Stitch Fix, Inc 10-Q for FY2023 Q1
Stitch Fix, Inc. (SFIX)
10-Q
2022-12-07
For: 2022-10-29
View Original
Added on
April 12, 2026
About this 10-Q
Stitch Fix, Inc filed this 10-Q on December 7, 2022, covering the quarter ended October 29, 2022 (FY2023 Q1).
Headline figures
Quarter ended October 29, 2022, as reported in this filing, compared with the same period a year earlier where the filing states it.
- Revenue
- $455.59M
- down 21.6% from $581.24M a year earlier
- Net loss
- $55.92M
- compared with a net loss of $1.83M a year earlier
- Diluted EPS
- -$0.50
- compared with -$0.02 a year earlier
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 10-Q
(Mark One)
| QUARTERLY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 | |||||
For the quarterly period ended October 29, 2022
OR
TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 | |||||
For the transition period from to
Commission file number: 001-38291
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) | (I.R.S. Employer Identification No.) | ||||||||||
(Address of principal executive offices and zip code)
(415 ) 882-7765
(Registrant's telephone number, including area code)
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
| Title of Each Class | Trading Symbol | Name of Each Exchange on Which Registered | ||||||||||||
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒ No ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
☒ | Accelerated filer | ☐ | ||||||||||||
Non-accelerated filer | ☐ | Smaller reporting company | ||||||||||||
Emerging growth company | ||||||||||||||
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐ No ☒
As of December 2, 2022, the number of outstanding shares of the registrant’s Class A common stock, par value $0.00002 per share, was 85,403,036 , and the number of outstanding shares of the registrant’s Class B common stock, par value $0.00002 per share, was 25,405,020 .
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STITCH FIX, INC.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page No. | ||||||||
2
PART I. FINANCIAL INFORMATION
| ITEM 1. | FINANCIAL STATEMENTS | ||||
Stitch Fix, Inc.
Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets
(Unaudited)
(In thousands, except share and per share amounts)
| October 29, 2022 | July 30, 2022 | ||||||||||
| Assets | |||||||||||
| Current assets: | |||||||||||
| Cash and cash equivalents | $ | $ | |||||||||
| Short-term investments | |||||||||||
| Inventory, net | |||||||||||
| Prepaid expenses and other current assets | |||||||||||
| Income tax receivable | |||||||||||
| Total current assets | |||||||||||
| Long-term investments | |||||||||||
| Income tax receivable, net of current portion | |||||||||||
| Property and equipment, net | |||||||||||
| Operating lease right-of-use assets | |||||||||||
| Other long-term assets | |||||||||||
| Total assets | $ | $ | |||||||||
| Liabilities and Stockholders’ Equity | |||||||||||
| Current liabilities: | |||||||||||
| Accounts payable | $ | $ | |||||||||
| Operating lease liabilities | |||||||||||
| Accrued liabilities | |||||||||||
| Gift card liability | |||||||||||
| Deferred revenue | |||||||||||
| Other current liabilities | |||||||||||
| Total current liabilities | |||||||||||
| Operating lease liabilities, net of current portion | |||||||||||
| Other long-term liabilities | |||||||||||
| Total liabilities | |||||||||||
| Commitments and contingencies (Note 6) | |||||||||||
| Stockholders’ equity: | |||||||||||
Class A common stock, $ | |||||||||||
Class B common stock, $ | |||||||||||
| Additional paid-in capital | |||||||||||
| Accumulated other comprehensive loss | ( | ( | |||||||||
| Accumulated deficit | ( | ( | |||||||||
Treasury stock at cost ( | ( | ( | |||||||||
| Total stockholders’ equity | |||||||||||
| Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity | $ | $ | |||||||||
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements.
3
Stitch Fix, Inc.
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss
(Unaudited)
(In thousands, except share and per share amounts)
| For the Three Months Ended | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| October 29, 2022 | October 30, 2021 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Revenue, net | $ | $ | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Cost of goods sold | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gross profit | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Selling, general, and administrative expenses | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Operating loss | ( | ( | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Interest income | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other expense, net | ( | ( | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Loss before income taxes | ( | ( | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Provision for income taxes | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Net loss | $ | ( | $ | ( | |||||||||||||||||||
| Other comprehensive loss: | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Change in unrealized loss on available-for-sale securities, net of tax | ( | ( | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Foreign currency translation | ( | ( | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Total other comprehensive loss, net of tax | ( | ( | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Comprehensive loss | $ | ( | $ | ( | |||||||||||||||||||
| Net loss attributable to common stockholders: | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Basic | $ | ( | $ | ( | |||||||||||||||||||
| Diluted | $ | ( | $ | ( | |||||||||||||||||||
| Loss per share attributable to common stockholders: | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Basic | $ | ( | $ | ( | |||||||||||||||||||
| Diluted | $ | ( | $ | ( | |||||||||||||||||||
| Weighted-average shares used to compute loss per share attributable to common stockholders: | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Basic | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Diluted | |||||||||||||||||||||||
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements.
4
Stitch Fix, Inc.
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Stockholders’ Equity
(Unaudited)
(In thousands, except share amounts)
| For the Three Months Ended October 29, 2022 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Common Stock | Additional Paid-In Capital | Accumulated Other Comprehensive Loss | Accumulated Deficit | Treasury Stock | Total Stockholders’ Equity | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Shares | Amount | Shares | Amount | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Balance as of July 30, 2022 | $ | $ | $ | ( | $ | ( | ( | $ | ( | $ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Issuance of common stock upon settlement of restricted stock units, net of tax withholdings | — | ( | — | — | — | — | ( | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stock-based compensation | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Net loss | — | — | — | — | ( | — | — | ( | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other comprehensive loss, net of tax | — | — | — | ( | — | — | — | ( | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Balance as of October 29, 2022 | $ | $ | $ | ( | $ | ( | ( | $ | ( | $ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| For the Three Months Ended October 30, 2021 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Common Stock | Additional Paid-In Capital | Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income (Loss) | Retained Earnings | Treasury Stock | Total Stockholders’ Equity | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Shares | Amount | Shares | Amount | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Balance as of July 31, 2021 | $ | $ | $ | $ | $ | $ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Issuance of common stock upon exercise of stock options | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Issuance of common stock upon settlement of restricted stock units, net of tax withholdings | — | ( | — | — | — | — | ( | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stock-based compensation | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Net loss | — | — | — | — | ( | — | — | ( | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other comprehensive loss, net of tax | — | — | — | ( | — | — | — | ( | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Balance as of October 30, 2021 | $ | $ | $ | $ | $ | $ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements.
5
Stitch Fix, Inc.
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flow
(Unaudited)
(In thousands)
| For the Three Months Ended | |||||||||||
| October 29, 2022 | October 30, 2021 | ||||||||||
| Cash Flows from Operating Activities | |||||||||||
| Net loss | $ | ( | $ | ( | |||||||
| Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash (used in) provided by operating activities: | |||||||||||
| Change in inventory reserves | ( | ||||||||||
| Stock-based compensation expense | |||||||||||
| Depreciation, amortization, and accretion | |||||||||||
| Other | ( | ||||||||||
| Change in operating assets and liabilities: | |||||||||||
| Inventory | ( | ||||||||||
| Prepaid expenses and other assets | ( | ||||||||||
Income tax receivables | |||||||||||
| Operating lease right-of-use assets and liabilities | ( | ||||||||||
| Accounts payable | ( | ||||||||||
| Accrued liabilities | |||||||||||
| Deferred revenue | ( | ( | |||||||||
| Gift card liability | ( | ( | |||||||||
| Other liabilities | ( | ( | |||||||||
| Net cash (used in) provided by operating activities | ( | ||||||||||
| Cash Flows from Investing Activities | |||||||||||
| Purchases of property and equipment | ( | ( | |||||||||
| Purchases of securities available-for-sale | ( | ( | |||||||||
| Sales of securities available-for-sale | |||||||||||
| Maturities of securities available-for-sale | |||||||||||
| Net cash used in investing activities | ( | ( | |||||||||
| Cash Flows from Financing Activities | |||||||||||
| Proceeds from the exercise of stock options, net | |||||||||||
| Payments for tax withholdings related to vesting of restricted stock units | ( | ( | |||||||||
| Other | ( | ||||||||||
| Net cash used in financing activities | ( | ( | |||||||||
| Net (decrease) increase in cash and cash equivalents | ( | ||||||||||
| Effect of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents | ( | ( | |||||||||
| Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period | |||||||||||
| Cash and cash equivalents at end of period | $ | $ | |||||||||
| Supplemental Disclosure | |||||||||||
| Cash paid for income taxes | $ | $ | |||||||||
| Supplemental Disclosure of Non-Cash Investing and Financing Activities: | |||||||||||
| Purchases of property and equipment included in accounts payable and accrued liabilities | $ | $ | |||||||||
| Capitalized stock-based compensation | $ | $ | |||||||||
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements.
6
Stitch Fix, Inc.
Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements
(Unaudited)
1. Description of Business
2. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies
Basis of Presentation
Our fiscal year is a 52-week or 53-week period ending on the Saturday closest to July 31. The fiscal years ending July 29, 2023 (“2023”), and July 30, 2022 (“2022”), consist of 52 weeks.
The unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements include the accounts of Stitch Fix, Inc. and our wholly owned subsidiaries, and have been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”) and the requirements of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) for interim reporting. As permitted under those rules, certain footnotes or other financial information that are normally required by GAAP can be condensed or omitted. These financial statements have been prepared on the same basis as our annual consolidated financial statements and, in the opinion of management, reflect all adjustments, consisting only of normal recurring adjustments, which are necessary for the fair statement of our financial information. These interim results are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for the fiscal year ending July 29, 2023, or for any other interim period or for any other future year. All intercompany balances and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation.
The accompanying unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements and the related notes thereto for the fiscal year ended July 30, 2022, included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on September 21, 2022 (the “2022 Annual Report”).
Use of Estimates
The preparation of condensed consolidated financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts in our condensed consolidated financial statements and accompanying footnotes.
Significant estimates and assumptions are used for inventory, stock-based compensation expense, income taxes, and revenue recognition. Actual results could differ from those estimates and such differences may be material to the condensed consolidated financial statements.
Short-Term and Long-Term Investments
Our short-term and long-term investments have been classified and accounted for as available-for-sale securities. We determine the appropriate classification of our investments at the time of purchase and reevaluate the classification at each balance sheet date. Available-for-sale securities with maturities of 12 months or less are classified as short-term and available-for-sale securities with maturities greater than 12 months are classified as long-term. Our available-for-sale securities are carried at fair value, with unrealized gains and losses, net of taxes, reported within accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) (“AOCI”) in stockholders’ equity. The cost of securities sold is based upon the specific identification method.
For debt securities with an amortized cost basis in excess of estimated fair value, we determine what amount of that deficit, if any, is caused by expected credit losses. The portion of the deficit attributable to expected credit losses is recognized in other expense, net on our condensed consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income. During the three months ended October 29, 2022, we did not record any expected credit losses on our available-for-sale debt securities.
7
Inventory, net
Inventory, net consists of finished goods which are recorded at the lower of cost or net realizable value using the first-in-first-out (FIFO) method. Gross inventory costs include both merchandise costs and in-bound freight costs. Inventory, net includes reserves for excess and slow-moving inventory we expect to write off based on historical trends, damaged inventory, and shrinkage. We estimate and accrue shrinkage as a percentage of inventory out to the client and damaged items at 100% of cost.
In September 2022, we amended our lease agreement for our fulfillment center in Phoenix, AZ, to extend the lease term by five years . We recorded an additional operating lease liability of $14.9 million and right-of-use asset of $14.9 million.
Revenue Recognition
We generate revenue primarily from the sale of merchandise in a Fix or Freestyle. Clients create an online account on our website or mobile app, complete a style profile, and order a Fix or merchandise to be delivered on a specified date.
Each Fix represents an offer made by us to the client to purchase merchandise. The client is charged a nonrefundable upfront styling fee before the Fix is shipped. As an alternative to the styling fee, we offer select clients the option to purchase a Style Pass. Style Pass clients pay a nonrefundable annual fee for unlimited Fixes that is credited towards merchandise purchases. If the offer to purchase merchandise is accepted, we charge the client the order amount for the accepted merchandise, net of the upfront styling fee or Style Pass annual fee. For each Fix, acceptance occurs when the client checks out the merchandise on our website or mobile app. We offer a discount to clients who purchase all of the items in the Fix.
We recognize revenue through the following steps: (1) identification of the contract, or contracts, with the customer; (2) identification of the performance obligations in the contract; (3) determination of the transaction price; (4) allocation of the transaction price to the performance obligations in the contract; and (5) recognition of revenue when, or as, we satisfy a performance obligation.
Our styling fee and Style Pass arrangements represent the option to purchase merchandise. These fees and arrangements are not distinct within the context of the contract with our Fix customers and therefore do not give rise to separate performance obligations. Both the upfront styling fee and Style Pass annual fee are included in deferred revenue until the performance obligation is satisfied when the client exercises his or her option to purchase merchandise (i.e., upon checkout of a Fix) or when the option(s) to purchase merchandise expire(s).
8
Revenue is recognized when control of the promised goods is transferred to the client. For a Fix, control is transferred when the client accepts or rejects the offer to purchase merchandise. Upon acceptance by purchasing one or more items within the Fix at checkout, the total amount of the order, including the upfront styling fee, is recognized as revenue. If none of the items within the Fix are accepted at checkout, the upfront styling fee is recognized as revenue at that time. The Style Pass annual fee is recognized at the earlier of (i) the time at which a client accepts and applies the Style Pass fee to an offer to purchase merchandise or (ii) upon expiry of the annual period. Under Style Pass arrangements, if a client does not accept any items within the Fix, the annual fee will continue to be deferred until it is applied to a future purchase or upon expiry of the annual period. If a client would like to exchange an item, we recognize revenue at the time the exchanged item is shipped, which coincides with the transfer of control to the customer. For a Freestyle purchase, control is transferred and revenue is recognized upon shipment to the client.
We deduct discounts, sales tax, and estimated refunds to arrive at net revenue. Sales tax collected from clients is not considered revenue and is included in accrued liabilities until remitted to the taxing authorities. All shipping costs are accounted for in cost of goods sold and all handling costs are accounted for as fulfillment costs within selling, general, and administrative expense (“SG&A”), and are therefore not evaluated as a separate performance obligation. Discounts are recorded as a reduction to revenue when the order is accepted. We record a refund reserve based on our historical refund patterns. Our refund reserve, which is included in accrued liabilities in the condensed consolidated balance sheets, was $10.2 million and $10.3 million as of October 29, 2022, and July 30, 2022, respectively.
We have five types of contractual liabilities: (i) cash collections of upfront styling fees, which are included in deferred revenue and are recognized as revenue upon the earlier of application to a merchandise purchase or expiry of the offer, (ii) cash collections of Style Pass annual fees, which are included in deferred revenue and are recognized upon the earlier of application to a merchandise purchase or expiry of the Style Pass annual period, (iii) unredeemed gift cards, which are included in gift card liability and recognized as revenue upon usage or inclusion in gift card breakage estimates, (iv) referral credits, which are included in other current liabilities and are recognized as revenue when used, and (v) cash collections of Freestyle purchases, which are included in deferred revenue and are recognized as revenue upon shipment.
We sell gift cards to clients and establish a liability based upon the face value of such gift cards. We reduce the liability and recognize revenue upon usage of the gift card. If a gift card is not used, we will recognize estimated gift card breakage revenue proportionately to customer usage of gift cards over the expected gift card usage period, subject to requirements to remit balances to governmental agencies. All commissions paid to third parties upon issuance of gift cards are recognized in SG&A as incurred, as on average, gift cards are used within a one-year period. Similarly, referral credits that are considered incremental costs of obtaining a contract with a customer are recognized in SG&A when issued, as on average, referral credits are used within a one-year period.
We expect deferred revenue for upfront styling fees, Freestyle orders, and Style Pass annual fees to be recognized within one year. On average, gift card liability and other current liabilities are also recognized within one year.
9
The following table summarizes the balances of contractual liabilities included in deferred revenue, gift card liability, and other current liabilities as of the dates indicated:
| (in thousands) | October 29, 2022 | July 30, 2022 | ||||||||||||
| Deferred revenue | ||||||||||||||
| Upfront styling fees | $ | $ | ||||||||||||
| Style Pass annual fees | ||||||||||||||
| Freestyle orders | ||||||||||||||
| Total deferred revenue | $ | $ | ||||||||||||
| Gift card liability | $ | $ | ||||||||||||
| Other current liabilities | ||||||||||||||
| Referral credits | $ | $ | ||||||||||||
The following table summarizes revenue recognized during the three months ended October 29, 2022, that was previously included in deferred revenue, gift card liability, and other current liabilities at July 30, 2022:
| (in thousands) | Revenue Recognized From Amounts Previously Included in Deferred Balances at July 30, 2022 | |||||||||||||
| Upfront styling fees | $ | |||||||||||||
| Style Pass annual fees | ||||||||||||||
| Freestyle orders | ||||||||||||||
| Gift card liability | ||||||||||||||
| Referral credits | ||||||||||||||
Concentration of Credit Risks
We are subject to concentrations of credit risk principally from cash and cash equivalents and investment securities. The majority of our cash is held by two financial institutions within the United States. Our cash balances held by these institutions may exceed federally insured limits. The associated risk of concentration for cash is mitigated by banking with credit-worthy institutions. The associated risk of concentration for cash equivalents and investments is mitigated by maintaining a diversified portfolio of highly rated instruments.
No client accounted for greater than 10% of total revenue, net for the three months ended October 29, 2022, and October 30, 2021, respectively.
3. Fair Value Measurements
We disclose and recognize the fair value of our assets and liabilities using a hierarchy that prioritizes the inputs to valuation techniques used to measure fair value. Fair value is defined as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability (an exit price) in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. The guidance establishes three levels of the fair value hierarchy as follows:
Level 1: Inputs are unadjusted, quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities at the measurement date;
Level 2: Inputs are observable, unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for similar assets or liabilities, unadjusted quoted prices for identical or similar assets or liabilities in markets that are not active, or other inputs that are observable or can be corroborated by observable market data for substantially the full term of the related assets or liabilities; and
Level 3: Unobservable inputs that are significant to the measurement of the fair value of the assets or liabilities that are supported by little or no market data.
Our financial instruments consist of cash and cash equivalents, short-term and long-term investments, accounts payable, and accrued liabilities. At October 29, 2022, and July 30, 2022, the carrying values of cash and cash equivalents, accounts payable, and accrued liabilities approximated fair value due to their short-term maturities.
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| October 29, 2022 | July 30, 2022 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (in thousands) | Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 | Total | Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 | Total | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Financial Assets: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cash equivalents: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Money market funds | $ | $ | $ | $ | $ | $ | $ | $ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Investments: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| U.S. Treasury securities | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Commercial paper | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Corporate bonds | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total | $ | $ | $ | $ | $ | $ | $ | $ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
There were no transfers of financial assets or liabilities into or out of Level 1, Level 2, or Level 3 for the three months ended October 29, 2022, and October 30, 2021.
The following table sets forth the amortized cost, gross unrealized gains, gross unrealized losses and fair values of our short-term and long-term investments accounted for as available-for-sale securities as of October 29, 2022, and July 30, 2022:
| October 29, 2022 | July 30, 2022 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (in thousands) | Amortized Cost | Gross Unrealized Gains | Gross Unrealized Losses | Fair Value | Amortized Cost | Gross Unrealized Gains | Gross Unrealized Losses | Fair Value | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Financial Assets: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Investments: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| U.S. Treasury securities | $ | $ | $ | ( | $ | $ | $ | $ | ( | $ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Commercial paper | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Corporate bonds | ( | ( | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total | $ | $ | $ | ( | $ | $ | $ | $ | ( | $ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The following table shows fair value and gross unrealized losses, aggregated by security category and length of time that individual securities have been in a continuous unrealized loss position as of October 29, 2022:
| Less Than 12 Months | More Than 12 Months | Total | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (in thousands) | Fair Value | Unrealized Losses | Fair Value | Unrealized Losses | Fair Value | Unrealized Losses | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Financial Assets: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Investments: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| U.S. Treasury securities | $ | $ | ( | $ | $ | $ | $ | ( | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Corporate bonds | ( | ( | ( | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total | $ | $ | ( | $ | $ | ( | $ | $ | ( | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Due to the increasing interest rate environment, gross unrealized losses on our available-for-sale securities have increased. We evaluate securities for expected credit losses on a quarterly basis with consideration given to the financial condition and near-term prospects of the issuer; whether we intend to sell the securities, and whether it is more likely than not that we will be required to sell the securities before recovery of their amortized cost basis.
As of October 29, 2022, the losses on our available-for-sale securities were considered to be a direct effect of the increase in interest rates and not the creditworthiness of the issuers. We have the current intent and ability to retain these securities until maturity or recovery of the amortized cost basis. Therefore, we did not recognize any expected credit losses as of October 29, 2022.
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The following table sets forth the fair value of available-for-sale securities by contractual maturity as of October 29, 2022 and July 30, 2022:
| October 29, 2022 | July 30, 2022 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (in thousands) | One Year or Less | Over One Year Through Five Years | Over Five Years | Total | One Year or Less | Over One Year Through Five Years | Over Five Years | Total | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Financial Assets: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Investments: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| U.S. Treasury securities | $ | $ | $ | $ | $ | $ | $ | $ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Commercial paper | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Corporate bonds | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total | $ | $ | $ | $ | $ | $ | $ | $ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
4. Accrued Liabilities
| (in thousands) | October 29, 2022 | July 30, 2022 | ||||||||||||
| Compensation and related benefits | $ | $ | ||||||||||||
| Advertising | ||||||||||||||
| Sales taxes | ||||||||||||||
| Shipping and freight | ||||||||||||||
| Accrued accounts payable | ||||||||||||||
| Inventory purchases | ||||||||||||||
| Sales refund reserve | ||||||||||||||
| Other | ||||||||||||||
| Total accrued liabilities | $ | $ | ||||||||||||
5. Credit Agreement
We are party to an amended and restated credit agreement, entered into June 2, 2021 and amended on July 29, 2022 (the “Amended Credit Agreement”) with Silicon Valley Bank and other lenders, to provide a revolving line of credit of up to $100.0 million, including a letter of credit sub-facility in the aggregate amount of $30.0 million, and a swingline sub-facility in the aggregate amount of $40.0 million. We also have the option to request an incremental facility of up to an additional $150.0 million from one or more of the lenders under the Amended Credit Agreement.
Under the terms of the Amended Credit Agreement, revolving loans may be either Secured Overnight Financing Rate (“SOFR”) Loans or ABR Loans. Outstanding SOFR Loans incur interest at the Adjusted Term SOFR, which is defined in the Amended Credit Agreement as Term SOFR plus the Term SOFR Adjustment), plus a margin of 2.25 %. Outstanding ABR Loans incur interest at the highest of (a) the Prime Rate, as published by the Wall Street Journal, (b) the federal funds rate in effect for such day plus 0.50 %, and (c) the Adjusted Term SOFR for a one-month tenor in effect on such day plus 1.00 %, in each case plus a margin of 1.25 %. We are charged a commitment fee of 0.25 % for committed but unused amounts. The revolving line of credit under the Amended Credit Agreement will terminate on May 31, 2024, unless the termination date is extended at the election of the lenders.
Our obligations under the Amended Credit Agreement and any hedging or cash management agreements entered into with any lender thereunder are secured by substantially all of our current and future property, rights, and assets, including, but not limited to, cash, goods, equipment, contractual rights, financial assets, and intangible assets. The Amended Credit Agreement contains covenants limiting the ability under certain circumstances to, among other things, dispose of assets, undergo a change in control, merge or consolidate, make acquisitions, incur debt, incur liens, pay dividends, repurchase stock, and make investments, in each case subject to certain exceptions. The Amended Credit Agreement also contains financial covenants requiring us to maintain minimum free cash flow and an adjusted current ratio above specified levels, measured in each case at the end of each fiscal quarter. The Amended Credit Agreement contains events of default that include, among others, non-payment of principal, interest, or fees, breach of covenants, inaccuracy of representations and warranties, cross defaults to certain other indebtedness, bankruptcy and insolvency events, and material judgments.
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6. Commitments and Contingencies
Contingencies
We record a loss contingency when it is probable that a liability has been incurred and the amount of the loss can be reasonably estimated. We also disclose material contingencies when we believe a loss is not probable but reasonably possible. Accounting for contingencies requires us to use judgment related to both the likelihood of a loss and the estimate of the amount or range of loss. Although we cannot predict with assurance the outcome of any litigation or tax matters, we do not believe there are currently any such actions that, if resolved unfavorably, would have a material impact on our operating results, financial position, and cash flows.
On August 26, 2022, a class action lawsuit alleging violations of federal securities laws was filed by certain of our stockholders in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, naming as defendants us, certain of our officers and directors and certain of our affiliated stockholders. The lawsuit alleges violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, by us and our officers for allegedly making materially false and misleading statements regarding our Freestyle offering between December 2020 and December 2021. The plaintiffs seek unspecified monetary damages and other relief.
On October 11, 2018, October 26, 2018, November 16, 2018, and December 10, 2018, four putative class action lawsuits alleging violations of the federal securities laws were filed by certain of our stockholders in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, naming as defendants us and certain of our officers. The four lawsuits each make the same allegations of violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, by us and our officers for allegedly making materially false and misleading statements regarding our active client growth and strategy with respect to television advertising between June 2018 and October 2018. The plaintiffs seek unspecified monetary damages and other relief. The four lawsuits have been consolidated and a lead plaintiff has been appointed. On September 18, 2019, the lead plaintiff in the consolidated class action lawsuits (the “Class Action”) filed a consolidated complaint for violation of the federal securities laws. On October 28, 2019, we and other defendants filed a motion to dismiss the consolidated complaint. The lead plaintiff filed an opposition to the motion to dismiss on December 9, 2019, and we and the other defendants filed our reply in support of our motion to dismiss on December 30, 2019. The court granted our motion to dismiss on September 30, 2020 but allowed the lead plaintiff to file an amended complaint. On November 6, 2020, the lead plaintiff filed his amended complaint. We filed a motion to dismiss the amended complaint on December 7, 2020. The lead plaintiff filed an opposition to the motion to dismiss on January 8, 2021, and we filed our reply in support of our motion to dismiss on January 22, 2021. The court granted our motion to dismiss on October 1, 2021. On October 29, 2021, the plaintiffs filed a notice of appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. On October 19, 2022, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court's dismissal of the complaint.
On December 12, 2018, a derivative action was filed against our directors in the same court, alleging the same violations of securities laws as alleged in the Class Action and breach of fiduciary duties. On December 12, 2019, a second derivative action was filed against our directors in the same court, alleging the same violations of securities laws and breach of fiduciary duties as the other derivative action. The two derivative actions have been related to each other and to the Class Action, and all the related cases are now proceeding before a single judge in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The derivative actions were stayed pending resolution of the plaintiffs’ appeals of the dismissal of the Class Action pursuant to the parties’ stipulation.
There have been no other material changes to our commitments and contingencies disclosed in our 2022 Annual Report.
Indemnifications
In the ordinary course of business, we may provide indemnifications of varying scope and terms to vendors, directors, officers and other parties with respect to certain matters. We have not incurred any material costs as a result of such indemnifications and have not accrued any liabilities related to such obligations in our condensed consolidated financial statements.
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7. Accumulated Other Comprehensive Loss
The following tables present the changes in AOCI by component and, if applicable, the reclassifications out of AOCI for the periods presented:
| For the Three Months Ended October 29, 2022 | For the Three Months Ended October 30, 2021 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (in thousands) | Available-for-sale Securities | Foreign Currency Translation | Total | Available-for-sale Securities | Foreign Currency Translation | Total | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Beginning balance | $ | ( | $ | ( | $ | ( | $ | ( | $ | $ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Other comprehensive loss before reclassifications(1) | ( | ( | ( | ( | ( | ( | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Amounts reclassified from AOCI | ( | ( | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Net change in AOCI | ( | ( | ( | ( | ( | ( | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ending balance | $ | ( | $ | ( | $ | ( | $ | ( | $ | $ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
8. Stock-Based Compensation
2011 Equity Incentive Plan
In 2011, we adopted the 2011 Equity Incentive Plan (the “2011 Plan”). The 2011 Plan provided for the grant of stock-based awards to employees, directors, and nonemployees under terms and provisions established by the Board of Directors.
The 2011 Plan allowed for the grant of incentive stock options or nonqualified stock options as well as restricted stock units, restricted stock, and stock appreciation rights. Only incentive and nonqualified stock options were granted under the 2011 Plan. Employee stock option awards generally vested 25 % on the first anniversary of the grant date with the remaining shares subject to the option vesting ratably over the next three years subject to the employee’s continued service with the Company. Options generally expire after 10 years. Effective upon our initial public offering in 2017, the 2011 Plan was replaced by the 2017 Incentive Plan.
2017 Incentive Plan
In November 2017, our Board of Directors and stockholders adopted our 2017 Incentive Plan (the “2017 Plan”). The remaining shares available for issuance under our 2011 Plan became reserved for issuance under the 2017 Plan. Our 2017 Plan provides for the grant of Class A incentive stock options to employees, including employees of our subsidiary, and for the grant of nonqualified stock options, stock appreciation rights, restricted stock awards, restricted stock unit awards (“RSU”), performance stock awards, performance cash awards, and other forms of stock awards to employees, directors, and consultants, including employees and consultants of our subsidiaries. Employee stock option awards generally begin to vest six months after the grant date with the remaining shares subject to the option vesting ratably over the next 30 months. Options generally expire after 10 years. RSU awards made to employees generally vest ratably on a quarterly basis subject to the employee’s continued service with the Company. The number of shares authorized for issuance under the 2017 Plan was 38,257,771 shares of Class A common stock as of October 29, 2022.
2019 Inducement Plan
In October 2019, our Board of Directors adopted our 2019 Inducement Plan (the “2019 Plan”). Our 2019 Plan provides for the grant of Class A nonqualified stock options and RSU awards to individuals who satisfy the standards for inducement grants under the relevant Nasdaq Stock Market rules. The number of shares authorized for issuance under the 2019 Plan was 10,750,000 shares of Class A common stock as of October 29, 2022.
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Stock Options
Stock option activity under the 2011 Plan, 2017 Plan, and 2019 Plan is as follows:
| Options Outstanding | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Number of Options | Weighted- Average Exercise Price | Weighted- Average Remaining Contractual Life (in Years) | Aggregate Intrinsic Value (in thousands) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Balance – July 30, 2022 | $ | $ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Granted | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Exercised | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cancelled | ( | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Balance – October 29, 2022 | $ | $ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The aggregate intrinsic value is the difference between the current fair value of the underlying common stock and the exercise price for in-the-money stock options. During the three months ended October 29, 2022 and October 30, 2021, no options were granted to employees.
Restricted Stock Units
The following table summarizes the RSU award activity under the 2017 Plan and 2019 Plan:
| Unvested RSUs | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Class A Common Stock | Weighted- Average Grant Date Fair Value | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Unvested at July 30, 2022 | $ | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Granted | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vested | ( | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Forfeited | ( | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Unvested at October 29, 2022 | $ | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Stock-Based Compensation Expense
Stock-based compensation expense for employees was $31.7 million for the three months ended October 29, 2022, and $32.3 million for the three months ended October 30, 2021. Stock-based compensation expense is included in selling, general, and administrative expenses in our condensed consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income.
As of October 29, 2022, the total unrecognized compensation expense related to unvested options and RSUs, net of estimated forfeitures, was $243.3 million, which we expect to recognize over an estimated weighted average period of 2.4 years.
We record stock-based compensation of stock options granted to employees by estimating the fair value of stock-based awards using the Black-Scholes option pricing model and amortizing the fair value of the stock-based awards granted over the applicable vesting period of the awards on a straight-line basis. During the three months ended October 29, 2022, and October 30, 2021, there were no options granted to employees.
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9. Income Taxes
| For the Three Months Ended | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (in thousands) | October 29, 2022 | October 30, 2021 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Loss before income taxes | $ | ( | $ | ( | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Provision for income taxes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Effective tax rate | ( | % | ( | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||
We are primarily subject to income taxes in the United States and the United Kingdom. Our effective tax rate for the three months ended October 29, 2022, differs from the federal statutory income tax rate primarily due to the full valuation allowance recorded on our net federal and state deferred tax assets. The tax provision for the three months ended October 29, 2022, is primarily comprised of state taxes and income taxes in foreign jurisdictions.
Our effective tax rate for the three months ended October 30, 2021, differed from the federal statutory income tax rate primarily due to the full valuation allowance recorded on our net federal and state deferred tax assets.
We continue to monitor the progress of ongoing discussions with tax authorities and the impact, if any, of the expected expiration of the statute of limitations in various taxing jurisdictions.
10. Net Loss Per Share Attributable to Common Stockholders
Basic and diluted loss per share attributable to common stockholders is presented in conformity with the two -class method required for participating securities: Class A and Class B common stock. The rights of the holders of Class A and Class B common stock are identical, except with respect to voting, conversion, and transfer rights. Each share of Class A common stock is entitled to one vote per share and each share of Class B common stock is entitled to ten votes per share. Each share of Class B common stock is convertible at any time at the option of the stockholder into one share of Class A common stock.
Basic net loss per share attributable to common stockholders is computed by dividing the net loss attributable to common stockholders by the weighted-average number of common shares outstanding during the period.
For the calculation of diluted loss per share, net loss attributable to common stockholders for basic loss per share is adjusted by the effect of dilutive securities. Diluted net loss per share attributable to common stockholders is computed by dividing the net loss attributable to common stockholders by the weighted-average number of common shares outstanding, including all potentially dilutive common shares. In periods of loss, there are no potentially dilutive common shares to add to the weighted-average number of common shares outstanding. The undistributed earnings are allocated based on the contractual participation rights of the Class A and Class B common shares as if the losses for the year have been distributed. As the liquidation and dividend rights are identical, the undistributed loss is allocated on a proportionate basis.
In January 2022, the Company's Board of Directors authorized a share repurchase program to repurchase up to $150.0 million of our outstanding Class A common stock, with no expiration date (the “2022 Repurchase Program”). The actual timing, number and value of shares repurchased in the future will be determined by the Company in its discretion and will depend on a number of factors, including market conditions, applicable legal requirements, our capital needs, and whether there is a better alternative use of capital.
Repurchases during any given fiscal period under the 2022 Repurchase Program will reduce the number of weighted-average common shares outstanding for the period.
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A reconciliation of the numerator and denominator used in the calculation of basic and diluted loss per share attributable to Class A and Class B common stockholders is as follows:
| For the Three Months Ended | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (in thousands, except share and per share amounts) | October 29, 2022 | October 30, 2021 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Numerator: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Net loss attributable to Class A and Class B common stockholders | $ | ( | $ | ( | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Denominator: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weighted-average shares of common stock - basic | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weighted-average shares of common stock - diluted | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Loss per share attributable to Class A and Class B common stockholders: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Basic | $ | ( | $ | ( | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Diluted | $ | ( | $ | ( | ||||||||||||||||||||||
As the Company has reported net loss for each of the periods presented, all potentially dilutive securities were considered antidilutive. The following common stock equivalents were excluded from the computation of diluted loss per share for the periods presented because including them would have been antidilutive:
| For the Three Months Ended | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| October 29, 2022 | October 30, 2021 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Restricted stock units that settle into Class A common stock | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stock options to purchase Class A common stock | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stock options to purchase Class B common stock | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total | |||||||||||||||||||||||
11. Restructuring
We announced a restructuring plan on June 9, 2022, to reduce our future fixed and variable operating costs and allow us to centralize key capabilities, strengthen decision-making to drive efficiencies, and ensure we are allocating resources to our most critical priorities. This restructuring plan reduced our workforce by approximately 15 % of salaried positions and represented approximately 4 % of our roles in total. In the first quarter of fiscal 2023, we recorded $0.9 million of additional restructuring charges consisting of severance and employee-related benefits. These charges were recorded in selling, general, and administrative expenses on the consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss.
The following table provides the components of and changes in the Company’s restructuring and related charges, included in accrued liabilities on the consolidated balance sheets:
| (in thousands) | Severance and Employee Related Benefits | |||||||||||||||||||
Balance at July 30, 2022 | $ | |||||||||||||||||||
| Charges incurred | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Cash payments | ( | |||||||||||||||||||
Balance at October 29, 2022 | $ | |||||||||||||||||||
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ITEM 2. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
You should read the following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations together with our unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements and related notes thereto included in Part I, Item 1 of this report and with our audited consolidated financial statements and related notes and our Annual Report on Form 10-K (the “2022 Annual Report”) for the year ended July 30, 2022, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on September 21, 2022. We use a 52- or 53-week fiscal year, with our fiscal year ending on the Saturday that is closest to July 31 of that year. Each fiscal year typically consists of four 13-week fiscal quarters. The fiscal year ending July 29, 2023, and the fiscal year ended July 30, 2022, include 52 weeks of operations. Throughout this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q (this “Quarterly Report”), all references to quarters and years are to our fiscal quarters and fiscal years unless otherwise noted.
Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This Quarterly Report contains forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions that, if they never materialize or prove incorrect, could cause our results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The statements contained in this Quarterly Report that are not purely historical, including without limitation statements in the following discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations regarding our projected financial position and results, business strategy, plans, and objectives of our management for future operations, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are often identified by the use of words such as, but not limited to, “anticipate,” “believe,” “can,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “project,” “seek,” “should,” “target,” “will,” “would,” and similar expressions or variations intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements are based on the beliefs and assumptions of our management, which are in turn based on information currently available to management. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other important factors that could cause actual results and the timing of certain events to differ materially from future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, those discussed in the section titled “Risk Factors” included under Part II, Item 1A below. Furthermore, such forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this Quarterly Report. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of such statements.
Overview
Since our founding in 2011, we have helped millions of women, men, and kids discover and buy what they love through personalized shipments of apparel, shoes, and accessories. Currently, clients can engage with us in one of two ways that, combined, form an ecosystem of personalized experiences across styling, shopping, and inspiration: (1) by receiving a personalized shipment of items informed by our algorithms and sent by a Stitch Fix stylist (a “Fix”); or (2) by purchasing directly from our website or mobile app based on a personalized assortment of outfit and item recommendations (“Freestyle”). For a Fix, clients can choose to schedule automatic shipments or order on demand after they fill out a style profile on our website or mobile app. After receiving a Fix, our clients purchase the items they want to keep and return the other items, if any. Freestyle utilizes our algorithms to recommend a personalized assortment of outfit and item recommendations that will update throughout the day and will continue to evolve as we learn more about the client.
For the three months ended October 29, 2022, we reported $455.6 million in net revenue, representing a year-over-year decline of 21.6% from the three months ended October 30, 2021. As of October 29, 2022, and October 30, 2021, we had 3,709,000 and 4,180,000 active clients, respectively, representing a year-over-year decline of 11.3%.
During fiscal 2022, we experienced a decline in net revenue year-over-year primarily due to our challenges in acquiring new clients. This trend has continued in the first quarter of fiscal 2023, and we expect these challenges in acquiring active clients to have a negative compounding effect on net revenue in fiscal 2023. We are continuing to navigate the uncertainties presented by the current macroeconomic environment and remain focused on retaining current clients, improving the conversion of new clients, and enhancing our overall client experience for new and existing clients.
Net loss for the three months ended October 29, 2022, was $55.9 million, compared to a net loss of $1.8 million for the three months ended October 30, 2021.
We announced a restructuring plan on June 9, 2022, to reduce our future fixed and variable operating costs and allow us to centralize key capabilities, strengthen decision-making to drive efficiencies, and ensure we are allocating resources to our most critical priorities. This restructuring plan reduced our workforce by approximately 15% of salaried positions and represented approximately 4% of our roles in total. In connection with the restructuring plan, we incurred $0.9 million in restructuring costs in the first quarter of fiscal 2023. We also incurred other one-time cash charges related to retention bonuses for continuing employees of $5.2 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2023.
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We are continuing to evaluate other fixed and variable operating costs, including rationalizing our real estate footprint and further optimizing and being disciplined in our marketing strategy to better position ourselves for profitability. However, our future results of operations will depend on our ability to successfully navigate current business challenges and the overall macroeconomic environment.
For more information on the components of net loss for the three months ended October 29, 2022, refer to the section titled “Results of Operations” below.
Key Financial and Operating Metrics
Non-GAAP Financial Measures
We report our financial results in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (“GAAP”). However, management believes that certain non-GAAP financial measures provide users of our financial information with additional useful information in evaluating our performance. We believe that adjusted EBITDA is frequently used by investors and securities analysts in their evaluations of companies, and that this supplemental measure facilitates comparisons between companies. We believe free cash flow is an important metric because it represents a measure of how much cash from operations we have available for discretionary and non-discretionary items after the deduction of capital expenditures. These non-GAAP financial measures may be different than similarly titled measures used by other companies.
Our non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered in isolation from, or as substitutes for, financial information prepared in accordance with GAAP. There are several limitations related to the use of our non-GAAP financial measures as compared to the closest comparable GAAP measures. Some of these limitations include:
•adjusted EBITDA excludes interest income and other expense, net, as these items are not components of our core business;
•adjusted EBITDA does not reflect our provision for income taxes, which may increase or decrease cash available to us;
•adjusted EBITDA excludes the recurring, non-cash expenses of depreciation and amortization of property and equipment and, although these are non-cash expenses, the assets being depreciated and amortized may have to be replaced in the future;
•adjusted EBITDA excludes the non-cash expense of stock-based compensation, which has been, and will continue to be for the foreseeable future, an important part of how we attract and retain our employees and a significant recurring expense in our business; and
•adjusted EBITDA excludes costs incurred related to discrete restructuring plans and other one-time costs that are fundamentally different in strategic nature and frequency from ongoing initiatives. We believe exclusion of these items facilitates a more consistent comparison of operating performance over time, however these costs do include cash outflows;
•free cash flow does not represent the total residual cash flow available for discretionary purposes and does not reflect our future contractual commitments.
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Adjusted EBITDA
We define adjusted EBITDA as net loss excluding interest income, other expense, net, provision for income taxes, depreciation and amortization, stock-based compensation expense, and restructuring and other one-time costs. The following table presents a reconciliation of net loss, the most comparable GAAP financial measure, to adjusted EBITDA for each of the periods presented:
| For the Three Months Ended | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (in thousands) | October 29, 2022 | October 30, 2021 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Net loss | $ | (55,918) | $ | (1,827) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Add (deduct): | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Interest income | (773) | (334) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other expense, net | 1,284 | 109 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Provision for income taxes | 277 | 202 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Depreciation and amortization | 9,840 | 7,740 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stock-based compensation expense | 31,714 | 32,323 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Restructuring and other one-time costs(1) | 6,155 | — | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Adjusted EBITDA | $ | (7,421) | $ | 38,213 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
(1)Restructuring charges consist of $0.9 million in severance and employee-related benefits. Other one-time costs consists of $5.3 million in retention bonuses for continuing employees.
Free Cash Flow
We define free cash flow as cash flows (used in) provided by operating activities reduced by purchases of property and equipment that are included in cash flows used in investing activities. The following table presents a reconciliation of cash flows provided by operating activities, the most comparable GAAP financial measure, to free cash flow for each of the periods presented:
| For the Three Months Ended | ||||||||||||||
| (in thousands) | October 29, 2022 | October 30, 2021 | ||||||||||||
| Free cash flow reconciliation: | ||||||||||||||
| Cash flows (used in) provided by operating activities | $ | (10,048) | $ | 141,656 | ||||||||||
| Deduct: | ||||||||||||||
| Purchases of property and equipment | (6,143) | (16,392) | ||||||||||||
| Free cash flow | $ | (16,191) | $ | 125,264 | ||||||||||
| Cash flows used in investing activities | $ | (2,257) | $ | (7,537) | ||||||||||
| Cash flows used in financing activities | $ | (3,870) | $ | (13,698) | ||||||||||
Operating Metrics
| October 29, 2022 | July 30, 2022 | April 30, 2022 | January 29, 2022 | October 30, 2021 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Active clients (in thousands) | 3,709 | 3,795 | 3,907 | 4,019 | 4,180 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Active Clients
We believe that the number of active clients is a key indicator of our growth and the overall health of our business. We define an active client as a client who checked out a Fix or was shipped an item via Freestyle in the preceding 52 weeks, measured as of the last day of that period. A client checks out a Fix when she indicates what items she is keeping through our mobile application or on our website. We consider each Women’s, Men’s, or Kids account as a client, even if they share the same household. We had 3,709,000 and 4,180,000 active clients as of October 29, 2022, and October 30, 2021, respectively, representing a year-over-year decline of 11.3%. The decline in net active clients is largely due to higher lapsed clients, which we believe is a result of the macroeconomic environment.
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Net Revenue per Active Client
We believe that net revenue per active client is an indicator of client engagement and satisfaction. We calculate net revenue per active client based on net revenue over the preceding four fiscal quarters divided by the number of active clients, measured as of the last day of the period. Net revenue per active client was $525 and $524 as of October 29, 2022, and October 30, 2021, respectively, or approximately flat year over year. Although net revenue per active client is approximately flat year over year, we have observed clients spending less in recent periods, and we expect this to continue given the economic backdrop and the deep discounting we are seeing in the retail industry.
Factors Affecting Our Performance
Macroeconomic Environment
Our business and operating results are subject to national and global economic conditions and their impact on consumer discretionary spending. As the macroeconomic environment is experiencing inflation, rising interest rates, recessionary concerns, tightening labor markets, and general uncertainty regarding the overall future political and economic environment, we have seen and expect to continue to see negative impacts on consumer confidence and consumer demand. As this challenging and uncertain economic environment continues, we cannot predict whether or when such circumstances may improve or worsen or what impact such circumstances could have on our business.
Inventory Management
We leverage our data science to buy and manage our inventory, including merchandise assortment and fulfillment center optimization. Because our merchandise assortment directly correlates to client success, we may at times optimize our inventory to prioritize long-term client success over short-term gross margin impact. To ensure sufficient availability of merchandise, we generally enter into purchase orders well in advance and frequently before apparel trends are confirmed by client purchases. As a result, we are vulnerable to demand and pricing shifts and availability of merchandise at time of purchase. We incur inventory write-offs and changes in inventory reserves that impact our gross margins. Moreover, our inventory investments will fluctuate with the needs of our business.
Consistent with the trends in the second half of fiscal 2022, supply chain constraints and delays have continued to ease during the three months ended October 29, 2022, and the timing and amount of inventory receipts were not impacted by supply chain delays. As such, we are no longer ordering product in advance of our typical timelines and we expect inventory levels to normalize in the second half of fiscal 2023.
Client Acquisition and Engagement
To grow our business, we must continue to acquire clients and successfully engage them. We believe that implementing broad-based marketing strategies that increase our brand awareness has the potential to strengthen Stitch Fix as a national consumer brand, help us acquire new clients, and drive revenue growth. We currently utilize both digital and offline channels to attract new visitors to our website or mobile app and subsequently convert them into clients. Our current marketing efforts include client referrals, affiliate programs, partnerships, campaigns with celebrities and influencers, display advertising, television, print, radio, video, content, direct mail, social media, email, mobile “push” communications, search engine optimization, and keyword search campaigns. Our marketing expenses have varied from period to period and we expect this trend to continue. We are evolving our marketing strategy and intend to reduce marketing spend for the remainder of fiscal 2023.
The largest component of our marketing spend is advertising, which was $41.6 million or 9.1% of net revenue for the three months ended October 29, 2022, compared to $50.7 million or 8.7% of net revenue for the three months ended October 30, 2021.
We must also continue to improve the diversity of our offerings to successfully acquire clients and increase engagement. These efforts may include broadening our brand partnerships and expanding into new categories, product types, price points, and geographies.
Investment in our Operations and Infrastructure
To grow our client base and enhance our offering, we will incur additional expenses. We intend to leverage our data science and deep understanding of our clients’ needs to make targeted investments in technology and product. In fiscal 2023, we plan to prioritize investments with near-term positive returns.
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Merchandise Mix
We offer apparel, shoes, and accessories across categories, brands, product types, and price points. We currently serve our clients in the following categories: Women’s, Petite, Maternity, Men’s, Plus, and Kids. We carry a mix of third-party branded merchandise, including premium brands, and our own Exclusive Brands. We also offer a wide variety of product types, including denim, dresses, blouses, skirts, shoes, jewelry, and handbags. We sell merchandise across a broad range of price points and may further broaden our price point offerings in the future.
Historically, changes in our merchandise mix have not caused significant fluctuations in our gross margin; however, categories, brands, product types, and price points do have a range of margin profiles. For example, our Exclusive Brands have generally contributed higher margins than our third-party brands, which have generally contributed lower margins. We continue to evolve our merchandise mix to improve the client experience and attract new active clients. Shifts in merchandise mix, particularly if we increase the number of third-party brands we offer, will result in fluctuations in our gross margin from period to period.
Components of Results of Operations
Revenue
We generate revenue from the sale of merchandise, either through our Fix or Freestyle offerings. With our Fix offering, we charge a nonrefundable upfront fee, referred to as a “styling fee,” that is credited towards any merchandise purchased. We offer Style Pass to provide select U.S. clients with an alternative to paying a styling fee per Fix. Style Pass clients pay a nonrefundable annual fee for unlimited styling that is credited towards merchandise purchases. We deduct discounts, sales tax, and estimated refunds to arrive at net revenue, which we refer to as revenue throughout this Quarterly Report. We also recognize revenue resulting from estimated breakage income on gift cards.
Cost of Goods Sold
Cost of goods sold consists of the costs of merchandise, expenses for inbound freight and shipping to and from clients, inventory write-offs and changes in our inventory reserve, payment processing fees, and packaging materials costs, offset by the recoverable cost of merchandise estimated to be returned. We expect our cost of goods sold to fluctuate as a percentage of revenue primarily due to how we manage our inventory and merchandise mix. Our classification of cost of goods sold may vary from other companies in our industry and may not be comparable.
Selling, General, and Administrative Expenses
Selling, general, and administrative expenses (“SG&A”) consist primarily of compensation and benefits costs, including stock-based compensation expense, for our employees including our stylists, fulfillment center operations, data analytics, merchandising, engineering, marketing, client experience, and corporate personnel. Selling, general, and administrative expenses also include marketing and advertising costs, third-party logistics costs, facility costs for our fulfillment centers and offices, professional service fees, information technology costs, and depreciation and amortization expense. As a result of our restructuring and cost reduction actions in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022, we expect SG&A in fiscal 2023 to decrease year over year. Our classification of selling, general, and administrative expenses may vary from other companies in our industry and may not be comparable.
Interest Income
Interest income is generated from our cash equivalents and investments in available-for-sale securities.
Provision for Income Taxes
Our provision for income taxes consists of an estimate of federal, state, and international income taxes based on enacted federal, state, and international tax rates, as adjusted for allowable credits, deductions, uncertain tax positions, and changes in the valuation of our net federal and state deferred tax assets.
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Results of Operations
Comparison of the Three Months Ended October 29, 2022, and October 30, 2021
The following table sets forth our results of operations for the periods indicated:
| For the Three Months Ended | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (in thousands) | October 29, 2022 | October 30, 2021 | Change | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Revenue, net | $ | 455,593 | $ | 581,244 | (21.6) | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cost of goods sold | 263,832 | 308,327 | (14.4) | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gross profit | 191,761 | 272,917 | (29.7) | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Selling, general, and administrative expenses | 246,891 | 274,767 | (10.1) | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Operating loss | (55,130) | (1,850) | * | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Interest income | 773 | 334 | 131.4 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other expense, net | (1,284) | (109) | * | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Loss before income taxes | (55,641) | (1,625) | * | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Provision for income taxes | 277 | 202 | 37.1 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Net loss | $ | (55,918) | $ | (1,827) | * | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
* Not meaningful
The following table sets forth the components of our results of operations as a percentage of revenue:
| For the Three Months Ended | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| October 29, 2022 | October 30, 2021 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Revenue, net | 100.0 | % | 100.0 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cost of goods sold | 57.9 | % | 53.0 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gross margin | 42.1 | % | 47.0 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Selling, general, and administrative expenses | 54.2 | % | 47.3 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Operating loss | (12.1) | % | (0.3) | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Interest income | 0.2 | % | 0.1 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other expense, net | (0.3) | % | — | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Loss before income taxes | (12.2) | % | (0.3) | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Provision for income taxes | 0.1 | % | — | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Net loss | (12.3) | % | (0.3) | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Note: Due to rounding, percentages in this table may not sum to totals.
Revenue and Gross Margin
Revenue decreased by $125.7 million or 21.6% during the three months ended October 29, 2022, compared to the same period last year, due primarily to a 11.3% decline in active clients from October 30, 2021 to October 29, 2022, which led to a decrease in sales of merchandise. Additionally, we observed clients spending less in recent periods, and we expect this to continue given the economic backdrop and the deep discounting we are seeing in the retail industry.
Gross margin for the three months ended October 29, 2022, decreased by 490 basis points compared to the same period last year, which was primarily driven by higher clearance rates, product costs, and transportation costs.
Selling, General, and Administrative Expenses
SG&A decreased by $27.9 million for the three months ended October 29, 2022, compared with the same period last year. As a percentage of revenue, SG&A increased to 54.2% for the three months ended October 29, 2022, compared with 47.3% for the three months ended October 30, 2021.
The increase in SG&A margin for the three months ended October 29, 2022, compared with the same period last year, was primarily related to higher compensation and benefits expense as a percentage of revenue, including higher stock-based compensation as a percentage of revenue, primarily due to investments in technology talent.
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Provision for Income Taxes
The following table summarizes our effective tax rate from income for the periods presented:
| For the Three Months Ended | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (in thousands) | October 29, 2022 | October 30, 2021 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Loss before income taxes | $ | (55,641) | $ | (1,625) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Provision for income taxes | 277 | 202 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Effective tax rate | (0.5) | % | (12.4) | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||
We are primarily subject to income taxes in the United States and the United Kingdom. Our effective tax rate for the three months ended October 29, 2022, differs from the federal statutory income tax rate primarily due to the full valuation allowance recorded on our net federal and state deferred tax assets. The tax provision for the three months ended October 29, 2022, is primarily comprised of state taxes and income taxes in foreign jurisdictions.
Our effective tax rate for the three months ended October 30, 2021, differs from the federal statutory income tax rate primarily due to the full valuation allowance recorded on our net federal and state deferred tax assets.
We continue to monitor the progress of ongoing discussions with tax authorities and the impact, if any, of the expected expiration of the statute of limitations in various taxing jurisdictions.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
Sources of Liquidity
Our principal source of liquidity is our cash, cash equivalents, and cash flows from operations.
As of October 29, 2022, we had $113.3 million of cash and cash equivalents and $95.4 million of investments. Our investment balance includes $90.0 million of short-term investments with contractual maturities of 12 months or less as of October 29, 2022.
We are party to a $100.0 million amended and restated credit agreement, entered into June 2, 2021 and amended on July 29, 2022 (the “Amended Credit Agreement”) with Silicon Valley Bank and other lenders. The Amended Credit Agreement includes a letter of credit sub-facility of $30.0 million and a swingline sub-facility of up to $40.0 million. As of October 29, 2022, we did not have any borrowings outstanding on the revolving line of credit under the Amended Credit Agreement and we had $82.2 million in borrowing capacity as reduced by outstanding letters of credit.
Our obligations under the Amended Credit Agreement and any hedging or cash management agreements entered into with any lender thereunder are secured by substantially all of our current and future property, rights, and assets, including, but not limited to, cash, goods, equipment, contractual rights, financial assets, and intangible assets. The Amended Credit Agreement contains covenants limiting the ability to, among other things, dispose of assets, undergo a change in control, merge or consolidate, make acquisitions, incur debt, incur liens, pay dividends, repurchase stock, and make investments, in each case subject to certain exceptions. The Amended Credit Agreement also contains financial covenants requiring us to maintain minimum free cash flow and an adjusted current ratio above specified levels, measured in each case at the end of each fiscal quarter. The Amended Credit Agreement contains events of default that include, among others, non-payment of principal, interest, or fees, breach of covenants, inaccuracy of representations and warranties, cross defaults to certain other indebtedness, bankruptcy and insolvency events, and material judgments.
For information on the terms of the Amended Credit Agreement, please see “Credit Agreement” in Note 5 of the Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Report.
Uses of Cash
Our primary use of cash includes operating costs such as merchandise purchases, lease obligations, compensation and benefits, marketing, and other expenditures necessary to support our business. We may also use cash to repurchase shares of our common stock.
We believe our existing cash, cash equivalents, investment balances, and the borrowing available under our Amended Credit Agreement, if needed, will be sufficient to meet our working capital and capital expenditure needs for at least the next 12 months and beyond.
Share Repurchases
In January 2022, our Board of Directors authorized a share repurchase program to repurchase up to $150.0 million of our outstanding Class A common stock, with no expiration date (the “2022 Repurchase Program”). We may repurchase shares from
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time to time through open market repurchases, privately negotiated transactions, or other means, including through Rule 10b5-1 trading plans. The actual timing, number and value of shares repurchased in the future will be determined by the Company in its discretion and will depend on a number of factors, including price, trading volume, market conditions, and other general business conditions. Repurchases will be funded from the Company’s existing cash and cash equivalents or future cash flow. The repurchase program may be modified, suspended, or terminated at any time. During the three months ended October 29, 2022, the Company made no repurchases of Class A common stock. As of October 29, 2022, the Company has repurchased 2,302,141 shares of Class A common stock for $30.0 million under the 2022 Repurchase Program. We had $120.0 million remaining in share repurchase capacity as of October 29, 2022.
Cash Flows
The following table summarizes our cash flows for the periods indicated below:
| For the Three Months Ended | ||||||||||||||
| (in thousands) | October 29, 2022 | October 30, 2021 | ||||||||||||
| Net cash (used in) provided by operating activities | $ | (10,048) | $ | 141,656 | ||||||||||
| Net cash used in investing activities | (2,257) | (7,537) | ||||||||||||
| Net cash used in financing activities | (3,870) | (13,698) | ||||||||||||
| Effect of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents | (1,414) | (529) | ||||||||||||
| Net (decrease) increase in cash and cash equivalents | $ | (17,589) | $ | 119,892 | ||||||||||
Cash provided by operating activities
During the three months ended October 29, 2022, cash used in operating activities was $10.0 million, which consisted of a net loss of $55.9 million, adjusted by non-cash charges of $42.4 million and a change of $3.5 million in our net operating assets and liabilities. The non-cash charges were primarily driven by $31.7 million of stock-based compensation expense and $10.2 million of depreciation, amortization, and accretion. The change in our net operating assets and liabilities was primarily due to a cash inflow of $26.6 million from income tax refunds, substantially offset by an increase of $23.8 million in gross inventory balances.
During the three months ended October 30, 2021, cash provided by operating activities was $141.7 million, which consisted of a net loss of $1.8 million, adjusted by non-cash charges of $36.9 million and by a change of $106.6 million in our net operating assets and liabilities. The non-cash charges were primarily driven by $32.3 million of stock-based compensation expense and $8.3 million of depreciation, amortization, and accretion. The change in our net operating assets and liabilities was primarily due to an increase of $71.5 million in our accounts payable and accrued liabilities related to increased business activity and timing of payments and a change of $30.8 million in our inventory balance primarily due to a decline in inventory receipts from global supply chain delays.
Cash used in investing activities
During the three months ended October 29, 2022, cash used in investing activities was $2.3 million. This was primarily due to purchases of property and equipment of $6.1 million, partially offset by sales of available-for-sale securities of $4.1 million.
During the three months ended October 30, 2021, cash used in investing activities was $7.5 million. This was primarily due to maturities and sales of available-for-sale securities of $59.1 million and $2.2 million, respectively, substantially offset by our investment of $52.4 million in available-for-sale securities and purchases of property and equipment of $16.4 million.
Cash used in financing activities
During the three months ended October 29, 2022, cash used in financing activities was $3.9 million. This was primarily due to payments for tax withholding related to vesting of restricted stock units.
During the three months ended October 30, 2021, cash used in financing activities was $13.7 million primarily due to payments for tax withholding related to vesting of restricted stock units, partially offset by proceeds from the exercise of stock options.
Effect of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents
During the three months ended October 29, 2022, foreign currency exchange rates had a negative impact of $1.4 million on cash on cash equivalents. The negative impact on cash and cash equivalents was primarily due to the unfavorable impact of fluctuations in the exchange rate of the British pound sterling to the U.S. dollar.
Contractual Obligations and Other Commitments
There have been no other material changes to our contractual obligations and other commitments as disclosed in our 2022 Annual Report.
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Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates
Our unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with GAAP. The preparation of these unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues, and expenses and the related disclosures. We base our estimates on historical experience and on other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions.
There have been no significant changes to our critical accounting policies and estimates as disclosed in our 2022 Annual Report.
ITEM 3. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk
We have operations both within the United States and in the UK, and we are exposed to market risks in the ordinary course of business. These risks primarily include interest rate risk, foreign currency risk and inflation risk.
Interest Rate Risk
We are primarily exposed to market risks through interest rate risk on our investments. As of October 29, 2022, we had $95.4 million in highly rated investments accounted for as available-for-sale securities, which are presented on our condensed consolidated balance sheets at their fair market value compared to $99.8 million as of July 30, 2022. These interest-earning instruments carry a degree of interest rate risk; however, a hypothetical 10% change in interest rates during the three months ended October 29, 2022, would not have had a material impact on our condensed consolidated financial statements.
Foreign Currency Risk
As of October 29, 2022, our revenue was earned in U.S. dollars and British pound sterling. Our expansion into the United Kingdom (“UK”) exposes us to fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates on our operating expenses. Fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates may also result in transaction gains or losses on transactions in currencies other than the U.S. dollar or British pound sterling. For the three months ended October 29, 2022, a hypothetical 10% increase or decrease in current exchange rates would not have had a material impact on our condensed consolidated financial results.
Inflation Risk
Our costs are subject to inflationary pressures, which we expect to continue, and if those pressures become significant, we may not be able to fully offset such higher costs through price increases. Our inability or failure to do so could harm our business, financial condition, and results of operations. The primary inflationary factors affecting our business are merchandise costs, shipping and freight costs, and labor costs. Additionally, although difficult to quantify, we believe inflation is having an adverse effect on our clients’ discretionary spending habits, which has impacted and may continue to impact net revenue.
ITEM 4. Controls and Procedures
Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures
Our management, with the participation of our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, has evaluated the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”)), as of the end of the period covered by this Annual Report.
Based on the evaluation of our disclosure controls and procedures as of October 29, 2022, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were effective as of October 29, 2022.
Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting
There were no changes during the quarter ended October 29, 2022 in our internal control over financial reporting that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.
Inherent Limitations on Effectiveness of Controls
An effective internal control system, no matter how well designed, has inherent limitations, including the possibility of human error or overriding of controls, and therefore can provide only reasonable assurance with respect to reliable financial reporting. Because of its inherent limitations, our internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect all misstatements, including the possibility of human error, the circumvention or overriding of controls, or fraud. Effective internal controls can provide only reasonable assurance with respect to the preparation and fair presentation of financial statements.
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PART II. OTHER INFORMATION
ITEM 1. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
The information contained in “Note 6 - Commitments and Contingencies: Contingencies” in the Notes to the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements included within this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q is incorporated herein by reference.
ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
RISK FACTOR SUMMARY
Our business is subject to numerous risks. The following summary highlights some of the risks you should consider with respect to our business and prospects. This summary is not complete and the risks summarized below are not the only risks we face. You should review and consider carefully the risks and uncertainties described in more detail in the “Risk Factors” below, which includes a more complete discussion of the risks summarized here.
Risks Relating to Our Business
•Our growth depends on attracting new clients.
•We may be unable to maintain a high level of engagement with our clients and increase their spending with us, which could harm our business, financial condition, or operating results.
•We rely on paid marketing to help grow our business, but these efforts may not be successful or cost effective, and such expenses may vary from period to period.
•If we are unable to manage our inventory effectively, our operating results could be adversely affected.
•The COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant disruption to our operations and impacted our business, key financial and operating metrics, and results of operations in numerous ways that remain unpredictable.
•Our failure to adequately and effectively staff our fulfillment centers and other operational constraints at our fulfillment centers could adversely affect our client experience and operating results.
•Shipping is a critical part of our business and any changes in our shipping arrangements or any interruptions in shipping could adversely affect our operating results.
•Our business, including our costs and supply chain, is subject to risks associated with the sourcing and pricing of merchandise and raw materials.
•We may not be able to return to or sustain our revenue growth rate and we may not be profitable in the future.
•If we fail to effectively manage our business, our financial condition and operating results could be harmed.
•If we are unable to develop and introduce new offerings or expand into new markets in a timely and cost-effective manner, our business, financial condition, and operating results could be negatively impacted.
•We have a short operating history in an evolving industry and, as a result, our past results may not be indicative of future operating performance.
•Expansion of our operations internationally requires management attention and resources, involves additional risks, and may be unsuccessful.
•Our business depends on a strong brand and we may not be able to maintain our brand and reputation.
•If we fail to attract and retain key personnel, effectively manage succession, or hire, develop, and motivate our employees, our business, financial condition, and operating results could be adversely affected.
•If we fail to effectively manage our stylists, our business, financial condition and operating results could be adversely affected.
•If we are unable to acquire new merchandise vendors or retain existing merchandise vendors, our operating results may be harmed.
•We may incur significant losses from fraud.
•We are subject to payment-related risks.
Risks Relating to our Industry, the Market, and the Economy
•We rely on consumer discretionary spending and may be adversely affected by economic downturns and other macroeconomic conditions or trends.
•Our industry is highly competitive and if we do not compete effectively our operating results could be adversely affected.
•Our operating results have been, and could be in the future, adversely affected by natural disasters, public health crises, political crises, or other catastrophic events.
Cybersecurity, Legal and Regulatory Risks
•System interruptions that impair client access to our website or other performance failures in our technology infrastructure could damage our business.
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•Compromises of our data security could cause us to incur unexpected expenses and may materially harm our reputation and operating results.
•Some of our software and systems contain open source software, which may pose particular risks to our proprietary applications.
•Adverse litigation judgments or settlements resulting from legal proceedings in which we are or may be involved could expose us to monetary damages or limit our ability to operate our business.
•Any failure by us or our vendors to comply with product safety, labor, or other laws, or our standard vendor terms and conditions, or to provide safe factory conditions for our or their workers, may damage our reputation and brand, and harm our business.
•Our use of personal information and other data subjects us to privacy laws and obligations, and our compliance with or failure to comply with such obligations could harm our business.
•Unfavorable changes or failure by us to comply with evolving internet and eCommerce regulations could substantially harm our business and operating results.
•If the use of “cookie” tracking technologies is further restricted, regulated, or blocked, or if changes in technology cause cookies to become less reliable or acceptable as a means of tracking consumer behavior, the amount or accuracy of internet user information we collect would decrease, which could harm our business and operating results.
•If we cannot successfully protect our intellectual property, our business would suffer.
•We may be accused of infringing intellectual property rights of third parties.
Risks Relating to Taxes
•Changes in U.S. tax or tariff policy regarding apparel produced in other countries could adversely affect our business.
•We could be required to collect additional sales taxes or be subject to other tax liabilities that may increase the costs our clients would have to pay for our offering and adversely affect our operating results.
•Federal income tax reform could have unforeseen effects on our financial condition and results of operations.
•We may be subject to additional tax liabilities, which could adversely affect our operating results.
•Our ability to use our net operating loss carryforwards and certain other tax attributes may be limited.
Risks Relating to Ownership of Our Class A Common Stock
•The market price of our Class A common stock may continue to be volatile or may decline steeply or suddenly regardless of our operating performance and we may not be able to meet investor or analyst expectations. You may lose all or part of your investment.
•We cannot guarantee that our share repurchase program will be fully consummated or that it will enhance long-term stockholder value. Share repurchases could also increase the volatility of the trading price of our stock and could diminish our cash reserves.
•Future sales of shares by existing stockholders could cause our stock price to decline.
•The dual class structure of our common stock concentrates voting control with our executive officers, directors and their affiliates, and may depress the trading price of our Class A common stock.
•We do not currently intend to pay dividends on our Class A common stock and, consequently, your ability to achieve a return on your investment will depend on appreciation of the value of our Class A common stock.
•Delaware law and provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws could make a merger, tender offer, or proxy contest difficult, thereby depressing the trading price of our Class A common stock.
•Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware and the federal district courts of the United States are the exclusive forums for substantially all disputes between us and our stockholders, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers, or employees.
General Risk Factors
•Future securities sales and issuances could result in significant dilution to our stockholders and impair the market price of our Class A common stock.
•If we are unable to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting, investors may lose confidence in the accuracy of our reported financial information and this may lead to a decline in our stock price.
•We may not be able to generate sufficient capital to support and grow our business, and this additional capital might not be available or may be available only by diluting existing stockholders.
•If securities or industry analysts either do not publish research about us or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about us, our business, or our market, or if they change their recommendations regarding our common stock adversely, the trading price or trading volume of our Class A common stock could decline.
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RISK FACTORS
Investing in our Class A common stock involves a high degree of risk. You should consider and read carefully all of the risks and uncertainties described below, as well as other information included in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q (this “Quarterly Report”), and in our other public filings. The risks described below are not the only ones facing us. The occurrence of any of the following risks or additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently believe to be immaterial could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, or results of operations. In such case, the trading price of our Class A common stock could decline, and you may lose all or part of your investment. This Quarterly Report also contains forward-looking statements and estimates that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements as a result of specific factors, including the risks and uncertainties described below.
Risks Relating to Our Business
Our growth depends on attracting new clients.
Our success depends on our ability to attract new clients in a cost-effective manner. To expand our client base, we must appeal to and acquire clients who have historically used other means to purchase apparel, shoes, and accessories, such as traditional brick-and-mortar apparel retailers or the websites of our competitors. We also face competition for clients from other retailers who offer or plan to offer similar services as ours. We currently utilize both digital and offline channels to attract new visitors to our website or mobile app and subsequently convert them into clients. Our current marketing efforts include client referrals, affiliate programs, campaigns with celebrities and influencers, partnerships, display advertising, television, print, radio, video, content, direct mail, social media, email, mobile “push” communications, search engine optimization, and keyword search campaigns. The launch of Freestyle to new-to-Stitch Fix clients also opened up new marketing opportunities and channels with which we have less experience. Our marketing expenses have varied from period to period, and we expect this trend to continue as we evolve our marketing strategies and employ a disciplined approach to marketing spend. If we increase our marketing spend, we cannot be certain that these increases will yield more clients, achieve meaningful payback on our investments, or be cost effective. We may also adjust our marketing strategy or decrease spend within a period if we are not achieving the intended results or if we believe the return-on-investment is not favorable, which may result in faster or slower rates of active client growth in any given period. For instance, in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2021, we did not spend as much on marketing as anticipated as we waited to launch Freestyle to new-to-Stitch Fix customers. In the first and second fiscal quarters of fiscal year 2022, we spent less on marketing because we were experiencing weaker-than-expected conversion of new clients and decided to pull back to focus on evolving the Freestyle offering and refining the client onboarding experience. This negatively impacted our ability to acquire new clients, and in turn, our net revenue in subsequent quarters of fiscal year 2022. We also experienced weaker-than-expected conversion of new clients in the second and third quarters of fiscal 2022 driven by onboarding challenges and lower site traffic, due in part to the ongoing effects of Apple’s iOS privacy changes that require apps to get a user’s opt-in permission before tracking or sharing the user’s data across apps or websites owned by companies other than the app’s owner.
In addition, we seek to attract new clients by offering new products, services, and ways to engage with our platform, such as our Freestyle offering. If such new products or services are not timely or successfully launched or are not successful in attracting new clients, our results of operations may suffer. In fiscal year 2022, our results were below our expectations, in large part, because the initial launch of Freestyle did not drive as much new client growth as we anticipated. Moreover, new clients may not purchase from us as frequently or spend as much with us as existing clients, and the revenue generated from new clients may not be as high as the revenue generated from our existing clients. These factors may harm our growth prospects and our business could be adversely affected.
We may be unable to maintain a high level of engagement with our clients and increase their spending with us, which could harm our business, financial condition, or operating results.
A high proportion of our revenue comes from repeat purchases by existing clients, especially those existing clients who are highly engaged and purchase a significant amount of merchandise from us. If existing clients no longer find our service and merchandise appealing or appropriately priced, they may make fewer purchases and may stop using our service. Even if our existing clients continue to find our service and merchandise appealing, they may decide to receive fewer Fixes or purchase fewer items from their Fixes or through Freestyle over time as their demand for new apparel declines or due to macroeconomic conditions or uncertainty. In addition, as we expand our assortment to include more products with lower price points, the amount clients spend with us may decrease. If clients who receive Fixes most frequently or purchase a significant amount of merchandise from us were to make fewer or lower priced purchases or stop using our service, our financial results could be negatively affected. We seek to attract high-quality clients who will remain clients for the long term, but our efforts may not be successful or produce the results we anticipate. For example, if we are not able to engage new Fix clients effectively so they continue receiving Fixes after their first few tries, our active client growth will suffer. In addition, in the fall of 2021, we launched Freestyle to new-to-Stitch Fix clients. We did not acquire as many new clients through Freestyle as we had hoped and we have less experience engaging with this new client base and developing high-quality relationships outside of our Fix
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offering. Our inability to attract and keep high-quality clients engaged, a decrease in our number of clients, or a decrease in client spending on the merchandise we offer could negatively affect our operating results. Further, we believe that our future success will depend in part on our ability to increase sales to our existing clients over time and, if we are unable to do so, our business may suffer.
We rely on paid marketing to help grow our business, but these efforts may not be successful or cost effective, and such expenses may vary from period to period.
Promoting awareness of our service is important to our ability to grow our business, drive client engagement, and attract new clients. Our marketing efforts currently include client referrals, affiliate programs, campaigns with celebrities and influencers, partnerships, display advertising, television, print, radio, video, content, direct mail, social media, email, mobile “push” communications, search engine optimization, and keyword search campaigns. External factors beyond our control, including general economic conditions and decreased discretionary consumer spending, have impacted and may in the future impact the success of our marketing initiatives or how much we decide to spend on marketing in a given period. We also adjust our marketing activity from period to period or within a period as we launch new initiatives or offerings, such as Freestyle, run tests, or make decisions on marketing investments in response to anticipated rates of return, such as when we identify favorable cost per acquisition trends. For example, in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2021, we did not spend as much on marketing as anticipated as we waited to launch Freestyle to new-to-Stitch Fix customers. In the first and second fiscal quarters of fiscal year 2022, we spent less on marketing because we were experiencing weaker-than-expected conversion of new clients and decided to pull back to focus on evolving the Freestyle offering and refining the client onboarding experience. This led to fewer clients being acquired, which negatively impacted our net revenue for the remainder of fiscal year 2022. We have seen increased costs in certain digital marketing channels and our marketing initiatives may become increasingly expensive; generating a meaningful return on those initiatives may be difficult. Even if we successfully increase revenue as a result of our paid marketing efforts, it may not offset the additional marketing expenses we incur.
We currently obtain a significant number of visits to our websites via organic search engine results. Search engines frequently change the algorithms that determine the ranking and display of results of a user’s search, which could reduce the number of organic visits to our websites, in turn reducing new client acquisition and adversely affecting our operating results. Social networks are important as a source of new clients and as a means by which to connect with current clients, and their importance may be increasing. We may be unable to effectively maintain a presence within these networks, which could lead to lower than anticipated brand affinity and awareness, and in turn could adversely affect our operating results.
Further, mobile operating system and web browser providers, such as Apple and Google, have implemented product changes to limit the ability of advertisers to collect and use data to target and measure advertising. For example, Apple made a change in iOS 14 that required apps to get a user’s opt-in permission before tracking or sharing the user’s data across apps or websites owned by companies other than the app’s owner. Google intends to further restrict the use of third-party cookies in its Chrome browser in 2023, consistent with similar actions taken by the owners of other browsers, such as Apple in its Safari browser, and Mozilla in its Firefox browser. These changes have reduced and will continue to reduce our ability to efficiently target and measure advertising, in particular through online social networks, making our advertising less cost effective and successful. We expect to continue to be impacted by these changes.
With respect to our email marketing efforts, if we are unable to successfully deliver emails to our clients or if clients do not engage with our emails, whether out of choice, because those emails are marked as low priority or spam, or for other reasons, our business could be adversely affected.
If we are unable to manage our inventory effectively, our operating results could be adversely affected.
To ensure timely delivery of merchandise, we generally enter into purchase contracts well in advance of a particular season and often before apparel trends are confirmed by client purchases. As a result, we are vulnerable to demand and pricing shifts and to suboptimal selection and timing of merchandise purchases. For example, in response to the initial consumer reaction to COVID-19, we cancelled many inventory orders to be prepared for what we expected would be lower client demand. Consequently, when client demand increased, our inventory was not as optimized to meet the demand as we would have liked. Additionally, surges in cases of COVID-19 impacted some of our vendors, who had delays in producing our orders. Freight delays caused by lockdowns due to COVID-19, port closures, port congestion, and shipping container and ship shortages affected us and caused us to experience delays in receiving inventory. Freight delays caused by these issues or new issues, including labor disruptions or shortages, may affect us in future quarters. Our inventory levels also may be affected by product launch delays, consumer demand fluctuations due to macroeconomic factors, uncertainty or otherwise, disruptions in our systems due to upgrades, launches or otherwise, and our inability to predict demand with respect to new categories or products. In the past, we have not always predicted our clients’ preferences and acceptance levels of our trend items with accuracy, which has resulted in significant inventory write offs and lower gross margins. Furthermore, we have only recently begun using more traditional liquidation methods, such as sales, clearance events and markdowns, and only to a limited extent thus far. We rely on our merchandising team to order styles and products that our clients will purchase and we rely on our data science to inform the
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depth and breadth of inventory we purchase, including when to reorder items that are selling well and when to write off items that are not selling well. If we do not predict client demand and tastes well or if our algorithms do not help us reorder or write off the right products in a timely manner, we may not effectively manage our inventory and we may experience future significant inventory write-offs, which would adversely affect our operating results. For instance, in the fourth quarter of 2022, we experienced weaker consumer demand, which caused us to have higher inventory levels and increased inventory reserves that affected our financial results. Additionally, in the past we have experienced challenges managing our inventory within the fulfillment centers given storage capacity constraints and challenges hiring fulfillment center employees. Any future such challenges could affect, the amount and types of inventory we have available to offer to clients, and therefore our operating results.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant disruption to our operations and impacted our business, key financial and operating metrics, and results of operations in numerous ways that remain unpredictable.
Our business has been and may continue to be materially impacted by the effects of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. This pandemic and related measures taken to contain the spread of COVID-19, such as government-mandated business closures, office closures, state and local orders to “shelter in place,” and travel and transportation restrictions, have negatively affected the U.S. and global economies and disrupted global supply chains. There continues to be uncertainty around the COVID-19 pandemic, its duration, and its impact on U.S. and global economic activity and consumer behavior.
The COVID-19 pandemic and related measures have resulted in significant disruption that has negatively impacted and may in the future negatively impact our business. We experienced temporary closures and reduced capacity in the third quarter of fiscal year 2020 as we temporarily closed three of our fulfillment centers as we responded to the pandemic. We allowed employees to opt-in to work, provided them with four weeks of flexible paid time off, and implemented additional safety protocols. These efforts resulted in significantly less capacity in our fulfillment centers during the third quarter of fiscal year 2020, which resulted in delayed Fix shipments, a significant Fix backlog, delayed inventory and return processing, extended wait times for clients, and inventory management challenges. We also experienced intermittent and temporary closures in fiscal year 2021 and increases of COVID-19 cases in our fulfillment centers in connection with the increases of cases caused by both the Delta and Omicron variants. These increases in cases negatively affected operations at our fulfillment centers and any future surges in cases may negatively affect our operations in the future. Additionally, in fiscal year 2021, we experienced difficulty hiring employees in our fulfillment centers, which we attributed to both COVID-19 concerns and to increased competition and rising wages for eCommerce fulfillment center workers. Future capacity constraints in our fulfillment centers could cause delayed Fix shipments, delayed inventory and return processing, and inventory management challenges.
The duration of the pandemic’s remains uncertain. It will depend on factors such as the length of time the pandemic; the impact of variants that may emerge; the availability of vaccines in different parts of the world; the vaccine rates among the population; the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines against variants that may emerge; the response by governmental bodies to reinstate mandated business closures, orders to “shelter in place,” and travel and transportation restrictions in the event of additional surges; the impact of the pandemic on the economy and consumer behavior, including the impacts of any recession or inflationary pressures resulting from the pandemic; and the effect on our clients, employees, vendors, and other partners. For example, we continue to work with our vendors to minimize inventory disruptions, but future delays and supply constraints may negatively affect our ability to obtain and manage inventory. We have experienced shipping delays to and from our customers as a result of our shipping vendors’ challenges fulfilling higher eCommerce shipping demand, which has impacted our results of operations. We also have been affected by, and expect to continue to be affected by, COVID-related freight delays and difficulties sourcing materials. Additionally, we may be negatively impacted if consumers shift back to traditional brick-and-mortar apparel retailers following the pandemic.
We re-opened our headquarters to employees in the third quarter of 2022, but most employees to continue to work in a remote capacity or a hybrid of in-person and remote work. Remote working environments present additional risks, uncertainties and costs that could affect our performance, including increased operational risk, uncertainty regarding office space needs, heightened vulnerability to cyber attacks due to increased remote work, potential reduced productivity, changes to our Company culture, potential strains to our business continuity plans, and increased costs to ensure our offices are safe and functional as hybrid offices that enable effective collaboration of both remote and in-person colleagues.
The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic disruption has also led to significant volatility in the capital markets. And while we have taken measures to preserve our access to liquidity, our cash generated from operations has been negatively impacted and future cash flows may be impacted by the development of the pandemic.
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic may also exacerbate other risks discussed below, any of which could have a material effect on us. Though we continue to monitor the COVID-19 pandemic closely, the situation is continually evolving and additional impacts may arise that we are not aware of currently. In addition, if there are future resurgences of COVID-19, including of new strains or variants, the negative impacts on our business may be exacerbated.
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Our failure to adequately and effectively staff our fulfillment centers and other operational constraints at our fulfillment centers could adversely affect our client experience and operating results.
We currently receive and distribute merchandise at six fulfillment centers in the United States. We also have a fulfillment center in the UK, which is operated by a third party. During the third quarter of our 2020 fiscal year, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we temporarily closed three of our fulfillment centers, offered our fulfillment center employees four weeks of paid time off, and reduced the maximum number of employees in each fulfillment center in order to implement social distancing protocols. These changes resulted in operational constraints, which in turn temporarily reduced our ability to ship merchandise to clients and earn revenue during the third quarter of our 2020 fiscal year. In fiscal year 2021, we experienced smaller, intermittent interruptions in connection with temporary closures of fulfillment centers and experienced an increase of COVID-19 cases in our fulfillment centers. Any future surges of COVID-19 may cause increased cases among fulfillment center employees and negatively affect capacity at our fulfillment centers.
Additionally, we have in the past experienced difficulty hiring employees in our fulfillment centers, which we attribute to COVID-19 concerns and to increased competition and rising wages for eCommerce fulfillment center workers. To address this, we increased wages in our fulfillment centers and implemented other policies in order to be more competitive in hiring employees. These wage increases impacted our operating results. We may in the future have difficulty hiring employees in fulfillment centers due to increased competition or otherwise and we may have to increase wages for our fulfillment center employees, which would impact our operating results. These hiring difficulties have caused in the past and could in the future cause additional capacity constraints in our fulfillment centers. Capacity constraints in our fulfillment centers could affect the amount and types of inventory we have available to offer to clients, which will affect our results of operations. Additionally, if we or our third-party partner are unable to adequately staff our fulfillment centers to meet demand, or if the cost of such staffing is higher than projected due to competition, mandated wage increases, regulatory changes, international expansion, or other factors, our operating results will be further harmed.
Severe weather events, including earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, fires, storms, and other adverse weather events and climate conditions could also cause operational constraints or temporarily reduce our ability to ship merchandise to clients. For instance, the severe winter weather and temperatures experienced in Texas and other parts of the country in February 2021 caused us to temporarily close two of our fulfillment centers and affected the shipping of merchandise in and out of fulfillment centers. Future weather events, which we expect to become more frequent and more severe with the increasing effects of climate change, could have a significant impact on our operations and results of operations.
In addition, operating fulfillment centers comes with potential risks, such as workplace safety issues and employment claims for the failure or alleged failure to comply with labor laws or laws respecting union organizing activities. Furthermore, if we fail to comply with wage and hour laws for our nonexempt employees, many of whom work in our fulfillment centers, we could be subject to legal risk, including claims for back wages, unpaid overtime pay, and missed meal and rest periods, which could be on a class or representative basis. Any such issues may result in delays in shipping times, reduced packing quality, or costly litigation, and our reputation and operating results may be harmed.
Finally, by using a third-party operator for one of our fulfillment centers, we also face additional risks associated with not having complete control over operations at our UK fulfillment center. Any deterioration in the financial condition or operations of that third party, or the loss of the relationship with that third party, or any event or crisis that impacts the UK generally or the specific area where our fulfillment center is located, would have a significant impact on our operations.
Shipping is a critical part of our business and any changes in our shipping arrangements or any interruptions in shipping could adversely affect our operating results.
We currently rely on three major vendors for our shipping. If we are not able to negotiate acceptable pricing and other terms with these entities, shipping prices increase at unexpected levels, or our shipping vendors experience performance problems or other difficulties, it could negatively impact our operating results and our clients’ experience. In addition, our ability to receive inbound inventory efficiently, ship merchandise to clients, and receive returned merchandise from clients may be negatively affected by inclement weather, fire, flood, power loss, earthquakes, public health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, labor disputes, shortages, or strikes, acts of war or terrorism, periods of high e-commerce volume, such as holiday seasons, and similar factors. Due to our business model and the fact that we recognize revenue from Fixes when a client checks out items, rather than when Fixes are shipped, we may be impacted by shipping delays to a greater extent than our competitors. Additionally, delays in shipping may cause an auto-ship client’s subsequent Fixes to be scheduled for a later date, as their next Fix is not scheduled until their checkout is complete. In the second quarter of our 2021 fiscal year, we experienced carrier and client shipping delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the increased strain on our shipping partners during the holiday season. These delays affected our ability to recognize revenue within the quarter, and we may in the future experience these delays and the resulting impact to our financial results, including potentially during future holiday seasons. In the past, strikes at major international shipping ports have impacted our supply of inventory from our vendors and severe weather events have resulted in long delivery delays and Fix cancellations. Additionally, some of our merchandise may be damaged or lost during
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transit with our shipping vendors. If a greater portion of our merchandise is not delivered in a timely fashion or is damaged or lost during transit, it could adversely affect our operating results or could cause our clients to become dissatisfied and cease using our services, which would adversely affect our business.
Our business, including our costs and supply chain, is subject to risks associated with the sourcing and pricing of merchandise and raw materials.
We currently source nearly all of the merchandise that we offer from third-party vendors, many of whom use manufacturers in the same geographic region, and as a result we may be subject to price increases or fluctuations, inflationary pressures, tariffs, demand disruptions, increased shipping or freight costs, or shipping delays in connection with our merchandise. Increased shipping or freights costs or shipping and freight delays could be caused or exacerbated by labor disputes, shortages, or strikes, inclement weather, fire, flood, power loss, earthquakes, public health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, acts of war or terrorism, and periods of high e-commerce volume. Our operating results are and have been negatively impacted by increases in the cost of our merchandise, and we have no guarantees that costs will not rise further or at increasing rates. In addition, as we expand into new categories, product types, and geographies, we expect that we may not have strong purchasing power in these new areas, which could lead to higher costs than we have historically seen in our current categories. We may not be able to pass increased costs on to clients, which could adversely affect our operating results.
The fabrics used by our vendors are made of raw materials including, but not limited to, petroleum-based products and cotton. Significant price increases or fluctuations, currency volatility or fluctuation, tariffs, shortages, increases in shipping or freight costs, or shipping delays of petroleum, cotton, or other raw materials could significantly increase our cost of goods sold or affect our operating results. The COVID-19 pandemic caused delays in some shipments from our suppliers and we have experienced delays in some shipments from our suppliers caused by lockdowns due to COVID-19, factory and port closures, port congestion, and shipping container and other shortages. Additionally, we have limited visibility into delays or control over shipping. These delays may occur or continue as long as COVID-19 continues to affect geographies around the world. We are also experiencing increased costs of goods due to these freight challenges, increases in the price of raw materials, inflationary pressures, rising fuel and other energy costs, and currency volatility, and we expect that prices may continue to increase in the near future and affect our operating results.
Other factors such as natural disasters have in the past increased raw material costs, impacted pricing with certain of our vendors, and caused shipping delays for certain of our merchandise. Also, the U.S. government’s ban on cotton imported from the Xinjiang region of China, the source of a large portion of the world’s cotton supply, may impact prices and the availability of cotton for our merchandise. Additionally, our products and materials (including potentially non-cotton materials) could be held for inspection by the United States Customs Border Protection (the “US CBP”), which would cause delays and unexpectedly affect our inventory levels. In addition, the labor costs to produce our products may fluctuate. In the event of a significant disruption in the supply of fabrics or raw materials used in the manufacture of the merchandise we offer, our vendors might not be able to locate alternative suppliers of materials of comparable quality at an acceptable price. Any delays, interruption, damage to, or increased costs in raw materials or the manufacture of the merchandise we offer could result in higher prices to acquire the merchandise, or non-delivery of merchandise altogether, and could adversely affect our operating results.
In addition, we cannot guarantee that merchandise we receive from vendors will be of sufficient quality or free from damage, or that such merchandise will not be damaged during shipping, while stored in one of our fulfillment centers, or when returned by customers. While we take measures to ensure merchandise quality and avoid damage, we cannot control merchandise while it is out of our possession or prevent all damage while in our fulfillment centers. We may incur additional expenses and our reputation could be harmed if clients and potential clients believe that our merchandise is not of high quality or may be damaged.
We may not be able to return to or sustain our revenue growth rate and we may not be profitable in the future.
Our past revenue growth and profitability should not be considered indicative of our future performance. Our revenue decreased by 21.6% in the first quarter of fiscal 2023 compared to the first quarter of fiscal 2022, decreased by 1.4% in fiscal 2022 compared to 2021, and increased by 22.8% in fiscal 2021 compared to fiscal 2020. Our revenue may continue to decline in future periods due to a number of factors, which may include general economic conditions, including a recession, decreased discretionary consumer spending, the short- and long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, decreases in marketing spend, slower client acquisition growth, slower demand for our merchandise and service, increased competition, decreases in the growth rate of our overall market, and our failure to capitalize on growth opportunities, as well as the maturation of our business.
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We announced a restructuring plan on June 9, 2022, intended to reduce our future fixed and variable operating costs. However, our restructuring plan may not adequately reduce expenses or impact our results as we anticipate. Moreover, our expenses may increase, particularly if we develop and introduce new merchandise offerings, need to hire and retain personnel, or invest in our marketing initiatives. We may not always pursue short-term profits but are often focused on long-term growth, which may impact our financial results. If our revenue does not increase to offset increases in our operating expenses, we may not be profitable in future periods.
If we fail to effectively manage our business, our financial condition and operating results could be harmed.
We must continue to implement our operational plans and strategies, and improve and expand our infrastructure of people and technology. Additionally, we may continue to introduce new offerings, business strategies or initiatives, or improve on existing offerings. Our operations, vendor base, fulfillment centers, information technology systems, or internal controls and procedures may not be adequate to support our changing operations. Any change or upgrade to our systems to support the increasing complexity of our business involves risk and we may experience problems or delays as we make upgrades or changes to our systems. For example, in the first quarter of fiscal year 2022, we experienced technical issues following a systems upgrade to our procure-to-pay processes which affected the transmission, receipt, and reconciliation of purchase orders and payments with many of our apparel and accessory vendors. The roll-out of new offerings and initiatives require investments of time and resources and may require changes in our website, mobile apps, information technology systems or processes, which involves inherent risk. These initiatives and changes also may not be rolled out as timely or effectively as we expect or may not produce the results we intend. If new offerings and initiatives are delayed, it could affect our inventory levels. If we are unable to manage the growth of our organization effectively, or if growth initiatives are not introduced timely, do not produce the anticipated results, or cause unanticipated issues, our business, financial condition, and operating results may be adversely affected.
If we are unable to develop and introduce new offerings or expand into new markets in a timely and cost-effective manner, our business, financial condition, and operating results could be negatively impacted.
Our initial merchandise offering was Women’s apparel, but since our inception we expanded our merchandise offerings to include Petite, Maternity, Men’s, Plus, Premium Brands, and Kids and launched our service in the UK market. In June 2019, we introduced our direct-buy functionality (now called “Freestyle”) with Buy It Again allowing clients in the United States to buy previously purchased items in new colors, prints, and sizes. We expanded direct buy with Complete Your Looks, which allows clients to discover and shop personalized outfits with new items that complement their prior purchases, Trending For You, which allows clients to shop personalized looks based on their style profiles, and Categories, a new way for clients to easily discover pieces within a range of categories based on occasion, brand, or item type. And, in August 2021, we opened up Freestyle to new-to-Stitch Fix clients who had never received a Fix from us previously. We continue to explore additional offerings to serve our existing clients, attract new clients, and expand our geographic scope.
New offerings may not have the same success, or gain traction as quickly, as our current offerings. If our new offerings are not accepted by our clients or do not attract new clients, or if we are not able to attract clients in new markets, our sales may fall short of expectations, our brand and reputation could be adversely affected, and we may incur expenses that are not offset by sales. Developing new offerings requires significant investments of resources and time, and if a new offering is not successful, our business may not grow as anticipated. If the launch of a new category or offering or in a new geography requires investments greater than we expect, is delayed or is not executed well, our operating results could be negatively impacted. For example, in launching Freestyle to new customers during our fiscal 2022, we implemented client on-boarding changes in an effort to drive new clients to Freestyle. These changes resulted in lower conversion of new clients to our Fix offering, which impacted our operating results. Also, our business may be adversely affected if we are unable to attract brands and other merchandise vendors that produce sufficient high-quality, appropriately priced, and on-trend merchandise. For example, vendors in the UK may not be familiar with our company or brand, which may make it difficult for us to obtain the merchandise we seek or be able to purchase products at an appropriate price.
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Our current merchandise offerings have a range of margin profiles and we believe new offerings will also have a broad range of margin profiles that will affect our operating results. New businesses generally contribute lower margins and imported merchandise may be subject to tariffs or duties that lower margins. Additionally, as we enter into new categories and markets, we may not have as high purchasing power as we do in our current offerings, which could increase our costs of goods sold and further reduce our margins. Expansion of our merchandise offerings and geographic scope may also strain our management and operational resources, specifically the need to hire and manage additional merchandise buyers to source new merchandise and to allocate new categories across our distribution network. We may also face greater competition in specific categories or regions from companies that are more focused on these areas. For instance, our entry into the Kids category means we now compete with a number of additional companies that have been in the Kids category for a longer period of time and may have more experience in children’s clothing. If any of the above were to occur, it could damage our reputation, limit our growth, and have an adverse effect on our operating results.
We have a short operating history in an evolving industry and, as a result, our past results may not be indicative of future operating performance.
We have a short operating history in a rapidly evolving industry that may not develop in a manner favorable to our business. Our relatively short operating history makes it difficult to assess our future performance. You should consider our business and prospects in light of the risks and difficulties we may encounter.
Our future success will depend in large part upon our ability to, among other things:
•cost-effectively acquire new clients and engage with and retain existing clients;
•overcome the impacts of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic;
•adequately and effectively staff our fulfillment centers;
•manage our inventory effectively;
•anticipate and respond to macroeconomic changes;
•increase our market share;
•increase consumer awareness of our brand and maintain our reputation;
•successfully expand our offering and geographic reach;
•anticipate and respond to changing style trends and consumer preferences;
•compete effectively;
•avoid interruptions in our business from information technology downtime, cybersecurity breaches, or labor stoppages;
•effectively manage our growth;
•continue to enhance our personalization capabilities;
•hire, integrate, and retain talented people at all levels of our organization;
•maintain the quality of our technology infrastructure;
•develop new features to enhance the client experience; and
•retain our existing merchandise vendors and attract new vendors.
If we fail to address the risks and difficulties that we face, including those associated with the challenges listed above as well as those described elsewhere in this “Risk Factors” section, our business and our operating results will be adversely affected.
Expansion of our operations internationally requires management attention and resources, involves additional risks, and may be unsuccessful.
In May 2019, we launched our service in the UK market, and we may choose to expand to other international markets in the future. Prior to launching in the UK, we had no experience operating internationally or selling our merchandise outside of the United States, and if we continue to expand internationally, we need to adapt to different local cultures, standards, laws, and policies. The business model we employ may not appeal as strongly to consumers in international markets. Furthermore, to succeed with clients in international locations, such as the UK, we will need to locate fulfillment centers in foreign markets and hire local employees, and we will have to invest in these facilities and employees before proving we can successfully run foreign operations. We may not be successful in expanding into additional international markets or in generating revenue from foreign operations for a variety of reasons, including:
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•the need to localize our merchandise offerings, including translation into foreign languages and adaptation for local practices;
•different consumer demand dynamics, which may make our model and the merchandise we offer less successful compared to the United States;
•competition from local incumbents that understand the local market and may operate more effectively;
•regulatory requirements, taxes, trade laws, trade sanctions and economic embargoes, tariffs, export quotas, custom duties, or other trade restrictions;
•differing laws and regulations, including with respect to anti-bribery and anti-corruption compliance;
•differing labor regulations where labor laws may be more advantageous to employees as compared to the United States and result in increased labor costs;
•more stringent or differing regulations relating to privacy and data security and access to, or use of, commercial and personal information, particularly in Europe;
•differing payment requirements and customer behavior relating to payments and fraud;
•changes in a specific country’s or region’s political, economic, and public health conditions, or any geopolitical instability or threats or acts of war, such as the ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia; and
•risks resulting from changes in currency exchange rates.
For example, clients in the UK are accustomed to more return shipping options than are typically offered in the United States, which required us to increase the number of shipping vendors we use in that market, increasing our costs. If we continue to invest substantial time and resources to establish and expand our operations internationally and are unable to do so successfully and in a timely manner, our operating results would suffer.
Our business depends on a strong brand and we may not be able to maintain our brand and reputation.
We believe that maintaining the Stitch Fix brand and reputation is critical to driving client engagement and attracting clients and merchandise vendors. Building our brand will depend largely on our ability to continue to provide our clients with an engaging and personalized client experience, including valued personal styling services, high-quality merchandise, and appropriate price points, which we may not do successfully. Client complaints or negative publicity about our styling services, merchandise, delivery times, or client support, especially on social media platforms, could harm our reputation and diminish client use of our services, the trust that our clients place in Stitch Fix, and vendor confidence in us.
Our brand depends in part on effective client support, which requires significant personnel expense. Failure to manage or train our client support representatives properly or inability to handle client complaints effectively could negatively affect our brand, reputation, and operating results.
If we fail to cost-effectively promote and maintain the Stitch Fix brand, our business, financial condition, and operating results may be adversely affected.
If we fail to attract and retain key personnel, effectively manage succession, or hire, develop, and motivate our employees, our business, financial condition, and operating results could be adversely affected.
Our success, including our ability to anticipate and effectively respond to changing style trends and deliver a personalized styling experience, depends in part on our ability to attract and retain key personnel on our executive team and in our merchandising, algorithms, engineering, marketing, styling, and other organizations. We do not currently maintain key-person life insurance policies on any member of our senior management team or other key employees.
We do not have long-term employment or non-competition agreements with any of our personnel. We have had senior employees leave Stitch Fix and cannot necessarily anticipate when this will happen and whether we will be able to promptly replace exiting employees. The loss of one or more of our key personnel or the inability to promptly identify a suitable successor to a key role could have an adverse effect on our business.
Additionally, we have experienced increased employee turnover as a result of the general market conditions and a competitive talent market within the U.S., as well as Company-specific factors, such as share price decline, business performance, and leadership changes, and we expect to continue to experience increased employee turnover in the future. We also announced a restructuring plan on June 9, 2022 that reduced our workforce by 15% of salaried positions and represents 4% of our roles in total.
We also face significant competition for personnel, particularly in our technology and product organizations. To attract top talent, we have had to offer, and believe we will need to continue to offer, competitive compensation and benefits packages
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before we can validate the productivity of those employees. We also have in the past had difficulty hiring employees in fulfillment centers due to increased competition for distribution workers and rising wages and have increased our employee compensation levels in response to competition, as necessary.
We cannot be sure that we will be able to attract, retain, and motivate a sufficient number of qualified personnel in the future, or that the compensation costs of doing so will not adversely affect our operating results. Additionally, we may not be able to hire and train new employees quickly enough to meet our needs. If we fail to retain employees and effectively manage our hiring needs, our efficiency, ability to meet forecasts, employee morale, productivity, and the success of our strategic plans and product roadmap could suffer, which may have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and operating results.
Elizabeth Spaulding was named to the role of Chief Executive Officer on August 1, 2021, and Katrina Lake, our Founder, transitioned to the role of Executive Chairperson of the Board of Directors on August 1, 2021, and remains an employee of ours. If Ms. Spaulding’s succession to Chief Executive Officer is not managed successfully, including her ability to grow and lead a team that can navigate Stitch Fix’s evolution and growth, it could disrupt our business, affect our Company culture, cause retention concerns with respect to our colleagues, and affect our financial condition and operating results.
If we fail to effectively manage our stylists, our business, financial condition and operating results could be adversely affected.
As of October 29, 2022, approximately 3,200 of our employees were stylists, most of whom work on a part-time basis for us and are paid hourly. The stylists track and report the time they spend working for us. These employees are classified as nonexempt under federal and state law. If we fail to effectively manage our stylists, including by ensuring accurate tracking and reporting of their hours worked and proper processing of their hourly wages, then we may face claims alleging violations of wage and hour employment laws, including, without limitation, claims of back wages, unpaid overtime pay, and missed meal and rest periods. Any such employee litigation could be attempted on a class or representative basis. For example, in August 2020, a representative action under California’s Private Attorneys General Act was filed against us alleging various violations of California’s wage and hour laws relating to our current and former non-exempt stylist employees. While we were able to settle this matter, future litigation concerning our styling employees could be expensive and time-consuming regardless of whether the claims against us are valid or whether we are ultimately determined to be liable, and could divert management’s attention from our business. We could also be adversely affected by negative publicity, litigation costs resulting from the defense of these claims, and the diversion of time and resources from our operations.
If we are unable to acquire new merchandise vendors or retain existing merchandise vendors, our operating results may be harmed.
We offer merchandise from hundreds of established and emerging brands. In order to continue to attract and retain quality merchandise brands, we must help merchandise vendors increase their sales and offer them a high-quality, cost-effective fulfillment process.
If we do not continue to acquire new merchandise vendors or retain our existing merchandise vendors on acceptable commercial terms, we may not be able to maintain a broad selection of products for our clients, and our operating results may suffer.
In addition, our Exclusive Brands are sourced from third-party vendors and contract manufacturers. The loss of one of our Exclusive Brand vendors for any reason, or our inability to source any additional vendors needed for our Exclusive Brands, could require us to source Exclusive Brand merchandise from another vendor or manufacturer, which could cause inventory delays, impact our clients’ experiences, and otherwise harm our operating results.
We may incur significant losses from fraud.
We have in the past incurred and may in the future incur losses from various types of fraud, including stolen credit card numbers, claims that a client did not authorize a purchase, merchant fraud, and clients who have closed bank accounts or have insufficient funds in open bank accounts to satisfy payments. Our clients may re-use their login information (i.e., username and password combination) across multiple websites and, therefore, when a third-party website experiences a data breach, that information could be exposed to bad actors and be used to fraudulently access our clients’ accounts. In addition to the direct costs of such losses, if the fraud is related to credit card transactions and becomes excessive, it could result in us paying higher fees or losing the right to accept credit cards for payment. In addition, under current credit card practices, we are typically liable for fraudulent credit card transactions. Our failure to adequately prevent fraudulent transactions could damage our reputation, result in litigation or regulatory action, and lead to expenses that could substantially impact our operating results.
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We are subject to payment-related risks.
We accept payments online via credit and debit cards and online payment systems such as PayPal, which subjects us to certain regulations and fraud. We may in the future offer new payment options to clients that would be subject to additional regulations and risks. We pay interchange and other fees in connection with credit card payments, which may increase over time and adversely affect our operating results. While we use a third party to process payments, we are subject to payment card association operating rules and certification requirements, including the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard and rules governing electronic funds transfers. If we fail to comply with applicable rules and regulations, we may be subject to fines or higher transaction fees and may lose our ability to accept online payments or other payment card transactions. If any of these events were to occur, our business, financial condition, and operating results could be adversely affected.
Risks Relating to our Industry, the Market, and the Economy
We rely on consumer discretionary spending and may be adversely affected by economic downturns and other macroeconomic conditions or trends.
Our business and operating results are subject to national and global economic conditions and their impact on consumer discretionary spending. Some of the factors that may negatively influence consumer spending include high levels of unemployment; higher consumer debt levels; reductions in net worth, declines in asset values, and related market and macroeconomic uncertainty; home foreclosures and reductions in home values; fluctuating interest rates, increased inflationary pressures and credit availability; rising fuel and other energy costs; rising commodity prices; and general uncertainty regarding the overall future political and economic environment. We have experienced many of these factors, including current inflationary pressures, and are experiencing negative impacts on client demand and discretionary spending as a result. Consumer purchases of discretionary items, including the merchandise that we offer, generally decline during recessionary periods or periods of economic uncertainty, when disposable income is reduced or when there is a reduction in consumer confidence. Furthermore, economic conditions in certain regions may also be affected by natural disasters, such as hurricanes, tropical storms, earthquakes, and wildfires; public health crises; and other major unforeseen events.
Adverse economic changes could reduce consumer confidence, and could thereby negatively affect our operating results. In challenging and uncertain economic environments, we cannot predict when macroeconomic uncertainty may arise, whether or when such circumstances may improve or worsen, or what impact such circumstances could have on our business. Additionally, the ongoing volatile and uncertain macroeconomic environment that we have been experiencing since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has likely reduced, and may continue to reduce, our ability to forecast our future operating results.
Our industry is highly competitive and if we do not compete effectively our operating results could be adversely affected.
The retail apparel industry is highly competitive. We compete with eCommerce companies that market the same or similar merchandise and services that we offer; local, national, and global department stores; specialty retailers; discount chains; independent retail stores; and the online offerings of these traditional retail competitors. Additionally, we experience competition for consumer discretionary spending from other product and experiential categories. We believe our ability to compete depends on many factors within and beyond our control, including:
•effectively differentiating our service and value proposition from those of our competitors;
•attracting new clients and engaging with and retaining existing clients;
•our direct relationships with our clients and their willingness to share personal information with us;
•further developing our data science capabilities;
•maintaining favorable brand recognition and effectively marketing our services to clients;
•delivering merchandise that each client perceives as personalized to him or her;
•the amount, diversity, and quality of brands and merchandise that we or our competitors offer;
•our ability to expand and maintain appealing Exclusive Brands and exclusive-to-Stitch Fix merchandise;
•the price at which we are able to offer our merchandise;
•the speed and cost at which we can deliver merchandise to our clients and the ease with which they can use our services to return merchandise; and
•anticipating and quickly responding to changing apparel trends and consumer shopping preferences.
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Many of our current competitors have, and potential competitors may have, longer operating histories; larger fulfillment infrastructures; greater technical capabilities; faster shipping times; lower-cost shipping; larger databases; more purchasing power; higher profiles; greater financial, marketing, institutional, and other resources; and larger customer bases than we do. Mergers and acquisitions by these companies may lead to even larger competitors with more resources. These factors may allow our competitors to derive greater revenue and profits from their existing customer bases; acquire customers at lower costs; or respond more quickly than we can to new or emerging technologies, changes in apparel trends and consumer shopping behavior, and changes in supply conditions. These competitors may engage in more extensive research and development efforts, enter or expand their presence in the personalized retail market, undertake more far-reaching marketing campaigns, and adopt more aggressive pricing policies, which may allow them to build larger customer bases or generate revenue from their existing customer bases more effectively than we do. If we fail to execute on any of the above better than our competitors, our operating results may be adversely affected.
Our operating results have been, and could be in the future, adversely affected by natural disasters, public health crises, political crises, or other catastrophic events.
Natural disasters, such as earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, fires, and other adverse weather events and climate conditions, which may become more frequent and more severe with the increasing effects of climate change; unforeseen public health crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic or other pandemics and epidemics; political crises, such as terrorist attacks, war, and other political instability, including the ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia; or other catastrophic events, whether occurring in the United States or internationally, could disrupt our operations in or cause us to close one or more of our offices and fulfillment centers or could disrupt, delay, or otherwise negatively impact the operations of one or more of our third-party providers or vendors. For instance, the severe winter weather and temperatures experienced in Texas and other parts of the country in February 2021 caused us to temporarily close two of our fulfillment centers and affected the shipping of merchandise in and out of fulfillment centers. Furthermore, these types of events could impact our merchandise supply chain, including our ability to ship merchandise to or receive returned merchandise from clients in the impacted region, and could impact our ability or the ability of third parties to operate our sites and ship merchandise. In addition, these types of events could negatively impact consumer spending in the impacted regions. In fact, the COVID-19 pandemic has: disrupted our operations in and previously caused us to temporarily close our offices and require that most of our employees work from home; disrupted our operations in and caused us to close three of our fulfillment centers; required us to implement various operational changes to ensure the health and safety of our employees; had a range of negative effects on the operations of our third-party providers and vendors, including our merchandise supply chain and shipping partners; and negatively impacted consumer spending and the economy generally. Because the COVID-19 pandemic has caused many of these factors to materialize, as described above and throughout these risk factors, it has adversely affected our business and operating results. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic (including future resurgences of COVID-19 or new variants in the United States or internationally) or the occurrence of another natural disaster, pandemic, or crisis could recreate and/or exacerbate these effects.
Cybersecurity, Legal and Regulatory Risks
System interruptions that impair client access to our website or other performance failures in our technology infrastructure could damage our business.
The satisfactory performance, reliability, and availability of our website, mobile application, internal applications, and technology infrastructure are critical to our business. We rely on our website and mobile application to engage with our clients and sell them merchandise. We also rely on a host of internal custom-built applications to run critical business functions, such as styling, merchandise purchasing, warehouse operations, and order fulfillment. In addition, we rely on a variety of third-party, cloud-based solution vendors for key elements of our technology infrastructure. These systems are vulnerable to damage or interruption and we have experienced interruptions in the past. For example, in February 2017, as a result of an outage with Amazon Web Services, where much of our technology infrastructure is hosted, we experienced disruptions in applications that support our warehouse operations and order fulfillment that caused a temporary slowdown in the number of Fix shipments we were able to make. Additionally, the launch of a new category or new product offering requires investments in and the development of new technology, which may be more susceptible to performance issues or interruptions. Interruptions may also be caused by a variety of incidents, including human error, our failure to update or improve our proprietary systems, cyber attacks, fire, flood, earthquake, power loss, or telecommunications failures. These risks are exacerbated by our move to a more remote workforce. Any failure or interruption of our website, mobile application, internal business applications, or our technology infrastructure could harm our ability to serve our clients, which would adversely affect our business and operating results.
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Compromises of our data security could cause us to incur unexpected expenses and may materially harm our reputation and operating results.
In the ordinary course of our business, we and our vendors collect, process, and store certain personal information and other data relating to individuals, such as our clients and employees, which may include client payment card information. We rely substantially on commercially available systems, software, tools, and monitoring to provide security for our processing, transmission, and storage of personal information and other confidential information. There can be no assurance, however, that we or our vendors will not suffer a data compromise, that hackers or other unauthorized parties will not gain access to personal information or other data, including payment card data or confidential business information, or that any such data compromise or unauthorized access will be discovered in a timely fashion. The techniques used to obtain unauthorized access or to sabotage systems change frequently and generally are not identified until they are launched against a target, and we and our vendors may be unable to anticipate these techniques or to implement adequate preventative measures. As we have moved to a more remote and hybrid work force, and as our vendors and other business partners have also moved to permanent or hybrid remote work as well, we and our partners may be more vulnerable to cyber attacks. In addition, our employees, contractors, vendors, or other third parties with whom we do business may attempt to circumvent security measures in order to misappropriate such personal information, confidential information, or other data, or may inadvertently release or compromise such data.
Compromise of our data security or of third parties with whom we do business, failure to prevent or mitigate the loss of personal or business information, and delays in detecting or providing prompt notice of any such compromise or loss could disrupt our operations, damage our reputation, and subject us to litigation, government action, or other additional costs and liabilities that could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and operating results.
Some of our software and systems contain open source software, which may pose particular risks to our proprietary applications.
We use open source software in the applications we have developed to operate our business and will use open source software in the future. We may face claims from third parties demanding the release or license of the open source software or derivative works that we developed from such software (which could include our proprietary source code) or otherwise seeking to enforce the terms of the applicable open source license. These claims could result in litigation and could require us to purchase a costly license, publicly release the affected portions of our source code, or cease offering the implicated solutions unless and until we can re-engineer them to avoid infringement. In addition, our use of open source software may present additional security risks because the source code for open source software is publicly available, which may make it easier for hackers and other third parties to determine how to breach our website and systems that rely on open source software. Any of these risks could be difficult to eliminate or manage and, if not addressed, could have an adverse effect on our business and operating results.
Adverse litigation judgments or settlements resulting from legal proceedings in which we are or may be involved could expose us to monetary damages or limit our ability to operate our business.
Currently, we are involved in various legal proceedings, including the securities litigation and other matters described elsewhere herein. We have in the past and may in the future become involved in other private actions, collective actions, investigations, and various other legal proceedings by clients, employees, suppliers, competitors, government agencies, stockholders, or others. The results of any such litigation, investigations, and other legal proceedings are inherently unpredictable and expensive. Any claims against us, whether meritorious or not, could be time consuming, result in costly litigation, damage our reputation, require significant amounts of management time, and divert significant resources. If any of these legal proceedings were to be determined adversely to us, or we were to enter into a settlement arrangement, we could be exposed to monetary damages or limits on our ability to operate our business, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and operating results.
Any failure by us or our vendors to comply with product safety, labor, or other laws, or our standard vendor terms and conditions, or to provide safe factory conditions for our or their workers, may damage our reputation and brand, and harm our business.
The merchandise we sell to our clients is subject to regulation by the Federal Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, and similar state and international regulatory authorities. As a result, such merchandise could in the future be subject to recalls and other remedial actions. Product safety, labeling, and licensing concerns may result in us voluntarily removing selected merchandise from our inventory. Such recalls or voluntary removal of merchandise can result in, among other things, lost sales, diverted resources, potential harm to our reputation, and increased client service costs and legal expenses, which could have a material adverse effect on our operating results.
Some of the merchandise we sell, including the children’s merchandise sold through Stitch Fix Kids, may expose us to product liability claims and litigation or regulatory action relating to personal injury or environmental or property damage. Although we maintain liability insurance, we cannot be certain that our coverage will be adequate for liabilities actually incurred or that insurance will continue to be available to us on economically reasonable terms or at all. In addition, some of our agreements
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with our vendors may not indemnify us from product liability for a particular vendor’s merchandise or our vendors may not have sufficient resources or insurance to satisfy their indemnity and defense obligations.
We purchase our merchandise from numerous domestic and international vendors. Our standard vendor terms and conditions require vendors to comply with applicable laws. We have hired independent firms that conduct audits of the working conditions at the factories producing our Exclusive Brand products. If an audit reveals potential problems, we require that the vendor institute corrective action plans to bring the factory into compliance with our standards, or we may discontinue our relationship with the vendor. The loss of an Exclusive Brand vendor due to failure to comply with our standards could cause inventory delays, impact our clients’ experiences, and otherwise harm our operating results. In addition, failure of our vendors to comply with applicable laws and regulations and contractual requirements could lead to litigation against us, resulting in increased legal expenses and costs. Furthermore, the failure of any such vendors to provide safe and humane factory conditions and oversight at their facilities could damage our reputation with clients or result in legal claims against us.
China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (the “XUAR”) is the source of large amounts of cotton and textiles for the global apparel supply chain. The United States Treasury Department placed sanctions on China’s Xinjiang Production and Construction Corporation (“XPCC”) for serious human rights abuses against ethnic minorities in XUAR. Additionally, the US’s Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (“UFLPA”), empowers the US Customs and Border Protection Agency (the “US CBP”) to withhold release of items produced in whole or in part in the XUAR, or produced by companies included on a government-created UFLPA entity list, creating a presumption that such goods were produced using forced labor. XPCC controls many of the cotton farms and much of the textile industry in the region, and many large factories in XUAR product fabrics and yarn for apparel. Although we do not intentionally source any products or materials from the XUAR (either directly or indirectly through our suppliers), we have no known involvement with XPCC or its subsidiaries and affiliates, and we prohibit our apparel vendors from doing business with XPCC or using forced labor, we do not have the ability to completely map our product supply chain, and we could be subject to penalties, fines or sanctions if any of the vendors from which we purchase goods is found to have dealings, directly or indirectly, with XPCC or entities it controls. Additionally, our products or materials (including potentially non-cotton materials) could be held or delayed by the US CBP, which would cause delays and unexpectedly affect our inventory levels. Even if we were not subject to penalties, fines or sanctions, if products we source are linked in any way to XPCC, the XUAR, or an entity on the UFLPA entity list, our reputation could be damaged.
Our use of personal information and other data subjects us to privacy laws and obligations, and our compliance with or failure to comply with such obligations could harm our business.
We collect and maintain significant amounts of personal information and other data relating to our clients and employees. Numerous laws, rules, and regulations in the United States and internationally, including the European Union’s (“EU”) General Data Protection Regulation (the “GDPR”), California’s Consumer Privacy Act (the “CCPA”) and the UK’s Data Protection Act (the “UK GDPR”), govern privacy and the collection, use, and protection of personal information. These laws, rules, and regulations evolve frequently and may be inconsistent from one jurisdiction to another or may be interpreted to conflict with our practices. Any failure or perceived failure by us or any third parties with which we do business to comply with these laws, rules, and regulations, or with other obligations to which we may be or become subject, may result in actions against us by governmental entities, private claims and litigation, fines, penalties, or other liabilities. Any such action would be expensive to defend, damage our reputation, and adversely affect our business and operating results. For example, the GDPR imposes more stringent data protection requirements and provides greater penalties for noncompliance than previous data protection laws. Further, the UK withdrew from the EU on January 31, 2020, subject to a transition period that ended on December 31, 2020 (“Brexit”). The UK GDPR, which regulates data protection in the UK since Brexit, has remained consistent with the EU GDPR in effect since 2018, but it may evolve and it is uncertain whether our operations in, and data transfers to and from, the UK can comply with any future changes in the law. Similarly, the State of California legislature passed the CCPA, which became effective on January 1, 2020. The CCPA requires us to make new disclosures to consumers about our data collection, use, and sharing practices. The CCPA also allows consumers to opt out of certain data sharing with third parties, and provides a new cause of action for data breaches with the possibility of significant statutory damage awards. The CCPA prohibits discrimination against individuals who exercise their privacy rights, provides for civil penalties for violations, and creates a private right of action for data breaches that is expected to increase data breach litigation. The CCPA itself will expand substantially when the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020 (the “CPRA”), which takes effect on January 1, 2023. The CPRA will, among other things, restrict use of certain categories of sensitive personal information that we handle; further restrict the sharing of personal information; establish restrictions on the retention of personal information; expand the types of data breaches subject to the private right of action; and establish the California Privacy Protection Agency to implement and enforce the new law, as well as impose administrative fines. Since the enactment of the CCPA, new privacy and data security laws have been proposed in more than half of the U.S. states and in the U.S. Congress, reflecting a trend toward more stringent privacy legislation in the U.S. Additionally, the Federal Trade Commission and many state attorneys general are interpreting federal and state consumer protection laws as imposing standards for the online collection, use, dissemination, and security of data.
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The costs of compliance with and other burdens imposed by privacy and data security laws and regulations may reduce the efficiency of our marketing, lead to negative publicity, make it more difficult or more costly to meet expectations of or commitments to clients, or lead to significant fines, penalties or liabilities for noncompliance, any of which could harm our business. These laws could also impact our ability to offer our products in certain locations. The costs, burdens, and potential liabilities imposed by existing privacy laws could be compounded if other jurisdictions in the U.S. or abroad begin to adopt similar or more restrictive laws.
Even the perception that the privacy of personal information is not satisfactorily protected or does not meet regulatory requirements could inhibit clients’ use of our service or harm our brand and reputation.
Any of these matters could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, or operating results.
Unfavorable changes or failure by us to comply with evolving internet and eCommerce regulations could substantially harm our business and operating results.
We are subject to general business regulations and laws as well as regulations and laws specifically governing the internet and eCommerce. These regulations and laws may involve taxes, privacy and data security, consumer protection, the ability to collect and/or share necessary information that allows us to conduct business on the internet, marketing communications and advertising, content protection, electronic contracts, or gift cards. Furthermore, the regulatory landscape impacting internet and eCommerce businesses is constantly evolving. For example, California’s Automatic Renewal Law requires companies to adhere to enhanced disclosure requirements when entering into automatically renewing contracts with consumers. As a result, a wave of consumer class action lawsuits was brought against companies that offer online products and services on a subscription or recurring basis. Any failure, or perceived failure, by us to comply with any of these laws or regulations could result in damage to our reputation, lost business, and proceedings or actions against us by governmental entities or others, which could impact our operating results.
If the use of “cookie” tracking technologies is further restricted, regulated, or blocked, or if changes in technology cause cookies to become less reliable or acceptable as a means of tracking consumer behavior, the amount or accuracy of internet user information we collect would decrease, which could harm our business and operating results.
Cookies are small data files that are sent by websites and stored locally on an internet user's computer or mobile device. We, and third parties who work on our behalf, collect data via cookies that is used to track the behavior of visitors to our sites, to provide a more personal and interactive experience, and to increase the effectiveness of our marketing. However, internet users can easily disable, delete, and block cookies directly through browser settings or through other software, browser extensions, or hardware platforms that physically block cookies from being created and stored.
Privacy regulations restrict how we deploy our cookies and this could potentially increase the number of internet users that choose to proactively disable cookies on their systems. In the EU, the Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications requires users to give their consent before cookie data can be stored on their local computer or mobile device. Users can decide to opt out of nearly all cookie data creation, which could negatively impact our operating results. We may have to develop alternative systems to determine our clients’ behavior, customize their online experience, or efficiently market to them if clients block cookies or regulations introduce additional barriers to collecting cookie data.
If we cannot successfully protect our intellectual property, our business would suffer.
We rely on trademark, copyright, trade secrets, patents, confidentiality agreements, and other practices to protect our brands, proprietary information, technologies, and processes. Our principal trademark assets include the registered trademarks “Stitch Fix” and “Fix,” multiple private label clothing and accessory brand names, and our logos and taglines. Our trademarks are valuable assets that support our brand and consumers’ perception of our services and merchandise. We also hold the rights to the “stitchfix.com” internet domain name and various other related domain names, which are subject to internet regulatory bodies and trademark and other related laws of each applicable jurisdiction. If we are unable to protect our trademarks or domain names in the United States, the UK, or in other jurisdictions in which we may ultimately operate, our brand recognition and reputation would suffer, we would incur significant expense establishing new brands and our operating results would be adversely impacted.
The patents we own in the United States and those that may be issued in the United States, in the UK, in Europe and in the People’s Republic of China in the future may not provide us with any competitive advantages or may be challenged by third parties, and our patent applications may never be granted. Even if issued, there can be no assurance that these patents will adequately protect our intellectual property or survive a legal challenge, as the legal standards relating to the validity, enforceability, and scope of protection of patent and other intellectual property rights are uncertain. Our limited patent protection may restrict our ability to protect our technologies and processes from competition. We primarily rely on trade secret laws to protect our technologies and processes, including the algorithms we use throughout our business. Others may independently develop the same or similar technologies and processes, or may improperly acquire and use information about
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our technologies and processes, which may allow them to provide a service similar to ours, which could harm our competitive position.
We may be accused of infringing intellectual property rights of third parties.
We are also at risk of claims by others that we have infringed their copyrights, trademarks, or patents, or improperly used or disclosed their trade secrets. The costs of supporting any litigation or disputes related to these claims can be considerable, and we cannot assure you that we will achieve a favorable outcome of any such claim. If any such claims are valid, we may be compelled to cease our use of such intellectual property and pay damages, which could adversely affect our business. Even if such claims are not valid, defending them could be expensive and distracting, adversely affecting our operating results.
Risks Relating to Taxes
Changes in U.S. tax or tariff policy regarding apparel produced in other countries could adversely affect our business.
A predominant portion of the apparel we sell is originally manufactured in countries other than the United States. International trade disputes that result in tariffs and other protectionist measures could adversely affect our business, including disruption and cost increases in our established patterns for sourcing our merchandise and increased uncertainties in planning our sourcing strategies and forecasting our margins. For example, in recent years, the U.S. government imposed significant new tariffs on China related to the importation of certain product categories, including apparel, footwear, and other goods. A substantial portion of our products are manufactured in China. As a result of these tariffs, our cost of goods imported from China increased slightly. Although we continue to work with our vendors to mitigate our exposure to current or potential tariffs, there can be no assurance that we will be able to offset any increased costs. Other changes in U.S. tariffs, quotas, trade relationships, or tax provisions could also reduce the supply of goods available to us or increase our cost of goods. Although such changes would have implications across the entire industry, we may fail to effectively adapt to and manage the adjustments in strategy that would be necessary in response to those changes. In addition to the general uncertainty and overall risk from potential changes in U.S. laws and policies, as we make business decisions in the face of such uncertainty, we may incorrectly anticipate the outcomes, miss out on business opportunities, or fail to effectively adapt our business strategies and manage the adjustments that are necessary in response to those changes. These risks could adversely affect our revenues, reduce our profitability, and negatively impact our business.
We could be required to collect additional sales taxes or be subject to other tax liabilities that may increase the costs our clients would have to pay for our offering and adversely affect our operating results.
In general, we have not historically collected state or local sales, use, or other similar taxes in any jurisdictions in which we do not have a tax nexus, in reliance on court decisions and/or applicable exemptions that restrict or preclude the imposition of obligations to collect such taxes with respect to the online sales of our products. In addition, we have not historically collected state or local sales, use, or other similar taxes in certain jurisdictions in which we do have a physical presence, in reliance on applicable exemptions. On June 21, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court decided, in South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc., that state and local jurisdictions may, at least in certain circumstances, enforce a sales and use tax collection obligation on remote vendors that have no physical presence in such jurisdiction. As of June 30, 2021, all states have enacted legislation to begin, requiring sales and use tax collection by remote vendors and/or by online marketplaces. The details and effective dates of these collection requirements vary from state to state. While we now collect, remit, and report sales tax in all states that impose a sales tax, it is still possible that one or more jurisdictions may assert that we have liability from previous periods for which we did not collect sales, use, or other similar taxes, and if such an assertion or assertions were successful it could result in substantial tax liabilities, including for past sales taxes and penalties and interest, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, and operating results.
Federal income tax reform could have unforeseen effects on our financial condition and results of operations.
New income or other tax laws or regulations could be enacted at any time, which could adversely affect our business operations and financial performance. Further, existing tax laws and regulations could be interpreted, modified, or applied adversely to us. For example, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “Tax Act”) and CARES Act enacted many significant changes to the U.S. tax laws. Future guidance from the IRS and other tax authorities with respect to the Tax Act and CARES Act may affect us, and certain aspects of the Tax Act and CARES Act could be repealed or modified in future legislation. Further regulatory or legislative developments may also arise. We are currently unable to predict whether such changes will occur and, if so, the ultimate impact on our business. To the extent that such changes have a negative impact on us, our suppliers or our customers, including as a result of related uncertainty, these changes may materially and adversely impact our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
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We may be subject to additional tax liabilities, which could adversely affect our operating results.
We are subject to income- and non-income-based taxes in the United States under federal, state, and local jurisdictions and in the UK. The governing tax laws and applicable tax rates vary by jurisdiction and are subject to interpretation. Various tax authorities may disagree with tax positions we take and if any such tax authorities were to successfully challenge one or more of our tax positions, the results could have a material effect on our operating results. Further, the ultimate amount of tax payable in a given financial statement period may be materially impacted by sudden or unforeseen changes in tax laws, changes in the mix and level of earnings by taxing jurisdictions, or changes to existing accounting rules or regulations. The determination of our overall provision for income and other taxes is inherently uncertain as it requires significant judgment around complex transactions and calculations. As a result, fluctuations in our ultimate tax obligations may differ materially from amounts recorded in our financial statements and could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and operating results in the periods for which such determination is made.
Our ability to use our net operating loss carryforwards and certain other tax attributes may be limited.
As of July 30, 2022, we had federal and state net operating loss carryforwards of $165.3 million and $256.0 million, respectively. The federal net operating loss carryforwards may be carried forward indefinitely; state net operating loss carryforwards will expire, if not utilized, beginning in 2025. The ability to use our net operating loss carryforwards depends on the availability of future taxable income. In addition, as of July 30, 2022, we had federal and California research and development tax credit carryforwards of $38.7 million and $21.4 million, respectively. The federal research and development credits will begin to expire in 2036, if not utilized; California research and development credits do not have an expiration date. A portion of our tax attributes are subject to Sections 382 and 383 of the Internal Revenue Code and similar state provisions, which sets limitations arising from ownership changes. Any potential limitations on our ability to offset future income with our tax attributes could result in increased future tax liability to us.
Risks Relating to Ownership of Our Class A Common Stock
The market price of our Class A common stock may continue to be volatile or may decline steeply or suddenly regardless of our operating performance and we may not be able to meet investor or analyst expectations. You may lose all or part of your investment.
The market price of our Class A common stock may fluctuate or decline significantly in response to numerous factors, many of which are beyond our control, including:
•actual or anticipated fluctuations in our client base, the level of client engagement and client acquisition, revenue, or other operating results;
•variations between our actual operating results and the expectations of securities analysts, investors, and the financial community;
•any forward-looking financial or operating information we may provide to the public or securities analysts, any changes in this information, or our failure to meet expectations based on this information;
•actions of securities analysts who initiate or maintain coverage of us, changes in financial estimates by any securities analysts who follow our company, or our failure to meet these estimates or the expectations of investors;
•repurchases of our Class A common stock pursuant to our share repurchase program, which could also cause our stock price to be higher that it would be in the absence of such a program and could potentially reduce the market liquidity for our stock;
•whether investors or securities analysts view our stock structure unfavorably, particularly our dual-class structure and the significant voting control of our directors, executive officers, and their affiliates;
•additional shares of our Class A common stock being sold into the market by us or our existing stockholders, or the anticipation of such sales;
•announcements by us or our competitors of significant products or features, technical innovations, acquisitions, strategic partnerships, joint ventures, or capital commitments;
•changes in operating performance and stock market valuations of companies in our industry, including our vendors and competitors;
•price and volume fluctuations in the overall stock market, including as a result of trends in the economy as a whole;
•targeted efforts of social media or other groups to transact in and affect the price of Stitch Fix stock, such as the activity in early 2021 targeting GameStop Corp and others;
•lawsuits threatened or filed against us;
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•developments in new legislation and pending lawsuits or regulatory actions, including interim or final rulings by judicial or regulatory bodies; and
•other events or factors, including those resulting from war or incidents of terrorism, public health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, or responses to these events.
In addition, extreme price and volume fluctuations in the stock markets have affected and continue to affect many eCommerce and other technology companies’ stock prices. Often, their stock prices have fluctuated in ways unrelated or disproportionate to the companies’ operating performance. In the past, stockholders have filed securities class action litigation following periods of market volatility. For example, beginning in October 2018, we and certain of our directors and officers were sued in putative class action and derivative lawsuits alleging violations of the federal securities laws for allegedly making materially false and misleading statements. And on August 26, 2022, a class action lawsuit alleging violations of federal securities laws was filed by certain of our stockholders naming as defendants us, certain of our officers and directors and certain of our affiliated stockholders for allegedly making materially false and misleading statements regarding our Freestyle offering. We may be the target of additional litigation of this type in the future as well. Such securities litigation could subject us to substantial costs, divert resources and the attention of management from our business, and seriously harm our business.
Moreover, because of these fluctuations, comparing our operating results on a period-to-period basis may not be meaningful. You should not rely on our past results as an indication of our future performance. This variability and unpredictability could also result in our failing to meet the expectations of industry or financial analysts or investors for any period. If our revenue or operating results fall below the expectations of analysts or investors or below any forecasts we may provide to the market, or if the forecasts we provide to the market are below the expectations of analysts or investors, the price of our Class A common stock could decline substantially. Such a stock price decline could occur even when we have met any previously publicly stated revenue or earnings forecasts that we may provide.
We cannot guarantee that our share repurchase program will be fully consummated or that it will enhance long-term stockholder value. Share repurchases could also increase the volatility of the trading price of our stock and could diminish our cash reserves.
In January 2022, our Board of Directors authorized a share repurchase program to repurchase up to $150.0 million of our outstanding Class A common stock, with no expiration date. Although our Board of Directors has authorized this repurchase program, the program does not obligate us to repurchase any specific dollar amount or to acquire any specific number of shares. The actual timing and amount of repurchases remain subject to a variety of factors, including stock price, trading volume, market conditions and other general business considerations. In addition, the terms of our amended and restated credit agreement with Silicon Valley Bank and other lenders impose limitations on our ability to repurchase shares. The share repurchase program may be modified, suspended, or terminated at any time, and we cannot guarantee that the program will be fully consummated or that it will enhance long-term stockholder value. The program could affect the trading price of our stock and increase volatility, and any announcement of a termination of this program may result in a decrease in the trading price of our stock. In addition, this program could diminish our cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities.
Future sales of shares by existing stockholders could cause our stock price to decline.
If our existing stockholders sell, or indicate an intention to sell, substantial amounts of our Class A common stock in the public market, then the trading price of our Class A common stock could decline. In addition, shares underlying any outstanding options and restricted stock units will become eligible for sale if exercised or settled, as applicable, and to the extent permitted by the provisions of various vesting agreements and Rule 144 of the Securities Act. All the shares of Class A and Class B common stock subject to stock options and restricted stock units outstanding and reserved for issuance under our 2011 Equity Incentive Plan, as amended, our 2017 Incentive Plan, and our 2019 Inducement Plan (our “Incentive Plans”) have been registered on Form S-8 under the Securities Act and such shares are eligible for sale in the public markets, subject to Rule 144 limitations applicable to affiliates. If these additional shares are sold, or if it is perceived that they will be sold in the public market, the trading price of our Class A common stock could decline.
The dual class structure of our common stock concentrates voting control with our executive officers, directors and their affiliates, and may depress the trading price of our Class A common stock.
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Our Class B common stock has ten votes per share and our Class A common stock has one vote per share. As a result, the holders of our Class B common stock, including our directors, executive officers, and their affiliates, are able to exercise considerable influence over matters requiring stockholder approval, including the election of directors and approval of significant corporate transactions, such as a merger or other sale of our company or our assets, even if their stock holdings represent less than 50% of the outstanding shares of our capital stock. As of December 2, 2022, 29,112,127 of our 110,808,056 shares outstanding were held by our directors, executive officers, and their affiliates, and 25,397,274 of such shares held by our directors, executive officers, and their affiliates were shares of Class B common stock. This concentration of ownership will limit the ability of other stockholders to influence corporate matters and may cause us to make strategic decisions that could involve risks to you or that may not be aligned with your interests. This control may adversely affect the market price of our Class A common stock.
In addition, in July 2017, FTSE Russell and Standard & Poor’s announced that they would cease to allow most newly public companies utilizing dual or multi-class capital structures to be included in their indices. Affected indices include the S&P 500, S&P MidCap 400, and S&P SmallCap 600, which together make up the S&P Composite 1500. Under the announced policies, our dual class capital structure currently makes us ineligible for inclusion in Standard & Poor’s indices and, as a result, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, and other investment vehicles that attempt to passively track the S&P indices will not be investing in our stock. It is unclear what effect, if any, these policies have had or may have on the valuations of publicly traded companies excluded from the indices, but it is possible that they may depress these valuations compared to those of other similar companies that are included.
We do not currently intend to pay dividends on our Class A common stock and, consequently, your ability to achieve a return on your investment will depend on appreciation of the value of our Class A common stock.
We have never declared or paid cash dividends on our capital stock. We currently intend to retain any future earnings to finance the operation and expansion of our business, and we do not expect to pay any cash dividends on our Class A common stock in the foreseeable future. As a result, any investment return our Class A common stock will depend upon increases in the value for our Class A common stock, which is not certain.
Delaware law and provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws could make a merger, tender offer, or proxy contest difficult, thereby depressing the trading price of our Class A common stock.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws contain provisions that could depress the trading price of our Class A common stock by acting to discourage, delay, or prevent a change of control of our company or changes in our management that the stockholders of our company may deem advantageous. These provisions include the following:
•establish a classified Board of Directors so that not all members of our board of directors are elected at one time;
•permit the Board of Directors to establish the number of directors and fill any vacancies and newly created directorships;
•provide that directors may only be removed for cause;
•require super-majority voting to amend some provisions in our certificate of incorporation and bylaws;
•authorize the issuance of “blank check” preferred stock that our board of directors could use to implement a stockholder rights plan;
•eliminate the ability of our stockholders to call special meetings of stockholders;
•prohibit stockholder action by written consent, which requires all stockholder actions to be taken at a meeting of our stockholders;
•provide that the board of directors is expressly authorized to make, alter, or repeal our bylaws;
•restrict the forum for certain litigation against us to Delaware;
•reflect the dual class structure of our common stock; and
•establish advance notice requirements for nominations for election to our board of directors or for proposing matters that can be acted upon by stockholders at annual stockholder meetings.
Any provision of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or amended and restated bylaws that has the effect of delaying or deterring a change in control could limit the opportunity for our stockholders to receive a premium for their shares of our common stock, and could also affect the price that some investors are willing to pay for our Class A common stock.
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Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware and the federal district courts of the United States are the exclusive forums for substantially all disputes between us and our stockholders, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers, or employees.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware is the exclusive forum for the following types of actions or proceedings under Delaware statutory or common law:
•any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf;
•any action asserting a breach of fiduciary duty;
•any action asserting a claim against us arising under the Delaware General Corporation Law, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, or our amended and restated bylaws; and
•any action asserting a claim against us that is governed by the internal-affairs doctrine.
This provision would not apply to suits brought to enforce a duty or liability created by the Exchange Act. Furthermore, Section 22 of the Securities Act creates concurrent jurisdiction for federal and state courts over all such Securities Act actions. Accordingly, both state and federal courts have jurisdiction to entertain such claims. To prevent having to litigate claims in multiple jurisdictions and the threat of inconsistent or contrary rulings by different courts, among other considerations, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation further provides that the federal district courts of the United States are the exclusive forum for resolving any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act. While the Delaware courts have determined that such choice of forum provisions are facially valid, a stockholder may nevertheless seek to bring a claim in a venue other than those designated in the exclusive forum provisions. In such instance, we would expect to vigorously assert the validity and enforceability of the exclusive forum provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. This may require significant additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions and there can be no assurance that the provisions will be enforced by a court in those other jurisdictions.
These exclusive forum provisions may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers, or other employees, which may discourage lawsuits against us and our directors, officers and other employees. If a court were to find either exclusive-forum provision in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving the dispute in other jurisdictions, which could seriously harm our business.
General Risk Factors
Future securities sales and issuances could result in significant dilution to our stockholders and impair the market price of our Class A common stock.
We may issue additional equity securities in the future. We also issue awards for Class A common stock to our existing and new employees and others under our Incentive Plans. The number of shares subject to such awards is typically based on target dollar values, and therefore the number of shares increases as our stock price decreases. Future issuances of shares of our Class A common stock or the conversion of a substantial number of shares of our Class B common stock, or the perception that these sales or conversions may occur, could depress the market price of our Class A common stock and result in dilution to existing holders of our Class A common stock. Also, to the extent outstanding options to purchase shares of our Class A common stock or Class B common stock are exercised or options or other stock-based awards are issued or become vested, there will be further dilution. The amount of dilution could be substantial depending upon the size of the issuances or exercises and our stock price. Furthermore, we may issue additional equity securities that could have rights senior to those of our Class A common stock. As a result, holders of our Class A common stock bear the risk that future issuances of debt or equity securities may reduce the value of our Class A common stock and further dilute their ownership interest.
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If we are unable to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting, investors may lose confidence in the accuracy of our reported financial information and this may lead to a decline in our stock price.
We are required to comply with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (the “Sarbanes-Oxley Act”). Specifically, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires management to assess the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting and to report any material weaknesses in such internal control. We have experienced material weaknesses and significant deficiencies in our internal controls, including for our fiscal year ended August 3, 2019. Management has concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was effective as of July 30, 2022. However, our testing, or the subsequent testing by our independent public accounting firm, may reveal deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting that are deemed to be material weaknesses. If we or our accounting firm identify deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting that are deemed to be material weaknesses, it could harm our operating results, adversely affect our reputation, or result in inaccurate financial reporting. Furthermore, should any such deficiencies arise we could be subject to lawsuits, sanctions or investigations by regulatory authorities, including SEC enforcement actions and we could be required to restate our financial results, any of which would require additional financial and management resources.
Even if we do not detect deficiencies, our internal control over financial reporting will not prevent or detect all errors and fraud, and individuals, including employees and contractors, could circumvent such controls. Because of the inherent limitations in all control systems, no evaluation of controls can provide absolute assurance that misstatements due to error or fraud will not occur or that all control issues and instances of fraud will be detected.
In addition, we may encounter difficulties in the timely and accurate reporting of our financial results, which would impact our ability to provide our investors with information in a timely manner. Should we encounter such difficulties, our investors could lose confidence in the reliability of our reported financial information and trading price of our common stock. could be negatively impacted.
We may not be able to generate sufficient capital to support and grow our business, and additional capital might not be available or may be available only by diluting existing stockholders.
We require sufficient cash and liquidity to run our business, finance our operations, and pay for capital expenditures. We may not be able to generate sufficient cash to fund our working capital and capital expenditures needs. We also may require additional funds to support growth or respond to business challenges. We are party to an amended and restated credit agreement with Silicon Valley Bank and other lenders, but a deterioration in our capital structure or the quality of our earnings could result in noncompliance with our debt covenants, which would limit our ability to utilize our credit facility.
We also may want or need to engage in equity or debt financings to secure additional funds. The capital market environment, including market disruptions, limited liquidity, or interest rate fluctuations, may increase the cost of financing or restrict access to a potential source of liquidity. Additionally, if we raise additional funds through further issuances of equity or convertible debt securities, our existing stockholders could suffer significant dilution, and any new equity securities we issue could have rights, preferences, and privileges superior to those of holders of our Class A common stock.
Our credit agreement also contains covenants limiting our ability to, among other things, dispose of assets, undergo a change in control, merge or consolidate, make acquisitions, incur debt, incur liens, pay dividends, repurchase stock, and make investments, in each case subject to certain exceptions, and contains financial covenants requiring us to maintain minimum free cash flow and an adjusted current ratio above specified levels, measured in each case at the end of each fiscal quarter. The restrictive covenants of this or any future debt financing secured may make it more difficult for us to obtain capital and to pursue business opportunities. Any debt financing secured by us in the future could involve restrictive covenants relating to our capital-raising activities and other financial and operational matters, which may make it more difficult for us to obtain additional capital and to pursue business opportunities. In addition, we may not be able to obtain additional financing on terms favorable to us, if at all. If we are unable to generate sufficient capital or obtain adequate financing or financing on terms satisfactory to us, when we require it, our ability to continue to support our business and to respond to business challenges could be significantly limited, and our business and prospects could fail or be adversely affected.
If securities or industry analysts either do not publish research about us or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about us, our business, or our market, or if they change their recommendations regarding our common stock adversely, the trading price or trading volume of our Class A common stock could decline.
The trading market for our Class A common stock is influenced in part by the research and reports that securities or industry analysts may publish about us, our business, our market, or our competitors. If one or more of the analysts initiate research with an unfavorable rating or downgrade our Class A common stock, provide a more favorable recommendation about our competitors, or publish inaccurate or unfavorable research about our business, our Class A common stock price would likely decline. If any analyst who may cover us were to cease coverage of us or fail to regularly publish reports on us, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which in turn could cause the trading price or trading volume of our Class A common stock to decline.
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ITEM 2. UNREGISTERED SALES OF EQUITY SECURITIES AND USE OF PROCEEDS
In January 2022, our Board of Directors authorized a share repurchase program to repurchase up to $150.0 million of our outstanding Class A common stock, with no expiration date (the “2022 Repurchase Program”). We may repurchase shares from time to time through open market repurchases, privately negotiated transactions, or other means, including through Rule 10b5-1 trading plans. The actual timing, number and value of shares repurchased in the future will be determined by the Company in its discretion and will depend on a number of factors, including price, trading volume, market conditions, and other general business conditions. During the first quarter of 2023, we did not repurchase any shares of our common stock and we had $120.0 million remaining in share repurchase capacity as of October 29, 2022.
ITEM 3. DEFAULTS UPON SENIOR SECURITIES
None.
ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES
None.
ITEM 5. OTHER INFORMATION
None.
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ITEM 6. EXHIBITS
| Exhibit Number | Description | Incorporation By Reference | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Form | SEC File No. | Exhibit | Filing Date | Filed or Furnished Herewith | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3.1 | 8-K | 001-38291 | 3.1 | 11/21/2017 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3.2 | 8-K | 001-38291 | 3.2 | 11/21/2017 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 31.1 | X | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 31.2 | X | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 32.1* | X | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 101.INS | Inline XBRL Instance Document (the instance document does not appear in the Interactive Data File because its XBRL tags are embedded within the Inline XBRL document). | X | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 101.SCH | Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema Document | X | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 101.CAL | Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Calculation Linkbase Document | X | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 101.DEF | Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Definition Linkbase Document | X | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 101.LAB | Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Label Linkbase Document | X | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 101.PRE | Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Linkbase Document | X | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 104 | Cover Page Interactive Data File (the cover page interactive data file does not appear in the Interactive Data File because its XBRL tags are embedded within the Inline XBRL document). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| + | Indicates management contract or compensatory plan. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| * | The certification attached as Exhibit 32.1 accompanying this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q is not deemed filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and is not to be incorporated by reference into any filing of Stitch Fix, Inc. under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, whether made before or after the date of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, irrespective of any general incorporation language contained in such filing. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned thereunto duly authorized.
| Stitch Fix, Inc. | ||||||||||||||
| Date: | December 7, 2022 | By: | /s/ Dan Jedda | |||||||||||
| Dan Jedda | ||||||||||||||
| Chief Financial Officer | ||||||||||||||
| (Principal Financial Officer) | ||||||||||||||
| By: | /s/ Sarah Barkema | |||||||||||||
| Sarah Barkema | ||||||||||||||
| Chief Accounting Officer | ||||||||||||||
| (Principal Accounting Officer) | ||||||||||||||
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Exhibit 31.1
CERTIFICATION
I, Elizabeth Spaulding, certify that:
1.I have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-Q of Stitch Fix, Inc.;
2.Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this report;
3.Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information included in this report, fairly present in all material respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this report;
4.The registrant’s other certifying officer and I are responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the registrant and we have:
(a) Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those entities, particularly during the period in which this report is being prepared;
(b) Designed such internal control over financial reporting, or caused such internal control over financial reporting to be designed under our supervision, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles;
(c) Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant’s disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and
(d) Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the registrant’s most recent fiscal quarter (the registrant’s fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting.
5.The registrant’s other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to the registrant’s auditors and the audit committee of the registrant’s board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):
(a) All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation of internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrant’s ability to record, process, summarize and report financial information; and
(b) Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees who have a significant role in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting.
| Date: | December 7, 2022 | /s/ Elizabeth Spaulding | ||||||
| Elizabeth Spaulding | ||||||||
| Chief Executive Officer and Director | ||||||||
| (Principal Executive Officer) | ||||||||
Exhibit 31.2
CERTIFICATION
I, Dan Jedda, certify that:
1.I have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-Q of Stitch Fix, Inc.;
2.Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this report;
3.Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information included in this report, fairly present in all material respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this report;
4.The registrant’s other certifying officer and I are responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the registrant and we have:
(a) Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those entities, particularly during the period in which this report is being prepared;
(b) Designed such internal control over financial reporting, or caused such internal control over financial reporting to be designed under our supervision, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles;
(c) Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant’s disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and
(d) Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the registrant’s most recent fiscal quarter (the registrant’s fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting.
5.The registrant’s other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to the registrant’s auditors and the audit committee of the registrant’s board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):
(a) All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation of internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrant’s ability to record, process, summarize and report financial information; and
(b) Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees who have a significant role in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting.
| Date: | December 7, 2022 | /s/ Dan Jedda | ||||||
| Dan Jedda | ||||||||
| Chief Financial Officer | ||||||||
| (Principal Financial Officer) | ||||||||
Exhibit 32.1
CERTIFICATION
In connection with the Quarterly Report of Stitch Fix, Inc. (the “Company”) on Form 10-Q for the period ended October 29, 2022, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Periodic Report”), we, Elizabeth Spaulding, Chief Executive Officer of the Company, and Dan Jedda, Chief Financial Officer of the Company, each certify, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, that, to the best of our knowledge:
1. The Periodic Report fully complies with the requirements of Section 13(a) or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act; and
2. The information contained in the Periodic Report fairly presents, in all material respects, the financial condition and results of operations of the Company.
Date: December 7, 2022
| /s/ Elizabeth Spaulding | ||||||||||||||
| Elizabeth Spaulding | ||||||||||||||
| Chief Executive Officer and Director | ||||||||||||||
| (Principal Executive Officer) | ||||||||||||||
| /s/ Dan Jedda | ||||||||||||||
| Dan Jedda | ||||||||||||||
| Chief Financial Officer | ||||||||||||||
| (Principal Financial Officer) | ||||||||||||||