J. Crew debuts new AI shopping tool that’s designed to think like a stylist

J. Crew has launched a new AI-powered shopping tool called Style Advisor, aiming to provide a personalized styling experience akin to a human stylist. This innovative tool leverages Anthropic's models, trained on thousands of outfit pairings and J. Crew's styling principles, to offer recommendations beyond individual items. Danielle Schmelkin, the company's chief information officer, emphasizes the importance of the visual aspect and contextual details in Style Advisor's recommendations.

For instance, the tool can adapt its suggestions based on the occasion, such as a wedding, and the shopper's location, like Miami, to avoid overly formal attire. The AI tool will debut on J. Crew's desktop website, with plans to expand to the mobile app. While 56% of consumers use AI tools for purchases, only 27% engage with retailer-created assistants, indicating a niche but growing market.

J. Crew has invested in developing an AI fluency program and an internal AI lab, 'Second Thread', to foster a culture of AI adoption among its employees.