Stitch Fix combined fashion and technology to create a platform that reshaped the way people shop for wardrobes.
In a world where fashion and technology both have a major presence, there are very few entrepreneurs who have been able to combine the two industries. One of them is Katrina Lake and she helped transform how people shop for clothing by blending scientific data with personal styling services.
Katrina Lake was born in San Francisco in 1982 to a Japanese mother who taught in the public school system and a father who is a transplant hepatologist and Professor of Medicine. Her father inspired her to become a doctor, but later she became more interested in economics and business during the beginning of her pre-med course.
Lake graduated with her bachelor’s degree from Stanford University in 2005 then later earned her Master’s of Business Administration from Harvard Business School in 2011. While she was studying for her Master’s, Lake was also gaining experience working consulting jobs including roles at The Parthenon Group and Leader Ventures. She also took a job with fashion platform Polyvore, which is where she decided that she wanted to figure out how to use technology to improve the shopping experience.
A few months before graduation, Lake launched Stitch Fix, a site where customers fill out a fashion questionnaire and the platform would use algorithms as well as human stylists to send personalized clothing right to their homes. Stitch Fix’s model completely removed the stress of traditional shopping and instead made it easy for consumers. Customers could try the pieces on at home, keep what they like, then ship back the ones that didn’t work out.
This model grew rapidly and Stitch Fix began expanding across the United States and into the UK with millions of clients using the platform. In 2017, Lake hit a huge milestone when Stitch Fix went public on the stock market, making Katrina Lake the youngest woman to ever take a company public at the time.
Along with this impressive stat, Lake was also listed as one of Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business as well as one of Fortune’s 40 Under 40 in 2016 and even made an appearance as an investing Shark on popular TV show, Shark Tank. With Lake as CEO, the company was generating over $1.7 billion in annual revenue, but she eventually stepped down in 2021. Since then, Lake remains as a chair member at Stitch Fix and has also become a board member at both Grubhub and beauty company Glossier.
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