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> The new CEO, she said, “thinks that the [technology] can do better than us, and that clients don’t care ... that there’s not a person behind the computer.”

> The new CEO, she said, “thinks that the [technology] can do better than us, and that clients don’t care ... that there’s not a person behind the computer.” That's surprising. The only reason I've ever considered Stitch Fix is specifically because there might be a person with better taste than me on the other end. An algorithm is just going to give me a mix of what's popular and what I've liked in the past, which is precisely the information I already had before coming to their service. Wouldn't people eventually realize they don't need to be told to keep buying things they already like? I'd be more interested if they not only kept the people around, but doubled down on having consistent relationships and interaction between stylists and clients.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
Tarsul 5y ago
I'm still wondering how many "stylists" are good enough for the job. Or maybe I'm just too picky and thus find it hard to imagine that many stilists would be able to find what the other person would like without it being too obvious (hey, I noticed you liked blue things. here's another blue one!). In my imagination it's a very thin line between obviousness and misunderstanding (and the fine line being the absolute understanding of the customer).
- ctvo 5y ago
  Yes, it's very difficult to tell your style from your photos, social media presence, and explicit instructions provided when you signed up. This is sarcasm if you didn't pick it up. People who are as picky as you outlined self-select out of services like this. What they have that the customer doesn't, is knowledge of the space of products that may match your taste. They also know more brands than you do, and may match you with one that you weren't aware of. Like most services, we can do it ourselves, but we pay others because we don't have the time.
  - Tarsul 5y ago
    yeah, you're probably right. It should get easier to find adequate stylings for people who stay longer with the service, as the database fills. And that's probably also the moment where less stylists are needed because your "AI" can do (more of) it. btw. how they treated their workers judging from the article is absolute appaling and another indictment of gig companies.
- Ensorceled 5y ago
  You also do not want just what "I like". A stylish friend did a shopping trip with me and made me buy stuff I didn't really like: too tight, too colourful, etc. Not outlandish, just way outside my comfort zone. Apparently I look really good in red. OMG. The compliments. From co-workers, random people on the street and staff in stores. I was shopping for a nice watch for my wife, went to a place and was ignored but saw a watch, went back a few days later in my new clothes, and the same staff was super friendly and helpful. It really changed how I viewed the importance of style and fit.
nightski 5y ago
I use Stitch Fix and personally I don't care. So far the selections have been great. It sounds like the stylist is provided data from an algorithm already any way and just fine tunes the selections. Not only that they have a lot of ways to build out the style you already received which is great.
- tmp_anon_22 5y ago
  I mean the whole gimmick is about off-loading hard-to-sell inventory at immense mark-ups by bundling items together. Yea some absurd combinations will be sent back but it will still profit an order of magnitude more then displaying it in a department store for months. A lot more room for JIT style and data-driven logistics without the lag-time of presenting within a store. You can't be that mad at a company when it is so obvious what their value proposition and consequences are to a consumer.
  - skellera 5y ago
    You can see the difference in recommendation by something like Trunk Club which has the entire Nordstrom catalog to pull from. The stylists who work there also tend to be higher quality.
  - sfthrowaway821 5y ago
    The difficulty with JIT/data-driven logistics in this context is that Stitch Fix's styled offering (the "Fix" boxes) all has to be fulfilled from a single distribution center. So you need not only to predict demand for particular articles of clothing but to ensure that there's sufficient inventory of items to go along with them. It's easy to get people to buy one piece and return four, but does that sound more like a "personal styling service" or a subscription box?
spoonjim 5y ago
How does a stylist learn “style” and why could an algorithm not perform the same?
- ta2987 5y ago
  GPT-3 could have come up with a better comment than this, spoonjim.
whoisjuan 5y ago
> An algorithm is just going to give me a mix of what's popular and what I've liked in the past. That's exactly the same thing a human stylist would do + making sure the outfit pieces look good together (Which I assume the algorithm is also trained to do). As much as I want to believe that a human in the end would do a better job, I think an algorithm is capable of becoming a more accurate and dynamic stylist than a human. Unless you want to be a trend-setter or do some artistic expression through your clothing. In those cases a human stylist does make sense. But for the regular Joe, I think a well trained algorithm can perform better than a human.
- heyhey0918 5y ago
  The algo literally gives 10 cargo jackets in the summer because they are “high match scores”.
- doahgul145 5y ago
  The algorithm sends winter coats and three crop tops to someone living in Texas during the summer.. it doesn’t put together outfits, consider seasons, or make selections based on budget/requests/lifestyles/etc. So a human (usually with a fashion background and retail experience) is going to be able to perform better in pretty much every scenario with their algorithm “helping”
- weego 5y ago
  This is just a misunderstanding of how creative people work vs algorithms. An algorithm will aim to make you look similar to what other people like you look like. It will not push boundaries or riff on creative 'happy accidents' because it can't. A real stylist will do those things and more. I don't know whether it's an age thing or just pure cognitive dissonance because people in tech have the hubris to think we can optimise and improve everything because technology, but this machine-learning nihilist thinking is profoundly sad.
  - dnissley 5y ago
    A real stylist can do that, but very well may not. The question is not whether an algorithm/AI can beat stylists at the 90th percentile of how great they are, it's whether it can beat stylists at the 50th percentile.
paxys 5y ago
It's not like you are getting top-tier fashion designers, interior decorators etc. on services like these. The company has a fixed catalog, decided based on what deals they can get from vendors, and their reps are all outsourced and following a script/reading out algorithmic results.
- gowld 5y ago
  "In the future, your job will be performed by a robot, but the robot will be you."
LatteLazy 5y ago
Im the same. I don't mine the algo but i wanted a human as well. This is disappointing. Ive been really pleased with what they sent me.
alistairSH 5y ago
The only reason I've ever considered Stitch Fix is specifically because there might be a person with better taste than me on the other end. If the ex-workers in the article are representative, they aren't trained stylists at all; they're housewives and other normal people looking for extra income. Using StitchFix is basically letting your Uber driver select your wardrobe.
- gowld 5y ago
  If they have good taste, works for me.
- zippergz 5y ago
  I'd venture a guess that the average "normal person" is better at picking out clothing than I am, so I don't see the problem with this. Vanishingly few people who choose clothes for others, whether it's a Stitch Fix, Nordstrom, or styling celebrities, are "trained stylists." It's about taste, not training.
JustARandomGuy 5y ago
Would HN recommend Stitch Fix? I was thinking of signing up if there was a personal stylist recommending clothes, but now I’m not sure. How good is the AI in picking a wardrobe?

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

Tarsul 5y ago

I'm still wondering how many "stylists" are good enough for the job. Or maybe I'm just too picky and thus find it hard to imagine that many stilists would be able to find what the other person would like without it being too obvious (hey, I noticed you liked blue things. here's another blue one!). In my imagination it's a very thin line between obviousness and misunderstanding (and the fine line being the absolute understanding of the customer).

ctvo 5y ago
Yes, it's very difficult to tell your style from your photos, social media presence, and explicit instructions provided when you signed up. This is sarcasm if you didn't pick it up. People who are as picky as you outlined self-select out of services like this. What they have that the customer doesn't, is knowledge of the space of products that may match your taste. They also know more brands than you do, and may match you with one that you weren't aware of. Like most services, we can do it ourselves, but we pay others because we don't have the time.
- Tarsul 5y ago
  yeah, you're probably right. It should get easier to find adequate stylings for people who stay longer with the service, as the database fills. And that's probably also the moment where less stylists are needed because your "AI" can do (more of) it. btw. how they treated their workers judging from the article is absolute appaling and another indictment of gig companies.
Ensorceled 5y ago
You also do not want just what "I like". A stylish friend did a shopping trip with me and made me buy stuff I didn't really like: too tight, too colourful, etc. Not outlandish, just way outside my comfort zone. Apparently I look really good in red. OMG. The compliments. From co-workers, random people on the street and staff in stores. I was shopping for a nice watch for my wife, went to a place and was ignored but saw a watch, went back a few days later in my new clothes, and the same staff was super friendly and helpful. It really changed how I viewed the importance of style and fit.

nightski 5y ago

I use Stitch Fix and personally I don't care. So far the selections have been great. It sounds like the stylist is provided data from an algorithm already any way and just fine tunes the selections. Not only that they have a lot of ways to build out the style you already received which is great.

tmp_anon_22 5y ago
I mean the whole gimmick is about off-loading hard-to-sell inventory at immense mark-ups by bundling items together. Yea some absurd combinations will be sent back but it will still profit an order of magnitude more then displaying it in a department store for months. A lot more room for JIT style and data-driven logistics without the lag-time of presenting within a store. You can't be that mad at a company when it is so obvious what their value proposition and consequences are to a consumer.
- skellera 5y ago
  You can see the difference in recommendation by something like Trunk Club which has the entire Nordstrom catalog to pull from. The stylists who work there also tend to be higher quality.
- sfthrowaway821 5y ago
  The difficulty with JIT/data-driven logistics in this context is that Stitch Fix's styled offering (the "Fix" boxes) all has to be fulfilled from a single distribution center. So you need not only to predict demand for particular articles of clothing but to ensure that there's sufficient inventory of items to go along with them. It's easy to get people to buy one piece and return four, but does that sound more like a "personal styling service" or a subscription box?

spoonjim 5y ago

How does a stylist learn “style” and why could an algorithm not perform the same?

ta2987 5y ago
GPT-3 could have come up with a better comment than this, spoonjim.

whoisjuan 5y ago

> An algorithm is just going to give me a mix of what's popular and what I've liked in the past. That's exactly the same thing a human stylist would do + making sure the outfit pieces look good together (Which I assume the algorithm is also trained to do). As much as I want to believe that a human in the end would do a better job, I think an algorithm is capable of becoming a more accurate and dynamic stylist than a human. Unless you want to be a trend-setter or do some artistic expression through your clothing. In those cases a human stylist does make sense. But for the regular Joe, I think a well trained algorithm can perform better than a human.

heyhey0918 5y ago
The algo literally gives 10 cargo jackets in the summer because they are “high match scores”.
doahgul145 5y ago
The algorithm sends winter coats and three crop tops to someone living in Texas during the summer.. it doesn’t put together outfits, consider seasons, or make selections based on budget/requests/lifestyles/etc. So a human (usually with a fashion background and retail experience) is going to be able to perform better in pretty much every scenario with their algorithm “helping”
weego 5y ago
This is just a misunderstanding of how creative people work vs algorithms. An algorithm will aim to make you look similar to what other people like you look like. It will not push boundaries or riff on creative 'happy accidents' because it can't. A real stylist will do those things and more. I don't know whether it's an age thing or just pure cognitive dissonance because people in tech have the hubris to think we can optimise and improve everything because technology, but this machine-learning nihilist thinking is profoundly sad.
- dnissley 5y ago
  A real stylist can do that, but very well may not. The question is not whether an algorithm/AI can beat stylists at the 90th percentile of how great they are, it's whether it can beat stylists at the 50th percentile.

paxys 5y ago

It's not like you are getting top-tier fashion designers, interior decorators etc. on services like these. The company has a fixed catalog, decided based on what deals they can get from vendors, and their reps are all outsourced and following a script/reading out algorithmic results.

gowld 5y ago
"In the future, your job will be performed by a robot, but the robot will be you."

LatteLazy 5y ago

Im the same. I don't mine the algo but i wanted a human as well. This is disappointing. Ive been really pleased with what they sent me.

alistairSH 5y ago

The only reason I've ever considered Stitch Fix is specifically because there might be a person with better taste than me on the other end. If the ex-workers in the article are representative, they aren't trained stylists at all; they're housewives and other normal people looking for extra income. Using StitchFix is basically letting your Uber driver select your wardrobe.

gowld 5y ago
If they have good taste, works for me.
zippergz 5y ago
I'd venture a guess that the average "normal person" is better at picking out clothing than I am, so I don't see the problem with this. Vanishingly few people who choose clothes for others, whether it's a Stitch Fix, Nordstrom, or styling celebrities, are "trained stylists." It's about taste, not training.

JustARandomGuy 5y ago

Would HN recommend Stitch Fix? I was thinking of signing up if there was a personal stylist recommending clothes, but now I’m not sure. How good is the AI in picking a wardrobe?