For many consumers, getting dressed has become more complicated, not less.
Weight-loss drugs are reshaping bodies faster than wardrobes can keep up. Dating apps are putting new pressure on how people present themselves. And in parts of the U.S., access to fashion retail is disappearing altogether.
For Stitch Fix, those moments of friction are turning into opportunity. As the styling service works to reposition itself after a multi-year reset, CEO Matt Baer is betting less on traditional fashion demographics and more on moments of change, from weight-loss journeys to breakups. The strategy is already shaping how the company acquires customers, builds products and deploys AI.
“We’re getting exceptionally good at targeting smaller, very specific segments of clients,” Baer told Glossy during an interview at Shoptalk Spring. “An example of that is a GLP-1 user. Someone going through a body transformation needs to overhaul their wardrobe. They need help finding styles and fits that work at every stage, and we have a stylist who can guide them through that.”
The opportunity is significant. Nearly 12% of Americans have used GLP-1 drugs for weight loss, according to a 2025 RAND report, with usage highest 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, the trend is creating a new kind of customer need. People using GLP-1s often experience rapid and ongoing body changes, requiring frequent wardrobe updates across multiple sizes.
The demand is already showing up in Stitch Fix’s data. On its March 11 second-quarter earnings call, Baer said customer mentions of weight loss in their requests for their next “Fixes,” or stylist-curated product assortments, had tripled over the last two years. They’d also jumped 75% year over year in the latest quarter.
Another unexpected segment with strong potential for Stitch Fix is recently divorced men.
“About 80% of the items in a man’s closet were purchased by someone else,” said Baer. “When that changes, they often don’t have the capability or the history to shop for themselves. At the same time, they may care more about how they look when they leave the house, especially if they are entering the dating world.”
The company has tested targeted marketing on dating platforms, though Baer declined to specify which apps. The idea is to reach customers at a moment when personal presentation becomes newly relevant and offer a service that removes friction.
These efforts sit alongside the company’s broader focus on time-constrained professionals, such as nurses, teachers and military workers. In each case, the common thread is limited time and a need to show up looking put together.
The strategy comes as Stitch Fix begins to show clearer signs of momentum. 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 client reached $577, the highest in its history as a public company.
CFO David Aufderhaar said new-client acquisition and re-engagement both grew year over year for the second consecutive quarter, while retention reached its healthiest level in nearly four years. He added that 90-day lifetime value has now increased year over year for 10 consecutive quarters, rising 5% in the latest period.
The performance stands out against a broader slowdown in apparel. Stitch Fix said it outperformed the U.S. apparel market, which contracted 0.5% in the same period, according to Circana data.
At the same time, the company is layering in technology to support its more personalized approach. Over the past 18 months, Stitch Fix has rebuilt much of its experience around AI, both for customers and internal workers.
One of its newest features allows users to see themselves in fully styled outfits generated from their data. Customers upload images, and the system produces shoppable looks that reflect their preferences, size and budget.
“Client satisfaction is through the roof,” said Baer. “Any client that interacts with that experience sees their sales up 100% over the next 90 days.” On the earnings call, Baer added that 75% of clients who use the feature return to it in subsequent months, suggesting it is becoming a recurring part of how customers shop.
The experience is built on years of first-party data, allowing Stitch Fix to generate personalized, fully shoppable outfits. Feedback on generated looks becomes another input for stylists, tightening the loop between human expertise and machine recommendations.
AI is also reshaping the company’s product strategy. Stitch Fix uses it to design private-label collections, drawing on proprietary data to inform everything from silhouette to color. These include long-running brands like Market & Spruce and 41 Hawthorn, as well as newer additions like Montgomery Post and The Commons, launched in 2024. Incorporating AI to inform products and predict demand, for example, has cut four to six weeks from development timelines while improving performance, according to the company.
Private labels are becoming increasingly important, with Stitch Fix reporting strong growth across these in-house brands and improved customer response to quality and value.
All of this is happening against a backdrop of declining physical retail access, overall, for many Americans.
Baer refers to large parts of the country, where consumers have little or no access to contemporary brands or styling services, as “fashion deserts.” As department stores close and malls continue to struggle, entire regions are losing access to fashion retail altogether.
“One of my clients lives in a town with a population of 159,” said Baer. “She doesn’t have access to the brands we carry or to a stylist who can help her put outfits together. We can provide something she otherwise wouldn’t have.”
Stitch Fix is not alone in trying to digitize personal styling. In 2025, retailers and startups accelerated investments in AI-driven shopping tools. Asos introduced an AI stylist called “Styled for You,” while Poshmark rolled out a redesigned app centered on personalized, AI-powered discovery feeds. At the same time, a new wave of startups is building AI-native styling platforms. Daydream, launched in June 2025, offers conversational shopping, while SpreeAI and DressX focus on virtual try-on and outfit generation.
What distinguishes Stitch Fix is the scale of its first-party data and the feedback loop between client, stylist and algorithm. The model relies on continuous input, from style quizzes to purchase behavior, to refine recommendations over time rather than a single transaction.
This combination of catering to geographic gaps, targeting life stages and personalizing based on data points to a larger ambition. Stitch Fix is no longer positioning itself as a subscription box or simply a styling service. It is working to become a more continuous presence in how customers discover and buy clothes.
The company is designing features to drive more frequent engagement, aiming to bring customers into its app on a near-daily basis rather than only when a shipment arrives, according to Baer. Over time, that kind of habit-building is expected to translate into higher spend and a larger share of wardrobe purchases.