Stitch Fix Wants to Revolutionize E-Commerce-By Treating It Like An Old-School Department Store

Shopping for fashion online hasn’t changed much over the past two decades. But Stitch Fix thinks it should.

Katrina Lake founded Stitch Fix in 2011 as a styling service that used a combination of data and human stylists to send customers boxes of personalized products from dozens of brands, including Madewell, Kate Spade, Champion, and The North Face. Over the past decade, it has grown into a fashion behemoth, with 4.1 million active users generating $1.7 billion in revenue in 2020. Now, the company has a bold new ambition: It wants to use its data to transform the online shopping experience.

Today, the company launches a new platform called Freestyle that creates a customized store for every shopper. It’s designed to mimic the discovery process of a traditional department store, where brands and styles are showcased together, rather than a typical e-commerce site, where you have to search for exactly what you want. This new approach to shopping has the potential to grow Stitch Fix’s business beyond its subscription model—and also transform the way we shop online.