Stitch Fix

Katrina Lake faced fashion retail's deadliest problem. Online clothing had thirty-five percent return rates. Customers ordered three shirts, returned two. Margins evaporated. Shipping cost five dollars. Processing cost three dollars. Returned shirts aging toward worthlessness. Massive inventory risk. The model was broken. Lake needed something radical. Lake removed choice. Customers answered sixty questions about style, size, budget, lifestyle. An algorithm analyzed thousands of garments across vendors. A stylist reviewed recommendations, added eight items to a box. Everything matched, coordinated. Returns dropped to fifteen percent. Stitch Fix bought inventory for pre-approved customers.