Ralph's styling bot, Tagg Me launches, Fashion's knockoff challenge
Ralph Lauren launches Ask Ralph AI stylist; Tagg Me debuts personalized shopping extension; Independent designers fight AI-fueled fast fashion knockoffs.
Ralph Lauren Launches AI Styling Bot, ‘Ask Ralph’
Ralph Lauren has introduced Ask Ralph, a generative AI-powered stylist within its US app (paywall), designed to help users assemble Ralph Lauren-approved outfits using real-time inventory. Drawing from the brand’s extensive archive and refined by in-house designers and store stylists, the tool offers conversational guidance on how to style specific pieces, starting with the Polo line and expanding over time. More than just a recommendation engine, Ask Ralph aims to replicate the in-store experience digitally, marking a new chapter in the brand’s long-standing push to blend storytelling with shopping.
Why it matters: Ralph Lauren’s AI stylist signals how luxury brands are using AI not just for convenience, but to deepen brand storytelling and preserve aesthetic integrity at scale. By embedding its style ethos into a conversational interface, Ralph Lauren is protecting what makes the brand feel curated in an increasingly automated world.
Tagg Me Launches AI Shopping Tool That Learns Your Style as You Browse
Fashion-tech startup Tagg Me has launched its beta Chrome extension, aiming to streamline the online shopping experience by learning user preferences through passive browsing. Rather than relying on style quizzes, the platform tracks clicks across retailers like Anthropologie and Revolve to build a personalized “For You” feed, shopping history, and wishlist, all in one place.
Why it matters: Tagg Me taps into a growing demand for less fragmented, more intelligent shopping journeys. By integrating style discovery directly into everyday browsing, it offers a glimpse into a future where the storefront is tailored to the individual, moving from one-size-fits-all e-commerce towards fluid, AI-driven experiences that learn in real time.
Tagg Me
Independent Designers Battle AI-Fueled Knockoffs in Fast Fashion
Cassey Ho, founder of fitness brands Blogilates and Popflex, shares how years of designing her signature products - from sketches to sellouts - have been repeatedly undermined by fast fashion knockoffs, including alleged AI-generated duplicates sold by major platforms like Shein. Despite securing patents and going viral (with Taylor Swift even wearing her designs), Ho and fellow creators like Danny Donovan face an exhausting and costly battle to remove infringing products. Their experience highlights how fast fashion, AI, and “dupe culture” are converging to exploit design loopholes and outpace legal protection.
Why it matters: This highlights how AI is supercharging fast fashion’s long-standing copycat problem, making it easier and faster for big platforms to rip off independent designers. With weak IP protections and consumers increasingly comfortable with “dupe culture,” small creators face mounting threats to their livelihoods, forcing fashion to confront how it will protect originality and trust in an AI-driven marketplace.
