The New Fashion Brand That’s Designed By An Algorithm

Netflix famously watches our every binging move and creates TV shows and films based on what we’ve already digested. Take House of Cards for instance, Netflix outbid HBO to air two seasons of the show because they knew their viewers had already gobbled up The Social Network (also directed by David Fincher) and that those who had already watched the British series of HoC also liked Kevin Spacey films. Imagine if a fashion brand had this level of intricate data at its fingertips what it could do with it.

Yoox, best known as the umbrella company that owns Net-A-Porter, Mr Porter, The Outnet and their namesake off-season website, has created it’s first ever fashion collection. With so much intel about customers from across the globe shopping at every conceivable price-point a mouse click away they decided to mine their in-house data to create a collection that runs from size XS to XXL and starts at £25.

‘Let me explain how we work,’ Erik Ostling, Yoox’s director of private label tells Grazia, ‘to propose the most relevant contemporary essentials, we carefully analyse the incredibly vast amount of sales data and customer feedback we have access to. With the aid of an internally developed AI-driven innovative tool, working on three levels of research and analysis - semantic, iconographic and chromatic - we are able to intersect this information with data from the web, social media and online magazine content.’ From this, they create a dynamic mood-board, which also represents seasonal and long-term trends and a collection that represents the DNA of Yoox ('contemporary essentials married with Italian design, versatility and accessible quality'). Ostling calls it a ‘dialogue between man and machine.’

Dubbed 8 By Yoox, this new collection is everything you would expect from data-rich design. There are pieces you’re probably familiar with and buy every season, like fluted pleated skirts, leather kick flares and a couple of teddybear coats. While it may be familiar in concept, the range, which includes womenswear, menswear, shoes and bags, isn’t without its surprises. Take the mini leather pinafore, for instance, we’re looking forward to wearing it with thick ribbed tights and the lace-up ghillie shoes.

Take a look at the collection for yourself...