Clueless-inspired app Alta partners with brand Public School to begin integrating styling tools into websites

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 let users create digital wardrobes and try on clothes with their own virtual avatars. It’s a technology once only seen in the movies, most notably in « Clueless, » where Cher styled and planned her outfits using computer technology. Alta is similar, allowing users to plan and style outfits using the latest AI innovations.

A slew of big names took the Atla circuit last year, including models Jasmine Tookes and Karlie Kloss, Anthropic’s anthropological fund, and Rent the Runway co-founder Jenny Fleiss.

TechCrunch caught up with Wang during New York Fashion Week to talk about how the company has expanded since that round.

For starters, the product is officially on the app store; time and Vogue called it one of the best innovations of last year, and Wang said more than 100 million outfits have been generated 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 own app also includes thousands of brands for users to shop from, » Wang said.

The company is currently focusing on building an app and website integration experience for brands, she said, where customers can try on designer clothing using a customized Alta Avatar. This week, the company revealed its first integration collaboration, teaming up with Public School, a well-known New York City brand.

« Shoppers can style a look from the new collection on their own Alta avatar, » Wang said.

She 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 virtual trial avatar solution, and Dao-Yi himself was a user of the Alta app, » Wang said.

Public School has actually been on hiatus for a few years, with this NYFW marking its big re-debut. When asked, the founders of the brand said they have rediscovered their voices and what they want to say.

« Today, we have to look at technology as a partner in business, » Chow told TechCrunch, adding, « It’s not 2015 anymore, » so the team wants to take advantage of the latest technological developments. « We want to be careful how we use technology and artificial intelligence, » he continued, « not as a design tool, but as a tool to expand our storytelling and a tool to interact with consumers and have 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 embedding a personal avatar and styling technology into his own website. At the bottom of the Public School product page is an icon that says Style by Alta. The click takes the customer to Alta to design their avatars and try out how the public school uniform would look on them if they purchase.

Users of Alta’s standalone app can also access a 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 outside of the Alta app.

« Currently, the user will have to add a potential purchase to their Alta wishlist, then style outfits and try on their avatar, instead of being able to do this directly on the brand’s website. » (This is for every site except a public school.) « The goal is to take their community on a new journey to engage and shop with the brand. »

Many big 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 in seconds, while Zara’s avatars can only carry four and often take about two minutes.

In general, the demand for virtual avatars has increased. Wang considers Alta as much the « clueless » technology it started with as it is a digital avatar business.

« The Alta consumer app is the ‘Clueless’ closet, while the Alta enterprise experience allows shoppers to style pieces and try on outfits on their pre-existing Alta avatar,” he said. Ultimately, Wang said he wants Alta to be “the personal identity layer for the future of consumer AI and shopping. »

For agency commerce to really work, she 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. »