Esthetic, a new fashion company aiming to be the “Shazam of clothes,” launched this week and uses AI to help people identify and shop for clothes on social media.
With the fashion concierge “Alma”, you can easily buy clothes that are hard to find. Let's say you found your favorite outfit on Instagram. Send a link to your post in a direct message to the Aesthetic account on TikTok or Instagram. Alma replies with a link to view the content on the Aesthetic website. There, consumers can purchase looks and add them to collection boards called Lookbooks.
“Our goal is to enable users to save, shop and share fashion inspiration without leaving their favorite social apps,” said CEO LJ Northington.
Northington was thinking about what he felt was a lack of innovative technology in e-commerce. Fresh out of college, Northington worked on projects under esteemed creative directors. After hearing the same complaint from a director he was working with, Northington began working on a personal shopping concept, but could not find one that would work.
He took a step back and simply asked, “What's the easiest way to learn someone's aesthetic?” he told TechCrunch. “The answer was very simple: look at their social media feeds.”
Northington is already thinking big about the app. Aesthetics are taking over pop culture, and he sees his app as helping creators monetize their style. He said he is talking to brands and record labels about how artists can create their own “aesthetic” pages so fans can shop the trend. Remember Beyoncé's “Renaissance” tour where everyone wore silver or Charli XCX's neon green outfit for Brat Summer?
He declined to say how much the company has raised so far, but Aesthetics has received investments from Slow Capital and Zeal Capital Partners, and advisors include former Guess CEO The list includes Victor Herrero, president of Informa Markets Fashion, and Kelly Helfman, president of Informa Markets Fashion. WWD reported.
The unique fashion AI/ML platform is funded by the Google Cloud AI Startup Program.
“We're using that money to achieve profitability,” Northington said. “Fortunately, Google helps us with some of the big AI items, so we're able to run a pretty cost-effective business.”
Prior to this, Northington worked in business development and strategy at Westbrook, a media company co-founded by Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith. He wanted to be an NFL player most of his life, but he also grew up watching his father's entrepreneurial journey and the fulfillment it gave him. When Northington's sports career faltered, he thought the business world was the closest he could get to becoming a professional athlete.
He also studied psychology at Harvard University, which helped him gain a different perspective on consumer habits and motivations. “Building consumer technology in today's world is a very psychological and philosophical endeavor,” he said. “Building a consumer app is basically one big social experiment.”