Oops

The idea seemed good. An online tailor would use artificial intelligence to measure the size of a customer’s shirt. All the customer had to do was send in a photo of one his shirts and the computer would do the rest. There was only one glitch. The AI program didn’t work. Shirts came back too long or too short and ill-fitting. The company, Original Stitch, a start-up, was forced to stop using the software. One wonders how rigorously the system was tested before it was introduced to the marketplace. This kind of unforced error is enough to sink a company and there is no good reason for it to happen. It’s a PR blackeye and marketing faux pas. Particularly for a new business trying to gain its footing a failure like this can be devastating. It’s one more reminder that a rush to market before one is ready is a rookie mistake.