Online apparel retailer Yoox has launched a new private-label clothing line that leverages artificial intelligence to inform its designs.
Yoox, which is owned by Yoox Net-A-Porter Group (No. 78 in the Internet Retailer 2018 Top 1000), primarily sells previous-season clothing from high-end design houses such as Dolce & Gabbana, Jil Sander, Marni. Michael Kors and Prada. The new line, called 8 by Yoox, is Yoox’s first private-label brand.
The Yoox design team uses artificial intelligence tools to review fashion-related content from social media and online magazines in key markets. The retailer then combines that information with predictive indicators about emerging lifestyle and style trends, its on-site sales data, customer feedback, industry purchasing trends and text search and image recognition data.
The AI-gathered data, along with other information, helps the designers determine the look and feel of their designs. The research is used to generate a “mood board” that gives human designers insights about things like garment shape trends, colors, sleeve lengths, neckline shapes, fabrics, textures, heel heights and price points.
“The idea behind 8 by Yoox is to use AI in the form of image recognition and hashtag searches to scan social media and online magazines for the latest trends,” a spokeswoman for Yoox says. “We then combine that analysis with our own data and unique insights into our customers that we’ve collected over 18 years.”
The goal, the spokeswoman says, is to make 8 by Yoox “a collection that perfectly meets the needs of our customers” based on as data about what consumers want and what they likely will want in the future. But, she says, data alone can only get Yoox so far.
The 8 by YOOX brand is designed with the help of artificial intelligence,
“AI can carry out some tasks that humans can’t, such as processing very large amounts of data, including colors and product attributes like sleeve or trouser lengths and silhouettes. However, while AI has the power to be transformative in the fashion industry, it can never replace the human touch,” the spokeswoman says.
Two other Yoox Net-A-Porter units also have private-label brands. The Outnet sells a women’s line called Iris & Ink, introduced in 2012, and Mr Porter sells menswear under its own Mr. P label, launched about year ago, the spokeswoman says. She says the company has no plans at this time to add additional private-label brands.
Compagnie Financière Richemont SA, the parent company of Yoox Net-A-Porter Group and luxury brands including Société Cartier, announced last month that it will team up with China e-commerce giant Alibaba to create a new venture. The venture will create mobile apps and set up online stores on Alibaba’s Tmall luxury platform under Richemont’s Net-a-Porter and Mr Porter formats.
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