For many consumers, dressing has become more sophisticated, not less.
Weight loss drugs change the body faster than wardrobes can. Dating apps are putting new pressure on how people present themselves. And in parts of the US, access to fashion stores is disappearing completely.
For Stitch Fix, those moments of conflict become opportunity. As the styling service works to stabilize itself after a multi-year reset, CEO Matt Baer is betting less on traditional fashion demographics and more on times of change, from weight loss trips to breakups. This strategy is already shaping how the company finds customers, builds products and uses AI.
“We’re doing really well by targeting small, very specific customer segments,” Baer told Glossy in an interview with Shoptalk Spring. “An example of that is a GLP-1 user. A person in transition needs to get their wardrobe right. They need help finding styles and fits that work every step of the way, and we have a style that can guide them through that.”
Opportunity is important. About 12% of Americans have used GLP-1 drugs for weight loss, according to the 2025 RAND report, most commonly used among women aged 50-64. Prescriptions for drugs like Ozempic have more than tripled since 2020, and another 14% of Americans say they are interested in taking them.
For fashion, this trend creates a new type of consumer demand. People who use GLP-1s often experience rapid and progressive physical changes, which require frequent improvements to varying degrees.
Demand is already showing up in Stitch Fix’s data. On the March 11 second-quarter earnings call, Baer said that customers talking about weight loss and their requests for their next “fixes,” or styled products, have tripled in the past two years. They also jumped 75% year over year in the most recent quarter.
Another unexpected segment that Stitch Fix has strong potential for is newly divorced men.
“About 80 percent of the items in the men’s closet were purchased by someone else,” Baer said. At the same time, they may be more concerned about how they look when they leave home, especially if they enter the dating world.”
The company has tested targeted advertising on dating platforms, though Baer declined to specify which platforms. The goal is to reach customers at a time when your offering becomes relevant and provide services that eliminate friction.
The effort sits alongside the company’s broader focus on time-strapped professionals, such as nurses, teachers and military personnel. In each case, the common thread has a limited time and the need to show it looks compact.
The plan comes as Stitch Fix begins to show more clear signs. On March 11, the company reported second-quarter revenue of $341.3 million, up 9.4% year over year, marking its fourth consecutive quarter of growth. Revenue per active customer reached $577, the highest in its history as a public company.
CFO David Aufderhaar said that new customer purchases and new commitments both increased year-over-year for the second consecutive quarter, while retention reached its healthiest level in nearly four years. He added that the 90-day quality of life has increased year-over-year for 10 consecutive quarters, rising 5% in the latest period.
Performance stands out against the wear and tear. Stitch Fix said it outperformed the U.S. apparel market, which contracted 0.5% over the same period, according to Circana data.
At the same time, the company is investing in technology to support its personalized approach. Over the past 18 months, Stitch Fix has reinvented much of its experience around AI, both for customers and internal employees.
One of its newest features allows users to see themselves wearing completely custom-made clothes generated by their data. Customers upload photos, and the system generates a store layout that reflects their preferences, size and budget.
“Customer satisfaction is through the roof,” Baer said. “Any customer who engages in that experience sees their sales go up 100% in the next 90 days.” On the earnings call, Baer added that 75% of consumers who use the feature return to it in the coming months, suggesting that it is becoming a more frequent part of how consumers shop.
The experience is built on years of first-party data, allowing Stitch Fix to produce personalized, fully marketable clothing. Feedback on the resulting look becomes another input for stylists, cementing the gap between human experience and machine recommendations.
AI is also changing the company’s product strategy. Stitch Fix uses it to design private label collections, drawing on proprietary data to inform everything from silhouettes to colors. These include long-standing brands such as Market & Spruce and 41 Hawthorn, as well as new additions such as Montgomery Post and The Commons, which launched in 2024. Incorporating AI to inform products and predict demand, for example, cut four to six weeks from development time while improving efficiency, according to the company.
Private labels are still very important, and Stitch Fix is reporting strong growth across these in-house brands and improved customer response to value and quality.
All of this is happening against a backdrop of declining access to physical retail, in general, for most Americans.
Baer refers to large parts of the country, where consumers have little or no access to trendy products or stylish services, as “fashion deserts.” As retail stores continue to struggle, entire locations are losing access to fashion retail entirely.
“One of my clients lives in a town of 159,” Baer said. She can’t find the brands we carry or a stylist to help her put together outfits.
Stitch Fix isn’t the only one trying to digitize your style. By 2025, retailers and startups accelerated investments in AI-powered retail tools. Asos has introduced an AI styler called “Styled for You,” while Poshmark is offering a redesigned app that focuses on AI-powered feed discovery. At the same time, a new wave of startups is building AI-native styling platforms. Daydream, launched in June 2025, offers interactive shopping, while SpreeAI and DressX focus on trying on and producing clothes.
What sets Stitch Fix apart is the amount of first-party data and the feedback loop between the customer, stylist and algorithm. The model relies on frequent input, from style questions to buying behavior, to improve recommendations over time rather than a single sale.
This combination of catering to regional gaps, focusing on lifestyles and personalization is based on larger ambitions. Stitch Fix no longer stands alone as a subscription box or styling service. It is working to be more and more present in how consumers discover and buy clothes.
The company is designing features to drive engagement more frequently, with the goal of bringing customers to its app closer to the day and not just when a shipment arrives, according to Baer. Over time, this type of practice is expected to translate into higher spending and a greater proportion of clothing purchases.
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