Sep 12, 2019

Share to facebook Getty Two trailblazing, female-led companies have joined forces as of last week. Katrina Lake's Stitch Fix acquired the IP of Brooklyn Decker's Finery. The announcement first broke to Finery's users via email notifying them of the acquisition. The Finery co-founders, actor and model Brooklyn Decker and CEO Whitney Casey, stated, "Our original goals were to be a productivity platform for our busy users, to disrupt a space (your closet) that hadn’t seen much change in decades, and champion fellow female-led companies. With your support, we’ve done this for the last four years. While we stand behind the motivation for the platform and innovation in the patented technology we developed, we’ve decided it is time to close Finery’s wardrobe doors. We couldn’t be happier to have the technology we’ve worked so hard to build in their hands." Finery's patented technology utilized its user's e-receipts from clothing purchases to auto-populate a personal virtual wardrobe, which users could then access via an app to keep track of their garments and assemble outfits. While Stitch Fix uses data science and human stylists that hand-select clothing and accessories to be shipped straight to your door. Lake took Stitch Fix public in 2017 at the age of 34 making her the youngest female founder to lead an IPO. With already over 3 million users and $1.2 billion dollars in annual revenue, why did Stitch Fix need to acquire Finery? Because both technologies integrated into one platform is the future of retail. "At Stitch Fix, we help millions of people solve the challenge of finding clothes they love, that fit and inspire them to feel like their best selves," said the company spokesperson. "This approach closely aligns with the mission of Finery's digital wardrobe platform, which saved users time getting dressed and was a source of style inspiration. As a company, we're constantly thinking of new ways to better serve our clients and learn more about their style needs. "  What could a future iteration of Stitch Fix look like with Finery's IP? Predictive Data Integration of the virtual wardrobe with data from e-receipts could turn Stitch Fix into a shopping aggregate that knows you better than Amazon. Expect to receive suggestions of items you didn't even know you needed within the price point you were wanting. Stitch Fix will be using massive amounts of data to give users a seamless shopping experience online and IRL. Omission Of The Human Stylist  The need for a human stylist will most probably be replaced with AI. The virtual wardrobe will evolve into a virtual stylist that will put together full outfits for you with new and current wardrobe pieces. Brands such as Uniqlo are already tapping into artificial intelligence for shopping. Although it may take time to fully replace the human stylist, expect to interact with an Alexa type stylist that seems human enough to get you dressed in the morning. Affiliate Marketplace Stitch Fix now has the advantage of a massive user base plus patented technology. As retailers and DTC brands are trying to become more innovative, it would be no surprise to see them knocking on Stitch Fix's doors. Beyond doing collaborations such as the most recent, Rebecca Minkoff, collection, Stich Fix could become an affiliate marketplace for other brands. With the predictive data and a virtual stylist, Stitch Fix could recommend other brands items into your virtual wardrobe for you to purchase that would then get shipped straight to your doorstep. While it is hard to tell how and when Stitch Fix will start to roll out new integrations with the use Finery's technology, the future iterations of Stitch Fix could very well set them to be acquired by a Google, Apple or Amazon in the coming years.