Stitch Fix’s new CEO, Matt Baer, grew up in South Florida, working at his family’s chain of furniture stores. But after studying business in college, Baer went to law school and took a job with hotshot lawyer David Boies’ firm. He returned to retail when he joined e-commerce startup Fab in 2011, which started a decade of work at both e-commerce startups and bigger retailers Walmart and Macy’s.
Despite those experiences, Baer wasn’t necessarily an obvious choice to fix Stitch Fix, a once-hot tech firm that specializes in sending subscribers a box of clothing items specially curated by designers for each customer’s personal style. The business has slumped in recent years, after a failed effort to diversify into more conventional retailing led to the ouster of the last CEO.
