A lot has changed for Jenny Wang, the founder who brings fashion technology “Clueless” to life.
Last year, her company, Alta, raised $11 million in a round led by Menlo Ventures to allow users to create digital wardrobes and try on clothes with their own virtual avatars. It’s a technology that was once only seen in movies, most notably in “Clueless,” where Cher shapes and designs her clothes using computer technology. Alta is similar to this, allowing users to design and style clothes using the latest AI innovations.
A number of big names made the Atla round last year, including models Jasmine Tookes and Karlie Kloss, Anthropic’s VC arm Anthology Fund and Rent the Runway co-founder Jenny Fleiss.
TechCrunch caught up with Wang during New York Fashion Week to talk how the company has expanded since that round.
For starters, the product is officially on the app store. Time and Fashion called it one of the best innovations of the past year, and Wang said more than 100 million outfits have been created on the platform since its launch in 2023. It has partnerships with Poshmark and the Council of Fashion Designers of America, with more to be announced soon.
“Alta’s app also has thousands of brands that users can shop from,” Wang said.
Right now, the company is focused on creating app and website integration experiences for brands, he said, where customers can try on designer clothes using a personalized Alta Avatar. This week, the company revealed its first integration partnership, in collaboration with the Public Schoola famous New York brand.
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“Shoppers can style looks from the new collection with their own Alta avatar,” Wang said.
He met the Public School team – Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne – through Poshmak’s founder, who is also an angel investor in both companies.
“Public School designers Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne were looking for an AI partner and a virtual avatar trial solution, and Dao-Yi was an Alta app user himself,” Wang said.
Public School has actually been on hiatus for a few years, with this NYFW marking its big debut. When asked, the founders of the brand said they rediscovered their voices and what they wanted to say.
“We need to see technology as a partner in business today,” Chow told TechCrunch, adding, “It’s not 2015 anymore,” so the team wants to take advantage of the latest technological advances. “We want to be careful about how we use technology and AI,” he continued, “not as a design tool but as a tool to extend our narrative and a tool to engage with the consumer and make them experience the brand even if they can’t do it in person.”
Wang said this is one of the first cases of a designer incorporating personal avatar and styling technology into his own website. Near the bottom of the Public School product page, there is an icon that says Alta style. Clicking on this takes the customer to Alta to configure their avatars and try out how the Public School clothes will look on them if they buy.
Users on Alta’s standalone app can also access Public School through the Alta app. Wang said the goal is for Alta to integrate more experiences like this into other brands and websites, so that Alta users can try on clothes on other websites even when they’re outside of the Alta app.
“Currently, a user would have to add a potential purchase to their Alta wishlist, then style clothes and try on their avatar, rather than being able to do so directly on the brand’s website.” (For every site but Public School, that is.) “The goal is to bring their community on a new journey to engage and buy into the brand.”
Many major fashion brands, such as Zara and Balmain, have already experimented with digital avatars. Wang said that what makes Alta different here, especially compared to Zara, is that Alta’s avatars can put on at least 8 items within seconds, while Zara’s avatars can only put on four and it often takes about two minutes.
Overall, the demand for virtual avatars has increased. Wang sees Alta as still the “clueless” technology it started with, and a digital avatar business.
“The Alta consumer app is the ‘Clueless’ wardrobe, while the Alta business experience allows shoppers to style and try on clothes on their pre-existing Alta avatar,” he said. Ultimately, Wang said she wants Alta to be the “personal identity layer for the future of consumer AI and shopping.”
For the commerce agency to really work, he said, “We need a data layer that understands the shopper’s style preferences, like their wardrobe, past purchases, and their avatar, likeness, and body, which is Alta.”
