Coming on the heels of its expansion into menswear and intimate apparel, Stitch Fix is crossing another cash cow off its list with the introduction of a kids’ styling service.
Stitch Fix Kids will cater to toddlers size 2T through age 14, offering curated product boxes that include up to 12 items ranging from $10 to $35 each. Similar to Stitch Fix’s adult program, products will be personalized based on user-generated information and past purchases on the site, meaning suggestions will grow increasingly customized over time. The difference, of course, is that parents will be shopping on behalf of their children instead of for themselves.
For Stitch Fix — which filed its initial public offering in 2017 and is now valued at nearly $2 billion — the push into children’s apparel is a strategic move to maintain momentum through customer acquisition. As a public company, pressure is mounting to prove the subscription styling model is scalable. Now with Kids, Stitch Fix can appeal to the entire family.
“On our side, we feel like it’s a natural extension to expand into kids,” said Carla Feely, vp of Stitch Fix Kids.
Stitch Fix began forming the Kids team internally last summer, and spent the rest of the year conducting research and data to inform the service. Much like when Warby Parker launched its first children’s glasses collection in January, Stitch Fix held focus groups around the country that convened parents to discuss the challenges of buying clothing for their children. This was followed by a beta program that was open to select Stitch Fix users in various regions.
Now open to the public, Stitch Fix Kids is debuting with 50 brands, a mix of existing partners and newly formed relationships, including Nike, Toms, Warp+Weft and BCBG Kids. Feely said bringing retailers onboard was an easy sell, given that the company provides valuable access to customer data, which has proven crucial to informing strategy. For example, brands in the past have shifted entire sizing models based on intel provided by Stitch Fix that showed high rates of returns for ill-fitting items, she said.
Still, Stitch Fix is entering an increasingly crowded children’s apparel market, which in recent years has led not only to the rise of more traditional brands wading into kids but also an influx of subscription models, like Rockets of Awesome. However, Feely said Stitch Fix’s deep well of data translates to a personalized experience that sets it apart from its competitors.
“Our clients really understand that we’ll deliver that diverse aesthetic range and the power of the personalization,” she said.
In addition to its 50 participating brands, Stitch Fix is also launching its own in-house children’s apparel brand, Rumi + Ryder. Like its private labels on the adult side, Stitch Fix will use a variety of algorithms to cull through its expansive data set to find missing pieces in existing trends and find innovative ways to bring them to life.
“The majority of our competitors, both subscription-based as well as not, are putting a stake in the ground as far as their brand and their brand aesthetic,” she said. “For us, it’s not about assigning a child a ‘type’ but looking at the data because they might not fall into one aesthetic. A girl might be sporty at school but want a girly dress for the weekend. It’s that level of personalization.”
