "junk" on me at a premium. I thought about whether the stylists make a commission or have flexibility in pricing the garments. There were many items that I thought were overpriced for theor quality. They sent me a "flannel" shirt that had the feel of paperboard. I thought about applying for their ML positions, because it's definitely an interesting business problem. But I got a strong feeling they don't actually use ML in their product. They're just a retailer after all.
8f2ab37a-ed6c 6y ago
Likewise. The one time I used them, I was sent some pretty generic stuff that had little to do with what I specified within my profile. It's almost as if it didn't matter what I put in my requirements, I was going to be given the same stock pack du jour. I even got this heavy winter coat from them that maybe would have made sense in Minnesota, but had no place in the Bay Area. They were not geography-aware at the time, from what I could tell. Never used them since, it's easier to go into the store myself.
- hexagone 6y ago
  Generic in terms of your taste or generic in the larger population? IMO the whole reason to have human helpers is to avoid both, while algos can do both kinds of generic well.
culturestate 6y ago
> I was pretty convinced until now that the stylists were just algorithms but it looks like I was wrong Katrina Lake talks a little about the way they've structured this during her How I Built This interview[1]. They seem to have a pretty large engineering / data science org, and it feels like the stylists are effectively human curators of algorithmic recommendations. 1. https://www.npr.org/2019/09/10/759594143/stitch-fix-katrina-lake https://www.npr.org/2019/09/10/759594143/stitch-fix-katrina-...
- achow 6y ago
  "Today (Sep 2019), it has about three million customers and brings in more than a billion dollars in annual revenue." Wow!
  - lotsofpulp 6y ago
    It always amazes me what people will pay for that seems to have zero utility from my perspective.
    - jfengel 6y ago
      You mean, like movies and video games? Or food other than rice and beans? Most people in first world countries are well above the subsistence level, and much of what they spend their money on isn't useful. It does, however, improve their quality of life. Clothes are no better or worse than my own hobbies, and I suspect, yours.
      - lotsofpulp 6y ago
        I meant paying someone else via a subscription service to do it. Clothing is important for signaling, and there is definitely utility there, but I would think there are other ways that are cheaper/easier/more reliable.
    - xnyan 6y ago
      In the face of a billion dollars of revenue, what do you think is more likely: 1) everyone using stichfix gets "zero" utility from it or 2) You don't understand the thing you also have an opinion about for some reason? For some people, buying clothes is a really stressful and difficult psychological process. You really don't know anyone who does not like shopping for clothes and would be willing to buy away that stress from a personal shopper/algorithm ? Maybe you personally don't find value in that, or your tastes don't agree with Stichfix's style, but it seems quite understandable to me that many people would want this.
teruakohatu 6y ago
> In fact, I was pretty convinced until now that the stylists were just algorithms but it looks like I was wrong. Maybe the stylists really exist to train an algorithm that can replace stylists in the future? I would be very surprised if an algorithm did not make suggestions that the stylists would confirm, deny or modify.
tomc1985 6y ago
Even for stylists, the choices they've made for the models on the front page are... tacky, to say the least. I don't consider myself fashionable in the slightest but that the outdated camo jacket on a sky blue tee is a freakin eyesore. It seems like just over half of the photos are appealingly color-coordinated. If that's what their stylists are coming up with then... ew

by safog 6y ago

monkeydust 6y ago

Same, shocked they have this many human stylists when they seemed to make out they were using ML to predict taste.

realdlee 6y ago

I agree. Tried the service a few times and didn't keep a single item. A lot of their recommendations were actually from their own Stitch Fix clothing line, which felt like at best Gap quality for Gap full retail prices.

ptmcc 6y ago

I gave StitchFix a couple of shots. It was okay, I got a couple decent items out of it, but didn't amaze me. But I canceled when I very specifically stated in both my profile and my message to the stylist that I did not want any white/tan colored items (I'm fair skinned) or polo shirts (just not my style). My next order contained a white polo shirt and a tan knit beanie (in the summer!). smdh. I, too, figured it was just some algorithm dressed up as personal stylists, but knowing that it is actual people just makes it even more unforgivable.

syshum 6y ago

it always amazes me how many human filled jobs are very very robotic. It is often indiscernible on if a job is filled by a human or robot

fokinsean 6y ago

Anecdotal, but my wife is a stylist and is very much listening and providing individual feedback. She feels so bad when someone doesn't like what she picks so it's her goal to make them happy. Not all are bad.

snegu 6y ago
I believe this. I love the idea of StitchFix but have not had great experiences with them. I finally had a stylist explain that they just don't get much inventory that matches my style preferences. This makes perfect sense, since they need to stock clothes that will fit/suit the widest variety of people, which leads to a lot of baggy, shapeless choices.
- arbitrage 6y ago
  Don't forget drab colours and ridiculous lapels and pleats!
- fokinsean 6y ago
  That much is true, she often gets frustrated that she can't pick from their entire inventory.

arbitrage 6y ago

I love Stitchfix. In my experience, however, this is accurate. I've received orders from good stylists and bad ones. The bad experiences were exactly as described: my preferences were clearly not read, they specifically picked things I had already rejected on the style-carousel-rating thing. It felt like they just dumped a bunch of excess crap on me. When this happens, the pieces don't even fit right. Very frustrating. On the other hand, I have gotten shipments that were clearly respecting my requests and preferences. Those interactions absolutely send me over the moon, and make me much more likely to buy something.

trimbo 6y ago

My assumption has always been that it's a supply side problem to solve and their style choices are limited. If I made a business like this, I would source unsold/unwanted clothing at a discount and try to pair it up with people who might actually buy it. I've just assumed that's what they're doing... anyone know either way?

fancyfish 6y ago
I also had this conception, then learned most if not all of my items have been from Stitch Fix’s internal brands and that’s why I didn’t recognize any of them. I thought they were a curator of brands and styles I might want to check out, but it seems to me they’re running it like a D2C high-volume fashion label. So I’m guessing by owning the brands themselves they get even higher margins than if they were buying unwanted brands in bulk at a discount. And each of the brands goes for a certain generic style, e.g.: “Even Tide brings the vacation to your closet with a mix of coastal colors and mid-century modern inspired lines.” [1] Kind of a let down for me as a subscriber, but I still buy quarterly as I’m so bad at picking a wardrobe out on my own. [1] https://www.stitchfix.com/men/blog/the-service/exclusive-brands/ https://www.stitchfix.com/men/blog/the-service/exclusive-bra...
- kradroy 6y ago
  I tried them out for 4 months. I kept one garment per delivery on average. I buy my clothes from thrift shops all the way to Barney's/Neiman Marcus. You can find quality at any price point. However, when their internal brands began showing up more and more in my boxes I started suspecting they were offloading "junk" on me at a premium. I thought about whether the stylists make a commission or have flexibility in pricing the garments. There were many items that I thought were overpriced for theor quality. They sent me a "flannel" shirt that had the feel of paperboard. I thought about applying for their ML positions, because it's definitely an interesting business problem. But I got a strong feeling they don't actually use ML in their product. They're just a retailer after all.

8f2ab37a-ed6c 6y ago

Likewise. The one time I used them, I was sent some pretty generic stuff that had little to do with what I specified within my profile. It's almost as if it didn't matter what I put in my requirements, I was going to be given the same stock pack du jour. I even got this heavy winter coat from them that maybe would have made sense in Minnesota, but had no place in the Bay Area. They were not geography-aware at the time, from what I could tell. Never used them since, it's easier to go into the store myself.

hexagone 6y ago
Generic in terms of your taste or generic in the larger population? IMO the whole reason to have human helpers is to avoid both, while algos can do both kinds of generic well.

culturestate 6y ago

> I was pretty convinced until now that the stylists were just algorithms but it looks like I was wrong Katrina Lake talks a little about the way they've structured this during her How I Built This interview[1]. They seem to have a pretty large engineering / data science org, and it feels like the stylists are effectively human curators of algorithmic recommendations. 1. https://www.npr.org/2019/09/10/759594143/stitch-fix-katrina-lake https://www.npr.org/2019/09/10/759594143/stitch-fix-katrina-...

achow 6y ago
"Today (Sep 2019), it has about three million customers and brings in more than a billion dollars in annual revenue." Wow!
- lotsofpulp 6y ago
  It always amazes me what people will pay for that seems to have zero utility from my perspective.
  - jfengel 6y ago
    You mean, like movies and video games? Or food other than rice and beans? Most people in first world countries are well above the subsistence level, and much of what they spend their money on isn't useful. It does, however, improve their quality of life. Clothes are no better or worse than my own hobbies, and I suspect, yours.
    - lotsofpulp 6y ago
      I meant paying someone else via a subscription service to do it. Clothing is important for signaling, and there is definitely utility there, but I would think there are other ways that are cheaper/easier/more reliable.
  - xnyan 6y ago
    In the face of a billion dollars of revenue, what do you think is more likely: 1) everyone using stichfix gets "zero" utility from it or 2) You don't understand the thing you also have an opinion about for some reason? For some people, buying clothes is a really stressful and difficult psychological process. You really don't know anyone who does not like shopping for clothes and would be willing to buy away that stress from a personal shopper/algorithm ? Maybe you personally don't find value in that, or your tastes don't agree with Stichfix's style, but it seems quite understandable to me that many people would want this.

teruakohatu 6y ago

> In fact, I was pretty convinced until now that the stylists were just algorithms but it looks like I was wrong. Maybe the stylists really exist to train an algorithm that can replace stylists in the future? I would be very surprised if an algorithm did not make suggestions that the stylists would confirm, deny or modify.

tomc1985 6y ago

Even for stylists, the choices they've made for the models on the front page are... tacky, to say the least. I don't consider myself fashionable in the slightest but that the outdated camo jacket on a sky blue tee is a freakin eyesore. It seems like just over half of the photos are appealingly color-coordinated. If that's what their stylists are coming up with then... ew