One Black woman’s journey into tech is making a statement in fashion.
Fashion designer Jessica Couch will launch her platform, “Looks,” this year to partner with people, products, brands, and stylists by using artificial intelligence (A.I.).
Everyone will have the opportunity to win on Couch’s platform. Shoppers can use A.I. to find products that fit their fashion taste; brands will have access to top shoppers to recruit them as influencers and can retrieve data about how their products perform. Couch said, per TheGrio
, “I’m building a tech platform called Looks where we’re matching people to products using peer-to-peer engagement. I think it’s super important because no one solved the problem in fashion yet.”According to AfroTech, 4,000 stylists will be onboarded, and 1,200 brands have already joined the platform. Looks will make way for fashion stylists to get credit for their influence. Couch said, per AfroTech, “Black people do engage in something called conspicuous
consumption…That means that we spend more on our clothes so that we can fit into a certain genre or so that we can be seen a certain way. While many people frown upon this, I took that simple behavior, and I wanted to create a platform where we’re rewarded for it.”Appropriation and appreciation are not the same. Couch’s platform will allow stylists to monetize “one-to-one.” She shared a little about how the platform works, “An individual could go to a brand and say, ‘Listen, I’m driving a hundred-thousand dollars’ worth of product for you all. What do you want to do?’”
“Now you have equity in your own influence and that brand because every time someone buys a product based on what you have on, you are going to get paid. Now, to me, this will be liberating for people of color. I do want people to stop appropriating these styles and looks for free.”
A.I. continues to be a hot topic, as BLACK ENTERPRISE previously reported. Couch is in on the conversation. She said, per AfroTech, “Tech could change us forever. Because if I could just streamline my supply chain, if I could do 3-D design, if I could just send it to somebody instantly and get it done, it would make my life easier.”
Stay tuned for more updates as the launch date for the new tech platform draws near.