\u201cThe fashion industry is quite antiquated,\u201d she said. \u201cThere are no research and development departments in fashion, so data analytics and [research into] more efficient practices is not a natural process for this industry like it is for so many others.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Couch aims to fix this, working with clients in several different ways, including bridging the fashion\/tech gap by helping those in the fashion industry utilize technology — and helping tech companies understand the fashion business. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ve always felt confident in trying and failing. I\u2019m not afraid to fail — I just feel you need to be passionate about something and try it…If you have a problem and no one else is solving it, it becomes your responsibility to do so.<\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe specialize in helping brands and retailers integrate the best technology across the supply chain and help to resolve fit issues,\u201d she said. \u201cWe also work with tech companies that are creating fit-based technologies. We work as product developers to help create better technologies for these brands and retailers, and on the consulting side, we help brands who are starting in fashion take advantage of these resources and understand the importance of fit.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Couch began her career in the fashion industry while still at <\/span>NC State<\/span><\/a>, working on the sales floor at <\/span>Nordstrom<\/span><\/a>, which she says was \u201cone of the first companies that taught me the importance of customer centricity.\u201d After graduation, she opened an online store and ran it for three years. The store paid her bills, but also gave her insight into the way people shop online. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI realized that every time I put a piece of clothing on an actual person and put it up on social media, more people would buy it than if I put it on a model,\u201d she said. \u201cI knew this was going to be a huge issue, because people no longer really identify with models. They want to identify with people who look like themselves.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Working in retail, her talent for helping customers find clothing that fit and flattered them made her a top seller.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut what I realized with my online store is that I couldn\u2019t do online what I could do in person, by assessing that person and directing them to the product that fits them perfectly,\u201d she said. \u201cI began to get curious — how do I do what I\u2019m great at, not just for one person, but parametrically across every person who interacts with me online in my store? This problem ate away at me and I wondered, \u2018Is this just a problem I\u2019m having with my small store, or is this an industry-wide problem?\u2019\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n She shuttered her store and moved to New York City, where she took a position in the design room at Tracy Reese. Once behind the curtain, she saw that the fashion industry was not addressing the problem of fit.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI found that no one in the fashion industry had a grasp on fit — and on top of that, no one was integrating technology that would make this process more efficient,\u201d she said. \u201cA lot of brands didn\u2019t even have social media and weren\u2019t collecting any data or statistics on who their actual customer was…so people were essentially designing in the dark.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Couch was intrigued by the idea of fit technology integration and wanted to learn more, so she returned to school, earning her master\u2019s degree in Human Ecology from Cornell University in 2015. After graduation, she worked for now-defunct SourceEasy and then for technology company <\/span>Lectra<\/span><\/a>, which specializes in software and cutting equipment. In her spare time, she authored dozens of articles on fit and fashion. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBrands would come to me and say, \u2018We are having all these problems we read about in your article. Do you think you could talk to us a little more?\u2019 And I said, \u2018You know what? It\u2019s time to open a consulting company.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Luxor + Finch counts as its clients some of the leading fashion brands, from athletic wear to high fashion (many have signed nondisclosure agreements, so Couch is unable to reveal their names). The firm also serves parametric pattern grading company Bespokify, which works with one of the busiest retailers in Japan, and <\/span>MySizeID<\/span><\/a>, a sizing app that Couch calls \u201cthe best thing since sliced bread.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n She believes the fashion fit tech industry is \u201cextremely niche,\u201d but that her background makes her the perfect person for the job.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019ve spent thousands of hours in the fitting rooms with people who have crazy ways of understanding their own body types, I\u2019ve spent thousands of hours developing ecommerce and I have a more sophisticated background in fashion product development,\u201d she said. \u201cI understand every angle of these problems, so I\u2019m able to talk with brands on various levels.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Couch believes that attending the Wilson College of Textiles helped prepare her for the realities of working in the fashion and textile industry, giving her a solid platform of real-world skills.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s expanded my mindset about how I would run my business, what I could contribute to the industry and how to identify problems,\u201d she said. \u201cWhat NC State prepares you for is enterprise…There\u2019s actually a skills gap problem right now, as a lot of institutions are not properly preparing future designers or fashion workers for actual positions in fashion, which now need you to think about the whole supply chain, to understand the engineering side of it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n One of her most sought-after skills is helping tech companies tailor their product to the fashion industry.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cA company I worked with was creating a sophisticated 3D foot-scanning tool,\u201d she said. \u201cHowever, the usefulness of the product was not apparent…people already know which size shoe they are and they simply want to know, \u2018Which shoe will fit me best?\u2019 I came on board to help them understand the fashion consumer, how people shop for shoes, what they\u2019re looking for and how to turn that technology into something useful.\u201d She conducted user-based tests for feedback, then worked with the engineering team to streamline and simplify the tool.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n As an advocate for fit equality, she believes the widespread adoption of fit technology — eliminating arbitrary sizing and producing garments made for actual, not aspirational consumers — can empower people generally overlooked by the fashion industry. This paradigm shift could also save billions of dollars in returned merchandise and dead inventory, and save millions of tons of textile waste every year. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Couch will be sharing her message at some high-profile events next year. She is planning the second <\/span>Women of Color FashTech Brunch<\/span>, which will take place during <\/span>New York Fashion Week<\/span><\/a> in February 2019; its goal is to network and foster community among women in the fashion and technology industries. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe first one was amazing,\u201d she said. \u201cWe brought in women in tech, women in finance, women in fashion. We had some of the top retailers represented, we had a very esteemed scholar come and we had a lot of people there who were heavy hitters in the industry…it was really an amazing event. We focus on genuinely networking.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n She has also been chosen to speak on a panel about fit and inclusivity at <\/span>South By Southwest <\/span><\/a>in Austin, Texas in March 2019. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe will be talking about the issues of fit and representation in fashion: why we don\u2019t see people with different body types, why we aren\u2019t seeing more and different races, why fit is such a big issue and why it all ties in with sustainability, as well as what we can do to create better fashion processes moving into the future,\u201d she said. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Couch is working with a developer to create her own fit-based shopping platform, which she plans to launch next year. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy parents are entrepreneurs, so I grew up in a household of people who make their own everything,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s just the environment I grew up in. I\u2019ve always felt confident in trying and failing. I\u2019m not afraid to fail — I just feel you need to be passionate about something and try it…If you have a problem and no one else is solving it, it becomes your responsibility to do so.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Written by Cameron Walker <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false,"raw":"\n\n\n\n\n By Cameron Walker<\/p>\n\n\n\n The days when shoppers must contort themselves to fit into the styles of the moment are coming to an end. The future of fashion is fit technology, and <\/span>Wilson College of Textiles<\/span><\/a> alumna Jessica Couch (Textile and Apparel Management \u201810) is leading the revolution as founder of <\/span>Luxor + Finch<\/span><\/a> -- a fit technology consulting firm that works with the best in the business as they prepare for the brave new world of fashion that actually fits. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe fashion industry is quite antiquated,\u201d she said. \u201cThere are no research and development departments in fashion, so data analytics and [research into] more efficient practices is not a natural process for this industry like it is for so many others.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Couch aims to fix this, working with clients in several different ways, including bridging the fashion\/tech gap by helping those in the fashion industry utilize technology -- and helping tech companies understand the fashion business. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ve always felt confident in trying and failing. I\u2019m not afraid to fail -- I just feel you need to be passionate about something and try it...If you have a problem and no one else is solving it, it becomes your responsibility to do so.<\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe specialize in helping brands and retailers integrate the best technology across the supply chain and help to resolve fit issues,\u201d she said. \u201cWe also work with tech companies that are creating fit-based technologies. We work as product developers to help create better technologies for these brands and retailers, and on the consulting side, we help brands who are starting in fashion take advantage of these resources and understand the importance of fit.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Couch began her career in the fashion industry while still at <\/span>NC State<\/span><\/a>, working on the sales floor at <\/span>Nordstrom<\/span><\/a>, which she says was \u201cone of the first companies that taught me the importance of customer centricity.\u201d After graduation, she opened an online store and ran it for three years. The store paid her bills, but also gave her insight into the way people shop online. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI realized that every time I put a piece of clothing on an actual person and put it up on social media, more people would buy it than if I put it on a model,\u201d she said. \u201cI knew this was going to be a huge issue, because people no longer really identify with models. They want to identify with people who look like themselves.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Working in retail, her talent for helping customers find clothing that fit and flattered them made her a top seller.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut what I realized with my online store is that I couldn\u2019t do online what I could do in person, by assessing that person and directing them to the product that fits them perfectly,\u201d she said. \u201cI began to get curious -- how do I do what I\u2019m great at, not just for one person, but parametrically across every person who interacts with me online in my store? This problem ate away at me and I wondered, \u2018Is this just a problem I\u2019m having with my small store, or is this an industry-wide problem?\u2019\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n She shuttered her store and moved to New York City, where she took a position in the design room at Tracy Reese. Once behind the curtain, she saw that the fashion industry was not addressing the problem of fit.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI found that no one in the fashion industry had a grasp on fit -- and on top of that, no one was integrating technology that would make this process more efficient,\u201d she said. \u201cA lot of brands didn\u2019t even have social media and weren\u2019t collecting any data or statistics on who their actual customer was...so people were essentially designing in the dark.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Couch was intrigued by the idea of fit technology integration and wanted to learn more, so she returned to school, earning her master\u2019s degree in Human Ecology from Cornell University in 2015. After graduation, she worked for now-defunct SourceEasy and then for technology company <\/span>Lectra<\/span><\/a>, which specializes in software and cutting equipment. In her spare time, she authored dozens of articles on fit and fashion. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBrands would come to me and say, \u2018We are having all these problems we read about in your article. Do you think you could talk to us a little more?\u2019 And I said, \u2018You know what? It\u2019s time to open a consulting company.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Luxor + Finch counts as its clients some of the leading fashion brands, from athletic wear to high fashion (many have signed nondisclosure agreements, so Couch is unable to reveal their names). The firm also serves parametric pattern grading company Bespokify, which works with one of the busiest retailers in Japan, and <\/span>MySizeID<\/span><\/a>, a sizing app that Couch calls \u201cthe best thing since sliced bread.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n She believes the fashion fit tech industry is \u201cextremely niche,\u201d but that her background makes her the perfect person for the job.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019ve spent thousands of hours in the fitting rooms with people who have crazy ways of understanding their own body types, I\u2019ve spent thousands of hours developing ecommerce and I have a more sophisticated background in fashion product development,\u201d she said. \u201cI understand every angle of these problems, so I\u2019m able to talk with brands on various levels.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Couch believes that attending the Wilson College of Textiles helped prepare her for the realities of working in the fashion and textile industry, giving her a solid platform of real-world skills.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s expanded my mindset about how I would run my business, what I could contribute to the industry and how to identify problems,\u201d she said. \u201cWhat NC State prepares you for is enterprise...There\u2019s actually a skills gap problem right now, as a lot of institutions are not properly preparing future designers or fashion workers for actual positions in fashion, which now need you to think about the whole supply chain, to understand the engineering side of it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n One of her most sought-after skills is helping tech companies tailor their product to the fashion industry.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cA company I worked with was creating a sophisticated 3D foot-scanning tool,\u201d she said. \u201cHowever, the usefulness of the product was not apparent...people already know which size shoe they are and they simply want to know, \u2018Which shoe will fit me best?\u2019 I came on board to help them understand the fashion consumer, how people shop for shoes, what they\u2019re looking for and how to turn that technology into something useful.\u201d She conducted user-based tests for feedback, then worked with the engineering team to streamline and simplify the tool.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n As an advocate for fit equality, she believes the widespread adoption of fit technology -- eliminating arbitrary sizing and producing garments made for actual, not aspirational consumers -- can empower people generally overlooked by the fashion industry. This paradigm shift could also save billions of dollars in returned merchandise and dead inventory, and save millions of tons of textile waste every year. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Couch will be sharing her message at some high-profile events next year. She is planning the second <\/span>Women of Color FashTech Brunch<\/span>, which will take place during <\/span>New York Fashion Week<\/span><\/a> in February 2019; its goal is to network and foster community among women in the fashion and technology industries. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Luxor](\"https:\/\/tex-cloud-cdn.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/textiles-ncsu\/20231108101347\/luxor-finch-graphic.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n