ONLINE STYLING SERVICE STITCH FIX FILES FOR IPO

Online personal styling service Stitch Fix has filed for an initial public offering.

The San Francisco-based e-commerce startup, which picks clothing for men and women using a combination of data science and human stylists, listed $100 million as the amount it would raise through the offering. However, this is a commonly-used placeholder and is likely to change.

Stitch Fix plans to list its stock on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “SFIX.” Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan are lead underwriters on the deal.

In a filing submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday, Stitch Fix said it had nearly 2.2 million active customers in July, up 31 percent from the year before. The company registered $977 million in revenue in its most recent fiscal year, which ended this summer. It lost $594,000 for the year, after two years of strong profits.

The company plans to use the proceeds from the IPO to increase its capitalization and financial flexibility, for general corporate purposes and potentially for acquisitions. It noted that it doesn’t currently have plans to purchase another company.

“I founded Stitch Fix to take on a very human problem: How do I find clothes I love?” wrote founder and CEO Katrina Lake, 34, in a letter to investors. “Spending a day at the mall, or devoting hours of time to sifting through millions of products online is time-consuming, overwhelming and neither effective nor enjoyable. I knew there had to be another way.”

The company got its start in 2011 selling women’s clothing exclusively, with a mix of its own private-label brands as well as those from other companies. Last year, Stitch Fix launched a men’s offering and recently added more inventory from higher-end brands.