Stitch Fix plans 20% job cuts as CEO steps down

Early in the pandemic, I subscribed to Stitch Fix as a way of trying on new clothes without having to physically step into a store for prolonged periods of time. In those early months, it was pretty good - the stylist assigned to me quickly got a sense of my style and sent me things I often wanted to keep. The only thing I sent back regularly was shoes, not because I didn't like them, but because the size was often off by one and I needed to swap it out.

Then sometime that year, they laid off a ton of their stylists and I assume I was then assigned to someone (or some algorithm) that did not have as much time or care to put into recommendations. I started to get sent what was essentially repeats - the same articles of clothing I was sent a few months ago, but in a different color. After a few months of sending back over 80% of what I was sent, I cancelled my subscription.

Couple problems, clothes are not food, you don't new ones everyday.

The other is apparel just has too much competition. Each retailer used to have a look and style they were promoting. There was also noticeable difference between low cost clothes and higher ones. If one goes to a mall the differentiation between stores is less than it used to be. I don't have a way to quantify this but that is what it seems.

As for cost of garments, go to H&M and go to Nordstrom, is there a quality difference, yes but not that much.

Back to stichfix, once customer has a few boxes of clothes and the customer likes the clothes, they can go buy them and a ton of other places. And unlike trying to replicate meal kit companies offerings, there is no preparing of a meal, just clicking the buy button.

Hard business.

Is this a rare occasion of a CEO actually taking responsibility?