Stitch Fix CMO on its Rebrand, Influencer Marketing and More AI Tools – Chief Marketer
By April Berthene
Stitch Fix was in need of a refresh, said Chief Marketer Officer Debbie Woloshin.
The apparel brand launched in 2011, bringing a digital approach to the shop-by-stylist method: A shoppers take an online quiz and sends messages to a human stylist, who then sends outfits to the shopper based on those responses and a trove of customer preference data. The shopper keeps what she likes and returns the rest.
But the digital native darling had not made any brand updates in those 14 years. And things have changed since its debut, including massive growth, an IPO, layoffs, a new business model, a men’s line, more artificial intelligence backend technology and increasing competitors, among other changes. A brand refresh was needed.
“We saw an opportunity to refresh the brand visually as well as from a tone of voice perspective,” Woloshin said. “Our refresh with new colors, new fonts, and a new tone of voice really brought a new level of relatability and modernity to the brand. We also wanted to infuse what the brand inherently has, which is this very warm sense of community and connection.”
The new Stitch Fix is much more conversational, warmer and empathic to the shopper’s needs, Woloshin said. Previously, the brand was more educational and explanatory, she said.
Stitch Fix launched its rebrand in August 2024 with a linear and streaming TV ad campaign dubbed Retail Therapy and has since layered in social media ads and content. The ads poke fun at frustrating shopping experiences, and highlights Stitch Fix as the solution to those problems in a relatable way, Woloshin said. Shoppers, both current and prospective, are receiving the rebrand well, she said.
“Our stats across social listening, length of viewing time and how we optimize from the growth perspective are really strong,” she said. “We’re seeing that it’s resonating with our existing clients, which is equally as important as resonating with new clients.”
The rebrand coincided with an updated customer onboarding experience. After a shopper’s initial style quiz, the brand provides a style persona name and picture, such as “modern prep” or “classic rebel.” Stitch Fix has a few dozen style personas, which it calls StyleFile.
This update generated lots of conversation and engagement with shoppers, Woloshin said, and it helped attract new clients, she said without providing specifics. Beyond finding outfits that met a shopper’s needs, naming her style highlighted how Stitch Fix understood the shopper, Woloshin said.
“The real reason we did it was because we were launching a rebrand,” she said. “We were connecting more deeply with our customers. We were telling stories that resonated and we wanted it to all connect to the information you got back from us as well to create that two-way dial up.”
The next marketing installment of the rebrand is to story tell its new brand position is an entertainment-esque social media series. The 60- to 90-second stories called Fix My Fit are unscripted scenarios between two influencers pretending to be a shopper and a stylist, such as a new mom who needs to find new jeans or a divorced dad needing something to wear on a date. Shoppers are responding to the humor angle of the scenarios and seeing themselves in the stories, Woloshin said.
“Our very early stats is that our engagement rates have been two to three times higher than other social content,” she said.
The shorts are available on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. The six storylines in each short were pulled from real client stories.
Stitch Fix decided to use influencers for these ads where it is a pre-defined scenario instead of actors because of the consumer engagement it typically sees when it works with real people compared with ads. For example, the apparel merchant previously hired Olympic medalist Shawn Johnson to post content about why using Stitch Fix is a good alternative to shopping at the mall with your kids. The merchant also hired influencer Amy Kane, known as Amy in Half, who lost 160 pounds, and she posted content about how Stitch Fix helped her find new clothes.
“We got tremendous engagement from that; Really strong traction and great awareness and visibility,” Woloshin said.
Consumers enjoy watching humorous social media content to take a break from the world, and these promotional content pieces are a good distraction and remind consumers that shopping can be easy and fun, she said. Regardless of what the marketing message is, shoppers are attracted to Stitch Fix for convenience it offers, she added.
Stitch Fix has long used artificial intelligence, such as helping the human stylists match apparel to the shopper’s aesthetic.
The brand recently rolled out a generative AI tool that helps shoppers articulate their needs and preferences to their stylists. The AI style assistant will chat with consumers, asking them leading questions and showing AI-generated images to help them write a message to their human stylists about what they like.
Another new AI tool called Stylist Connect allows shoppers to visualize how an outfit looks on an image of them. A shopper takes a full-length photo of herself, uploads it to her profile and then the algorithms can style different looks based on that shopper’s preferences.
“The images are head-to-toe looks that are pre-style based on our merchandising focus, what we know about you already from your style profile and your StyleFile,” Woloshin said. “Then we put you in different locations also so you can see what you might look like walking down the cobblestone street.”
Shoppes can write feedback as a comment on each image so the stylist can use that to suggest apparel and can have a conversation about the outfit.
“It’s a really different level of connection that I don’t think any other brand can say that they can create, given the fact that we have so much information already about our clients, now we’re layering on more opportunity to service them,” she said.
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