Are Fashion AI Apps Really Worth Using? TZR Investigates

I’ll admit I didn’t fully grasp just how much AI could do until recently. That changed when a friend mentioned she used ChatGPT to generate a personalized workout plan — all it needed was her weight, goals, and gym access. Another said she turned to it for help crafting an anxiety-inducing text to a guy she was talking to (hey, dating is hard these days). Shortly after, pitches about style-focused AI platforms started hitting my inbox, promising everything from wardrobe management to outfit curation. Intrigued, I decided to do my homework and investigate the fashion AI tools that are actually worth using — because, unsurprisingly, they’re a dime a dozen nowadays.

For Julie Bornstein, the founder of Daydream, an AI-powered chat-based shopping agent, one of the most exciting opportunities AI offers is to address online fashion search and discovery. “E-commerce remains very fragmented, impersonal, and overwhelming,” she tells TZR. “We all have 10 tabs open when we’re trying to shop.” Launched in June, Daydream tackles that pain point by providing users with searches across thousands of brands to find pieces that make sense for them. “Not only will it improve the quality and efficiency of search, but it will start to act as a personal stylist over time,” she adds.

Yidi Campbell, meanwhile, had the lightbulb moment to build Indyx during her time as director of strategy at Athleta. “I remember sitting in the boardroom and constantly talking about how to sell women more black tights, because that was our hero product,” she explains to TZR. Campbell herself had upwards of 20 pairs in her drawer — and still wasn’t quite sure how to style them. “I always felt like there was a big white space in fashion: After you buy something, you’re kind of stuck to figure out what to do with it,” she says. As such, Indyx helps users catalog their closets, plan outfits, and get more mileage out of the pieces they already have.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Ahead, read up on the fashion AI platforms that can dramatically change how you get dressed every day — for the better.

Phia

Phia was founded in April by Phoebe Gates, the daughter of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, and Sophia Kianni, her Stanford roommate. How it works: The free iOS app provides real-time price analysis to show the best new, similar, and secondhand options in one click. It also offers brand value insights, helping shoppers understand resale value and decide whether it’s smarter to buy new or secondhand. This allows the user to be the “smartest shopper in the room,” as the brand’s website puts it. The company also claims that when you shop for a secondhand product on Phia, you’re extending the life of a garment by an average of 2.2 years while also reducing its carbon, waste, and water footprint by 73%.

Daydream

A Harvard alum, Bornstein held positions at Nordstrom, StitchFix, Urban Outfitters, and Sephora before launching Daydream, primarily working in e-commerce. “I’ve always been most focused on creating a customer experience that leverages technology to make the shopping experience smarter, more effective, and more fun,” she explains. “Many times, my team and I had ideas that we just couldn’t yet execute because technology hadn’t caught up.” Now, Daydream is a natural extension of all the things Bornstein wished she could have done in the early 2000s. “Access to all of fashion on the web, with an intelligent search layer on top that understood me and understood fashion.”

Some of the free app’s features? “Our Style Passport collects personal preferences, and is a living, evolving profile that understands your fit, brand preferences, and price sensitivity,” Bornstein says. “Because of this, two people can ask Daydream the same question and get entirely different, tailored results.” Meanwhile, its Say More feature lets users refine results in real time. “If you like a top but want it more dressy, more casual, or under a certain price point, you just say so. Daydream listens and adapts instantly.” Over time, the shopping agent learns which types of pieces users love.

Indyx

Indyx’s goal is to provide a place for folks to organize and maximize their wardrobes. “None of us really have the time to figure out how to wear something the way that we originally imagined we would wear it, which is why we built Indyx,” Campbell shares. The first step: Getting your closet digitalized. As this process can be tedious, users can upload receipts or paste a product link into the app rather than snapping photos of pieces in their wardrobes. From there, you can start outfit planning for occasions like work, weddings, dinners, and more. Campbell also suggests snapping selfies of your favorite looks and uploading them to the app, creating a visual archive of what you actually wear.

And when it comes to Indyx, the user is in the driver’s seat. Translation? “The AI isn’t dressing us or replacing the human aspect of getting dressed — it’s simply using technology to make the process easier,” Campbell says. Most functions of the app are free; however, an Indyx Archivist can come to your home and catalog up to 100 items for $295 in five hours (meaning take photos and upload them for you). Meanwhile, personal styling starts at $15 a month.

Alta

Alta operates in a similar vein to Indyx, allowing users to create a digital version of their wardrobe and build outfits virtually. If you’re taking photos of your looks on say, your bed or the floor, the free app will remove the background. It also grabs info from the clothing’s tag, such as the brand and size. And if you need some guidance on choosing a look for a specific occasion? Simply tell Alta where you’re headed and it will curate outfit suggestions straight from your own closet. Best of all, you can preview each look on an AI-generated version of yourself. In essence, Alta is a modern-day take on the virtual closet made famous by fashion-obsessed character Cher Horowitz in Clueless.