Meet Gensmo, an AI Stylist With a Playful Edge

Thirty years after “Clueless” imaged a digital closet, artificial intelligence is ready to deliver that vision, this time for the masses.

AI agents — autonomous systems that perform tasks for users — are still nascent in fashion, but the technology is fast gaining traction and could redefine how consumers shop fashion online.

One of the newest entrants is Gensmo, a start-up that layers best-in-class AI models with proprietary technology to deliver shoppable outfit suggestions in seconds.

Founded last December by Chinese tech entrepreneur Ning Hu, an Alibaba and Google alum, the U.S.-based start-up now operates with teams across New York, Los Angeles, the Bay Area, and Seattle.

In June, Gensmo closed a $60 million seed round, one of the largest early-stage bets in fashion AI to date. The company did not disclose its investors.

“We came into the fashion category thinking people want very personal advice, but not everyone has access to it,” said Hu in an exclusive interview.

“Just look on Reddit — users are frustrated by even the most basic fashion questions. That’s why we are here, we want to use AI’s accessibility to help everday shoppers gain confidence in what they wear,” said Hu.

“AI has finally started to really understand human beings. That means it has the potential to become our go-to fashion friend; as it gets to know you better, it will generate solutions that are highly individualized,” said Hu.

A former group vice president at Alibaba, Hu realized that marketplace e-commerce platforms have turned into robust machines that favor big advertising spenders rather than catering to real consumer needs.

“There’s an inherent limitation to how much you can change the original e-commerce search process. That’s why we decided to build an end-to-end solution from ground up to better serve the consumer,” said Hu.

“AI is rewriting the rules of e-commerce; it will also democratize fashion e-commerce, giving small brands the tools to reach their customer base much more efficiently — most of these small businesses rely on niche communities, and AI can help them carve out a more individualized conversion funnel to match,” Hu added.

Pulling from luxury e-commerce platforms to niche designer sites alike, Gensmo has a growing catalogue of over 100 million shoppable items. The company currently doesn’t take commission on sales; users will have to check-out on a third-party platform.

An intriguing feature on Gensmo is Vibe Imagine, which drapes the outfitted look on a realistic AI avatar of the user — in an editorial setting, be it unsettling — an aesthetic often linked to the current iteration of AI photography — or fascinating.

Users are encouraged to share the image on social media, which adds a layer of gamified entertainment to the consumer journey.

For Gensmo, the more users play with its various tools, the more data sets are available for the company to understand the link between an item of clothing, or several, with the user’s specific mood or desires.

In one of its promotional videos, a user uses Gensmo to snap a picture of French Impressionist painter Claude Monet’s “Water Lilies” and is given an outfit idea — within five seconds — that incorporates the masterpiece’s color palette.

Gensmo is also hoping its content-driven experience will set it apart from its host of competitors, including Daydream, Alta, and Google‘s Doppl.

Apart from start-ups, established retailers, such as the German e-commerce player Zalando and the resale platform Mercari, have already released similar AI agent products, making the space increasingly competitive.

Based on a Polaris Market Research report in December, the global virtual shopping assistant market will balloon to $6.9 billion by 2032 from $516 million in 2022. Regionally, North America will “have the fastest growth due to advancements in AI and natural language processing technologies,” it said.

So far, Gensmo has racked up over 500,000 registered users, with over 70 percent falling into the Gen Z and young Millennials bracket.

“A lot of them are high school or college students. They may be interested in fashion, but feel that neither Instagram nor Pinterest truly gets them,” explained Hu.

For now, its bespoke styling feature still has a long way to go. Unlike traditional AI training, where right or wrong is easily quantifiable, Gensmo’s approach requires input from professional stylists and loyal users to shape the model’s performance.

The start-up has also begun feeding its AI model with brand stories and marketing materials to capture the nuances that shape consumer mindsets.

On the retail end, the start-up is in talks with a few apparel retailers to try out its virtual try-on feature in stores; its speedy image-generating feature also lends itself to Gensmo’s sister app Decofy, which provides interior design ideas with shoppable furnitures and home goods.

For Hu, what AI can ultimately achieve is to offer a decentralized e-commerce experience in an increasingly decentralized world.

“From glossy magazines, to Instagram, and now TikTok, what remains constant is change, and change is speeding up the process of fashion democratization — fashion has become a popular lifestyle, but not everyone has the tools or know-how to find what suits them,” said Hu.

“A decentralized online world calls for an intelligent online shopping experience, and we are here to cater to true individuality — not everyone’s Kate Moss,” said Hu.