Founders in Jeans

Fashion is a massive environmental problem - but Julia Dietmar isn’t building Open Wardrobe as a guilt machine. She’s building it as a behavior-change product: a platform that digitizes your closet, uses AI to help you create outfits, and plugs into resale + repairs so “mindful” becomes frictionless. In this episode, Emily Jean sits down with Julia Dietmar, founder of Open Wardrobe, to unpack the operator side of building in fashion tech: why her retail background (Walmart), resale exposure (thredUP), and personalization work shaped the product, how she thinks about training AI responsibly, and what it takes to convince consumers to do the one thing every marketplace-adjacent product needs - take the first action. If you care about consumer startups, AI personalization, or building products that actually change habits, this one is a playbook: meet users at the moment of purchase, reduce returns, and turn “sustainability” into a repeatable business model - without selling user privacy. How Julia’s path (engineering - product - Walmart - thredUP) built the foundation for Open Wardrobe Designing around a hard truth: behavior change is opt-in The biggest hurdle: onboarding work (digitizing a closet) and how value compounds after Training an AI model on real outfit behavior - while keeping wardrobes private Why most ecommerce “recommendations” are lazy (and what smarter personalization looks like) The browser extension strategy: intercepting decisions at checkout Building AI as education + creativity (not authority) to increase trust and adoption What a few hundred thousand users reveal about closets, occasion wear, and shopping patterns Roadmap: turning Lola into a personal shopper - and “voice of conscience” Founder frameworks: The Innovator’s Dilemma and “Jobs to Be Done” This episode is a reminder: the best consumer products don’t just delight - they change behavior, reduce friction at the right moment, and still make the business work. ⸻ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ If you loved today’s conversation, please rate, review, and subscribe to Founders in Jeans - the podcast celebrating women claiming their worth in business, leadership, and life. ⸻ 💌 Build the life you deserve - on your own terms. Subscribe to the Founders in Jeans newsletter, the no-BS guide to startup life, consumer brands, and becoming your most confident, successful self, written by Emily Jean. Join 50,000+ women redefining wealth, community, and growth: https://foundersinjeans.beehiiv.com/subscribe ⸻ Follow Emily:https://www.instagram.com/emily.jeans/https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-jeans/ ⸻ Follow Founders in Jeans:https://www.instagram.com/foundersinjeans/ ⸻ Follow Julia Dietmar of Open Wardrobe:www.openwardrobe.co@openwardrobe ⸻ consumer startup, building consumer app, fashion tech startup, AI consumer product, building with AI, product-led growth, behavior change product, habit change startup, onboarding friction, retention strategy, personalization AI, ecommerce recommendations, AI styling assistant, browser extension startup, multi-platform product strategy, training AI models, ethical AI privacy, user data privacy, founder-led product, product management lessons, Walmart acquisition experience, retail tech, thredUP resale marketplace, resale integrations, Poshmark integration, partnerships strategy, repairs and alterations marketplace, sustainable commerce business model, reducing returns ecommerce, conversion optimization, customer insight strategy, jobs to be done framework, Innovator’s Dilemma, innovation strategy, consumer behavior insights, scaling a consumer platform, user research insights, wardrobe digitization, closet management app, AI shopping assistant, building trust with users, startup roadmap, female founders, women in tech founders, Founders in Jeans podcast, Emily Jean interviews, startup founder story, consumer brand founders, growth loops, marketplace-adjacent startup