Eric Colson
Former chief algorithms officer of Stitch Fix
Eric Colson is a data science leader best known as chief algorithms officer of Stitch Fix, where he built the algorithms team behind the company's personalised styling service. Previously vice president of data science and engineering at Netflix, he is widely cited for his writing on how to organise data science so that it creates new business capabilities.
| Role | Former chief algorithms officer, Stitch Fix |
|---|---|
| Previous role | VP data science and engineering, Netflix |
| Known for | Human plus algorithm styling |
| Writing | Harvard Business Review, 2018 and 2019 |
Who is Eric Colson?
Eric Colson is a data science executive whose work at Stitch Fix made the company one of the most frequently cited examples of machine learning in fashion retail. As chief algorithms officer he led the team responsible for the models that recommend clothing, match clients with stylists and optimise operations.
Career
Before joining Stitch Fix, Colson was vice president of data science and engineering at Netflix, a company known for its use of recommendation algorithms. At Stitch Fix he held the title of chief algorithms officer and built a large algorithms organisation that worked across styling, merchandising, inventory and logistics.
Colson also became known outside fashion through articles in Harvard Business Review. In 2018 he argued for curiosity driven data science, and in 2019 he wrote about why data science teams should favour full stack generalists over narrowly defined functional specialists.
Influence on the fashion business
Stitch Fix under Colson's algorithms team showed how a fashion retailer could use data across the whole business rather than only in marketing. The company published an interactive Algorithms Tour, which credits Colson among its creators, explaining how its systems work:
- Collaborative filtering predicts style preferences from similar clients' feedback.
- Mixed effects models track how individual and collective preferences change over time.
- Neural networks compare inventory with images clients share.
- Natural language processing scores items against client requests.
- Optimisation methods assign warehouses, match stylists and plan routes.
Crucially, the model kept people in the loop: algorithms rank options, while human stylists make the final selection and add personal notes. This human and machine collaboration has become a reference point for fashion companies considering AI in styling and merchandising.
Eric Colson and technology
Colson's central argument is that data science is most valuable when it enables capabilities a company has not yet imagined. In Harvard Business Review he wrote that data science can enable wholly new and innovative capabilities that can completely differentiate a company, and that breakthroughs often come from data scientists' own exploration rather than top down plans. He has also argued that specialised hand-offs slow learning and that end to end ownership helps teams iterate faster.
Why it matters
Eric Colson helped show that algorithms can sit at the core of a fashion business model. His ideas on organising data science remain relevant for any brand or retailer building AI capabilities today.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Eric Colson?
Eric Colson is a data science executive who served as chief algorithms officer of Stitch Fix and previously as vice president of data science and engineering at Netflix. He is known for building Stitch Fix's algorithms team and for writing on how to organise data science.
What did Eric Colson say about data science?
In Harvard Business Review he argued that data science can enable wholly new and innovative capabilities that can completely differentiate a company. He recommends giving data scientists room to explore and favouring full stack generalists over narrow specialists.