
Stitch Fix Algorithms Tour - jbredeche
http://algorithms-tour.stitchfix.com
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zues
I was just talking with my wife about this tonight. We were discussing the 20$
styling fee that is charged each month, regardless if you keep any of the
pieces selected. The idea portrayed to their customers is that is a 'styling
fee' for the human that hand picked the box of clothes specifically for her.
"If I was setting up this business today", I speculated, "I'd just use ML and
algorithms to do this."

Ironic that two hours later I'm reading this. Granted, it does say that humans
are involved. However, they point out that the requests made by customers are
analyzed for key words to identify which pieces would match. Earlier my wife
argued "I can tell Stitch Fix that I'll be going to Vegas for a wedding and
will need a dress. Would an algorithm hand select a dress for warm weather?"

"No" I replied, because an algorithm has no hand. Other than that, the answer
is yes. No need to start a fight though :)

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xb
I tried out Stitch Fix expecting to return everything, wiling to eat the $20
fee. I have to say I am surprised with how well they have done, I have ended
up keeping a fair amount of the stuff. Most impressive is how they can find
pants that fit me.

Of course I've been wondering the entire time how their data operation works
behind the scenes, so this post is really enlightening, cool graphics too...
and only some minor scroll jacking.

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mgamache
My wife and I have been using Stitch Fix for six months. The first box was
magical, especially the fix for pants (as @xb noted). Part of difficulty (and
noise) for SF feedback is that you get a discount if you keep the whole box.
There's been a few items that I would return if I had to pay for it, but the
discount i received covered the cost of the item so I kept it. That seems to
mess with the feedback loop. The main complaint I have about SF is that after
the fist few boxes it feels repetitive. The clothes all start to look alike. I
now own three color variations of the same plaid shirt and two sets of the
same shoe in different colors. My wife's complaint is that the 'I don't like
pink' request made multiple times was ignored. She sent back the entire box
last time. I will try and give them feedback and see what happens.

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amelius
I'm still wondering why google is so bad at finding me e.g. a pair of jeans of
a specific brand and of a specific size.

~~~
ericcholis
Too broad a tool for such a specific search. With that being said, they
_should_ have the data if merchants submit them via their product feed api. I
too have always found google's product search capabilities to be lacking.

~~~
amelius
It is certainly lacking. Especially considering that Google is, as they say,
using my personal data to offer me a better search experience. I'm starting to
wonder what they are talking about if they can't even find me a pair of
fitting jeans.

