Style Meets AI: Building a Social Wardrobe – With Caroline Lakshmanan of Cloud Closet

Ever screenshotted an outfit and saved it in your Notes app? You're not alone, and today’s guest turned that very habit into a fashion tech startup.

In this episode, I’m joined by Caroline Lakshmanan — co-founder & CEO of Cloud Closet — to explore how fashion, AI, and community are colliding in the most human way possible.

From a viral TikTok trend to building a peer-to-peer fashion platform, Caroline shares how she’s rethinking the way we get dressed, shop, and show up with confidence.

We talk about: 

• The rise of social commerce and where e-commerce is falling short 
• The importance of keeping emotions and the human touch at the core
• Community as currency and why group chats might be the new department store 
• What surprised her most about her platform’s  power user behavior
• The powerful partnership with Dress for Success and building tech for good

Whether you’re into fashion, startups, or emerging tech with soul—this one’s for you.

🎧 Listen now and share it with someone who might love this!

🔗 Links for Caroline/Cloud Closet:
→ Explore Cloud Closet
→ Follow Caroline Lakshmanan 

 🔗 Links for Julia/LuxeAI:
→ Follow Julia Lach or book a call
→ Read full blog post here

Transcript

Julia Lach (00:00)
Hello and welcome to a new episode of the Luxe AI Highlights, the podcast where we explore what happens when premium retail meets emerging tech with a special focus on women shaping the future. Today's guest is someone I literally discovered through ChatGPT I was researching female founders at the intersection of fashion and AI and there she was, Caroline Lakshmanan: co-founder and CEO of Cloud Closet.

When I told her, she laughed and said, I can't wait to tell my team that made my day. I mean, don't we all want ChatGPT to know our name at this point? Caroline is the co-founder and CEO of Cloud Closet, a fresh and incredibly smart take on how we get dressed, how we shop and how we express ourselves through style. Cloud Closet is launching in app stores in about one month.

From working in global fashion to building an AI-powered social wardrobe platform, Caroline is rewriting the script on what retail can be, and she's doing it with both vision and heart. In this episode, we'll talk about everything from TikTok hacks turned business models to why fashion tech needs a human touch and the reality of building in a still male-dominated tech world.

If you've ever stared at your closet thinking, I have nothing to wear, this episode is for you. I'm super excited for this. A warm welcome, Caroline.

Caroline Lakshmanan (01:32)
Thank you, Julia. What a lovely introduction. I'm blushing. Thank you.

Julia Lach (01:36)
I'm so happy you're joining today.

Caroline Lakshmanan (01:39)
So excited to chat with you, Julia. Love what you're doing on the podcast.

Julia Lach (01:43)
Thank you so much. Alright, so let's dive into it. Let's start with your story. Can you walk us through your background a bit? From major retailers, Parisian luxury fashion houses to launching a fashion tech startup in Austin, how did you go from buyer to builder and what was the biggest mindset shift?

Caroline Lakshmanan (02:03)
Yeah, so things started out back in 2011. My first internship at Bergdorf Goodman, the flagship luxury department store in New York City, spent the summer there in the shoe salon. And those were the days where department stores were still king. The buyer was this taste maker,

who relied on gut plus business acumen to drive sales. I had a dream of being a buyer or a creative director for one of these department stores. However, I went to a liberal arts college, majored in French and communication and sociology, anthropology. I had very little business background.

Julia Lach (02:43)
Yeah, very different.

Caroline Lakshmanan (02:44)
So it wasn't like today, you know, those programs and merchandising at schools like FIT or Parsons or Institut Francais de la Mode were not as present then basically what you would do is you would do a training program at a department store.

⁓ A lot of the kingpins of American fashion started at Macy's in the training program. So we're talking with loads of names behind top American companies. So I applied to them all, in hopes of getting in one.

Julia Lach (03:10)
Yeah, big names.

Caroline Lakshmanan (03:15)
But there's now obviously all these sort of other options that you can entertain, startups included. So I was accepted to TJX, which is TJ Max Marshall's Home Goods in the US, TK Max Abroad.

Julia Lach (03:22)
Mm.

Mm-hmm,

Caroline Lakshmanan (03:33)
And it was an amazing training ground for me. I just sat alongside the buyers. You start out as an analyst and it was extremely fun. You start with your category and you

Julia Lach (03:32)
Mm.

Mm-hmm.

Caroline Lakshmanan (03:47)
plan the shipping strategies every single week. And these are, you know, a thousand stores nationwide or at the time they were. and it's just kind of this crash course into buying. However, TJ X was based in Boston and I just really didn't want to be in Boston and it was hard for me. And so I was like, okay, I need to get to New York or San Francisco.

San Francisco at the time was, of course the tech boom was upon us. But they also have this really rich retail background, in the sense that Gap Inc is based there, Restoration Hardware, Williams Sonoma. So I knew there was an opportunity for me to get something there. And SF was it. I started at OldNavy.com.

Julia Lach (04:12)
Yeah.

Caroline Lakshmanan (04:29)
again, still in these buying analyst roles. Amazing opportunity. I was, you know, coming from off price, which is a whole different model in itself because it's treasure hunt. My job for two years was literally to work with buyers to build the treasure hunt, which was so fun.

Julia Lach (04:44)
Uh-huh.

Caroline Lakshmanan (04:45)
Old Navy was a quicksden as I was dying to get my teeth into owning a full department in buying. And I had the opportunity at Sears Fashion Office, RIP Sears. But at the time it was amazing. They were based in Chicago, but they had this fashion office in SF. And I helped to run the juniors department. I bought for half the department and

Julia Lach (05:03)
Mm-hmm.

Caroline Lakshmanan (05:08)
that I was in my mid-20s and I really there was able to learn the task of building private collections as well as working with external vendors and negotiating and building collections that way. And after about two years there, I felt, okay, I wanna get a master's, but in the US it's so expensive. It's least 100K per year to go to a top.

Julia Lach (05:21)
Mm-hmm.

Wow, that's a lot.

Caroline Lakshmanan (05:33)
So I thought, okay, I want my career to be international. I actually started by researching where top CEOs and executives in fashion companies went to school. And the many of the European folk went to Institut Francais de la Mode, EFM, which was started by Yves Saint Laurent's husband.

And they had this kind of newer program that was really international, that was kind of a feeder into the fashion houses. And I want to understand what it was like to be at a Maison. What was merchandising out of Maison versus TJX versus Sears versus these American foundations?

Julia Lach (05:58)
Mmm.

Yeah.

Caroline Lakshmanan (06:09)
And EFM is extremely rigorous. My class, which are all family at this point, everyone was from all over the world. And it's just rigorous projects time after time with LVMH, we did Baby Dior, we did Tenzo

Julia Lach (06:23)
Of

Caroline Lakshmanan (06:24)
It was incredible, not just fashion, but beauty and also moving into the luxury, know, accessories, watch, wine sphere. And from there, I was able to secure a spot at Celine, which was my dream job at the time. I was the last person in the class to be placed. I thought I'd packed my bags, was about to leave Paris.

And this was under Phoebe Filo, who at the time was my guru, if you will, my muse, for the work I wanted to do. And, ⁓ It was really special. I was on two teams about a year, ⁓ on collection retail merchandising where, ⁓ you work with design, retail, you oversee the buying teams, the global buying teams. then I was recruited to work for.

Julia Lach (06:47)
Nice.

Hmm

Caroline Lakshmanan (07:07)
Christian Louboutin. And that was a huge opportunity for me to work on a whole division, Southern Europe ⁓ Men's Department. It was tough. I bit off more than I could chew.

Julia Lach (07:09)
Mm-hmm.

Caroline Lakshmanan (07:22)
And I'll never forget it. And I wouldn't be who I am. Yeah, I made it throughout alive somehow lasted six months, Ultimately, I ended up coming back to the US for family reasons. So was kind of this like the universe was pushing me out. ⁓ And then I came to New York and this is when DTC is booming. We're talking

Julia Lach (07:24)
And you made it. You made it.

Yeah, yeah.

Mmm.

Caroline Lakshmanan (07:42)
You know, we're removing wholesale from the equation. Brands are emerging every day to sell directly to folks online. a lot of folks didn't have these traditional merchandising backgrounds. So it worked consulting for a series of these newer brands across categories. And then COVID hit. And it was like, oh, man, what am I going to do? I have this extensive retail background. And stores are closing down.

I thought to myself, okay, what am I good at? What are other skills? Like my core skill. And it was, relationship management. I was like relationship building. And through that search, I got really lucky in that FinTech was burgeoning in the US.

And I came on as an early strategist at a firm. And from one of these places, I just kind of kept getting recruited. So I was at one company, Quadpay, which pre-acquisition, then became Zip. I was at another company, Bred, which just got bought. So I felt post-acquisition life. And then my last gig was Series A and really struggling with the product market fit.

Julia Lach (08:41)
Mm-hmm.

Caroline Lakshmanan (08:46)
but tons of money. So it was really startup school for the past five years. And it led me to understand, you know, how do you build a technical product? How do you work with teams? Exactly. And that really brought me here today.

Julia Lach (08:50)
Wow. Yeah. How exciting. Yeah. And the ropes.

Nice, nice! Super exciting, especially your first contact with technology. ⁓

Caroline Lakshmanan (09:06)
Yes.

Julia Lach (09:08)
Let's talk about Cloud Closet a bit and the Notes app outfit hack that went viral on TikTok and the role it played in shaping Cloud Closet. What made you recognize that kind of do-it-yourself behavior as the foundation for a scalable business? When did the idea start to feel like it had real potential?

Caroline Lakshmanan (09:29)
Yeah, I love that question. You know, my co-founder Tucker and I have really been examining the space for three years, three plus. I want to say for me four. when I was at LVMH, I was even in the entrepreneur dare program and had done an offsite and, you know, was brainstorming ideas for how to disrupt fashion. And I just knew in my bones

that this like consumer type of friction around personalization online, it wasn't gonna be one of the giants to solve it. Why? Because they're massive ships. A and B because the leaders of those ships don't care, right? They don't care about these kind of nuances that consumers face when looking in their closet to decide what to wear, And they shouldn't care. That's fine.

Give entrepreneurs the chance to solve it, entrepreneurs like myself with this deep consumer fashion background. ⁓ And so when we were looking, I was like, okay, why are there a hundred plus apps in the app store around wardrobe management? none of them are viral. And lots of money have been poured into these by the way. ⁓

Julia Lach (10:26)
Indeed, indeed.

Definitely.

Caroline Lakshmanan (10:42)
Anytime I told people what I was working on, they always were like, this is so amazing. I've been looking for this. And I would laugh because there's 80 apps, in the app store at least. ⁓ And so I thought, okay, what's the friction point here. And it's linked to the onboarding.

Julia Lach (10:53)
Yeah.

Caroline Lakshmanan (11:00)
UI UX, it's not even about the tech is what I learned. I knew it was the formatting.

Julia Lach (11:06)
That's what the other

Caroline Lakshmanan (11:07)
You're going in there and you're overwhelmed. It's feature factories There's so many amazing things. I get it as a founder, people when I tell them what I'm building all the time are like, well, did you think of this and add in this? I wish I had that. Even investors and I have to say, we need to start here and then we can branch and discover.

Julia Lach (11:11)
Mmm.

Sure.

Caroline Lakshmanan (11:29)
Ultimately this onboarding is attached largely to forcing you to take the individual pictures of items. And there are groups of folks who love this and live for this, and they're largely fashionistas. But as with my TJX background gap series, I just put myself in the head of just the average shopper. She spends a hundred a month, $1,500 a year.

Julia Lach (11:35)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, yeah.

Caroline Lakshmanan (11:52)
And how does she shop? She goes to TJ Maxx if she's in the US. I know that she buys from her friends and that she sees her friends wearing something and they exchange. And I thought, there's no format for this outside of of course, TikTok, Instagram, but those solutions aren't geared toward fashion only. They're

interior design and cooking. And I thought, wow, we have LinkedIn for professional recruiting, social networking, but why don't we have one location around just getting dressed? So I thought, what are people doing in terms of onboarding right now? What are the hacks? And I was a part of this viral TikTok trend

And I took my selfies and you make them a sticker. And then you put them in your notes app

Julia Lach (12:39)
That sounds so fun.

Caroline Lakshmanan (12:39)
a blast.

It's so cute. And I was like, this is still cumbersome. I have to make the picture small. You have to copy it, move it to the notes app. And I was having trouble shrinking.

Julia Lach (12:51)
And then you lose interest, right?

Caroline Lakshmanan (12:53)
Exactly. So I got like, I call them outfit playlists, Chanel shoes look shorts looks, I got like two done. And I sent a screenshot to my friends. And they were like, Oh, my God, we love that. But what are you doing? And I described it and they're like, Oh, we would never take all the time to do that. And I thought, this is what we need to solve for. We know there are 160 million comments.

Julia Lach (13:11)
Mmm. Mm-hmm.

Caroline Lakshmanan (13:19)
and views on these TikToks. We know that there are over hundred thousand videos on this trend. So we know the users are there. And we'll target those users in the go-to-market strategy. And also to think this is a treasure trove of data. This is not what you searched. This is not what you bought because those things aren't indicative. And that's what like these big

Julia Lach (13:25)
Yes indeed.

Caroline Lakshmanan (13:41)
tech companies don't fathom, like just because I searched that or bought that does not mean it doesn't collect dust. And also the tagging mechanism. And then I thought this isn't shoppable. How do we this is like the perfect way to purchase things to find and discover new things. Why? Because I'm wearing an outfit right now that I like, but it could be better. Like it's those moments of you're about to leave the house.

Julia Lach (13:51)
Mm-hmm.

Caroline Lakshmanan (14:04)
and you're texting your friends, which shoe is better, the right or the left? Do I need a belt? Should I tuck my shirt in? Is this purse cute or should I go no purse? Topeck, you know, like all those questions happen to me every day.

Julia Lach (14:18)
True,

Caroline Lakshmanan (14:19)
And I know other people feel the same. You know, wasn't just me. And I thought, okay, there's no true format for this. So over the past nine, 10 months, I've been deep in the fashion sub stacks. And that was the impetus of this too, I was all day every day in these chats. People are asking, how do you style this? Should I buy, or sell this? Where do you guys get your underwear?

Julia Lach (14:21)
Mmm.

Caroline Lakshmanan (14:44)
Like seriously. Yeah, he's like, your thongs I'm like, wow. But this is representative of how hungry consumers are for opinions as we've moved online. So if we go back to the start of my career, e-commerce was just like this, It's nice to have, you know, it was, I want to say less than 20 % of most

Julia Lach (14:44)
Okay, Yeah?

Going very deep. Very detailed.

Mmm. Yeah, that's

Caroline Lakshmanan (15:08)
businesses. TJX is a different story. They started online while I was there, and that's a very in-person experience. But nonetheless, as we moved online in the past five years, I was like, wow, okay. And we're still relying on the same techniques of just searching Google. And I knew these AI agents aren't the solve. It's just, yeah, lovely to have. Let's ask ChatGPT I love you ChatGPT But how is that helping me?

Julia Lach (15:31)
Mm.

Caroline Lakshmanan (15:33)
I want to know how Julia in California feels about the Miu Miu shoes, their fit, versus ChatGPT telling me. me where they got their underwear. Yeah, there's just something to that that will never go away. And in fact, I think we want it more than ever, actually.

Julia Lach (15:41)
yeah, You want real human feedback?

true.

⁓

Caroline Lakshmanan (15:53)
do.

I think we say it's all you hear about are these is AI agents and agents are going to shop for us. And sure, you know, maybe on Amazon and for your like toothpaste. But in terms of clothing, it's always going to be wanting to know. I mean, that's what we relied on Vogue for, for years, we used to shop off of mannequins, right? or catalog and like that was how you got your look.

Julia Lach (16:02)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, true, know, understand.

Caroline Lakshmanan (16:22)
influencers

solve for this, which influencers are amazing. And platforms like Like To Know It and ShopMy are great. But I found myself too, I buy whatever the influencer has presented to me. But then I get it, I'm like, I don't have enough for this, enough clothes. ⁓

Julia Lach (16:39)
Okay, so for this very look. I don't have the pieces ready.

Caroline Lakshmanan (16:43)
or not to mention the body type, right?

Julia Lach (16:46)
plays a big role here, definitely.

Caroline Lakshmanan (16:49)
Exactly. yeah,

Julia Lach (16:51)
It's such a fun story, behind Cloud Closet, how it came to life. So there is a stat that I love, which is Cloud Closet users created 4,000 outfit playlists in just two months after launching the MVP.

So cool, congrats on that. What surprised you most about how people are using the platform?

Caroline Lakshmanan (17:14)
Yeah, that's a really good question. so we have about 25 people who use it every single day. And why? Yes, I have my reasonings, it's so to even overlap on the existing behavior that we capitalized on.

The people, our power users are people who already have thousands of outfits selfies in their phone that are just living in albums. So they just love this documentation type piece. And I'm somebody who I actually didn't operate that way pre-Cloud Closet. And I started obviously, cause I built this company and I had to like experience it, but it came to the point where it became really natural.

Julia Lach (17:44)
you

Caroline Lakshmanan (17:56)
And I think one of the most surprising things, I'll speak for myself, but I have heard this amongst power users, is you start to feel better about yourself. Yes, is.

Julia Lach (17:57)
Mm-hmm.

you do?

a nice side effect. I really love it!

Caroline Lakshmanan (18:10)
And why? Okay. So we currently we stickerize everything. You'll have the option to be stickerize or have your background if you want. But, you know, it's really like, make it's flattering, which you might not assume that that would be the case. Like, it's far more flattering than like an avatar, per se. It's like really you. It helped me to understand like, Wow, okay, I do have a lot more.

Julia Lach (18:16)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Caroline Lakshmanan (18:35)
than I thought. I am a little bit more creative in my dressing than I actually felt. And the reference point is incredible, like example for you. I had to pack clothes, I was running from one event to the other and I needed to change.

Julia Lach (18:38)
Mm-hmm.

Caroline Lakshmanan (18:50)
And I was like, like really racking my brain worried about what to do. And I literally just went back to all my uploads. I did a quick scan and I remembered, I forgot about that jumpsuit. Perfect. I can just bring that.

Julia Lach (19:02)
That's really cool. And it helped you to select the perfect outfit for that occasion.

Caroline Lakshmanan (19:07)
Exactly, or you know, instead of like scrolling, I sit and look at my past looks, oftentimes these days. And you'll look and make, what happened to that belt? I forgot about that one. Or, ⁓ okay, that shirt's awesome. Wasn't the best style with those pants, but like, let's think about another pair of pants that you could either get, that you either buy or borrow.

And on that note, that's something the direction we plan to head in of heavy peer-to-peer. We have some partners upon launch where we'll feature their inventory, peer-to-peer platform inventory. In the US, it's really taking off of folks who are excited to lend these pieces that they otherwise wouldn't be wearing.

Julia Lach (19:52)
Mm-hmm.

Caroline Lakshmanan (19:52)
Another thing I learned I'd say of like in my conversations with power users and general users, everyone was asking for this. They were asking for this ability to be able to buy and borrow from people that they know.

Julia Lach (19:59)
Yeah.

It's also taken off because it's also very sustainable. reducing waste, reusing clothes. Really amazing. You've recently said that fashion is the simplest creative act we all do. In the context of AI stylists and emerging tech, how do you approach keeping

Caroline Lakshmanan (20:10)
Exactly.

Julia Lach (20:20)
Creativity and human touch at the core? You already mentioned it a bit. Is there anything you would like to add?

Caroline Lakshmanan (20:27)
Yeah, I love that question, Julia. I think that's the existential crisis, if you will, of this emergence of AI technology. It's our friend, right? It's amazing. It's changing the way that we work. However, it's a tool. It's just a tool that we need to use. It's not replacing us. It's creating jobs that we never knew existed.

and we just need to harness it. And that's what I thought and set out when building this of like, okay, I've never been one to feel the fear of AI coming.

Julia Lach (21:03)
That's good to have a positive take on it. and just to exploit it because it can do so much for you.

Caroline Lakshmanan (21:07)
Yes,

Exactly. And it's moving so fast. like, I see, like if you go today into ChatGPT and you ask about styling stuff, like it's just decent. You it's not fantastic. And even these like new platforms that have raised tens of millions of dollars that have are utilizing AI for search. It's just not.

there. And I think it'll get it'll get there to a better point. But I think it'll get there with the help and input of of human touch.

Julia Lach (21:34)
Mm-hmm.

Understood! And that's what you leverage.

Caroline Lakshmanan (21:41)
Yeah, and I think emotion, Like, love. How is AI going to solve for it? It just can't. So that's our superpower as humans. And I think, too,

Julia Lach (21:44)
See y'all.

Mmm.

Caroline Lakshmanan (21:54)
we're so exposed, we're so online more than ever, right? so community is going to increasingly become currency, And we, we're building cloud closet with that in mind. ⁓ How that manifests, I'm not exactly sure whether that's via our group chats, via shared closets, whatever, but it's...

Julia Lach (22:03)
Yes.

Mm-hmm.

Caroline Lakshmanan (22:14)
maybe it's a membership, you know, eventually, because we are this fatigue of being exposed in all areas of our lives. People are going to look for these communities that offer like a scarcity. ⁓ So, you know, we can't always be targeted by ads, right?

Julia Lach (22:18)
Mmm.

Mm-hmm.

True. understood. So you do believe that social component, that social commerce will definitely be relevant in the future, especially for women? ⁓

Caroline Lakshmanan (22:44)
Yes, social commerce is growing three times faster than regular e-commerce apps. And if you think about it, who owns social commerce right now? It's Meta it's Pinterest, it's TikTok. TikTok in the US, we've not been sure of its future. I'm sure it's going to remain live and relevant. But that was where I thought these three players can't be.

Julia Lach (22:49)
Mmm.

Caroline Lakshmanan (23:10)
the only ones owning this. That doesn't make sense. And like, how are they operating today? And it's all presenting us things without any context. Yes, the algorithm is showing you brands that you would be interested in or influencers you would be interested in, sure. But there's no tie back to what you're wearing.

Julia Lach (23:26)
Mm-hmm.

Caroline Lakshmanan (23:31)
Right? Forget what you bought. Sure, it could be to what you bought, but buying, that's not enough. That's not enough.

So there's that component of social, I think it just is so untapped, And when you think about why is social commerce growing three times faster, there's no like magical stickiness associated with a regular shopping app, you know?

even Kim Kardashian's Skims app, I've heard through the grave line of friends and that there's even that conversion issue there of like folks going to shop her app and coming back. And it makes sense because if you think about it, even back to the beginning of my career, people went to Barney's, people went to Bergdorf Goodman for these like discovery magical experiences.

how are we presenting those today? How do those live? And I think these platforms like Cloud Closet are actually going to replace the multi-brand retailer.

Julia Lach (24:18)
and now.

Fingers crossed. That would be awesome indeed.

Caroline Lakshmanan (24:27)
I'm ⁓

Let´s manifest that.

Julia Lach (24:33)
Love it! All right, ⁓ let's mix it up with a bit of a different question. As a woman building a tech company in a male-dominated space, have you encountered moments where you felt underestimated? And if so, how did you navigate that?

Caroline Lakshmanan (24:51)
Julia. Okay. my gosh, you know, like, I knew it would be bad. But I didn't know how bad it's been rough. I mean, my favorite anecdote. I did a full pitch to a man recently. And his response was, okay, so how is this different than rent the runway? And I was like, ⁓ no.

Julia Lach (24:58)
you

Caroline Lakshmanan (25:12)
this is fundamentally categorically different. And you just feel so depleted in many ways. But I'm used to it at this point of, know, the majority of investors are men. That's a fact. Women receive less than 10 % of venture dollars. Facts.

Julia Lach (25:15)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Hmm,

Yeah, there's still a huge shift.

Caroline Lakshmanan (25:37)
Exactly. But I've met amazing female angel investors and a lot of them too will be like, hey, you had me at five minutes, but how can I sell my male counterparts on this? And I obviously have my anecdotes of like, we're monetizing the group chat, but they just don't feel the need, like just the average straight male investor.

Julia Lach (25:49)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Caroline Lakshmanan (26:01)
in their middle ages, you know, they're not the person, right? But they're kind of who's holding the key. So all that to say, I love an underdog. I'm an underdog and we'll just prove it, right? That's all we need to do.

Julia Lach (26:14)
True,

True, definitely. And they´re also not your main target audience?

Caroline Lakshmanan (26:20)
No, you I don't want

to gatekeep, right? ⁓ You can't be something for everyone also. But just so you kind of know, it's it's zillennials, it's Gen Z and millennials. And they shot they spent $55 billion last year on social commerce, making purchases via social commerce in the US alone.

Julia Lach (26:24)
Hmm.

That's the people to target. That's where it works.

Caroline Lakshmanan (26:44)
And yeah, these are people who do outfits of the day, right? ⁓

Julia Lach (26:47)
True,

And we love them all, right?

Caroline Lakshmanan (26:50)
Yeah,

Totally. But you'd be surprised to like, ⁓ we're working on an integration with Microsoft Shopping into their co-pilot. ⁓ And Jen Myers, their head of shopping who reached out in our recent conversation was like, you know, our CEO wants an outfit of the day a place where he can ⁓

Julia Lach (27:01)
Mm-hmm.

Caroline Lakshmanan (27:13)
⁓ document, you he has a stylist, whatever that might be. And I thought like, it's so true. It's unexpected that you would think this person this like, you know, CEO or prominent company would do this, but it's, it's, it's unexpected. And why? And again, there's no like true platform for this. Where are going to do this? Pinterest? No, you're intimidated. I've never posted on Pinterest in my life.

Julia Lach (27:27)
Mm-hmm.

It's not my thing at all. Maybe I get inspired a bit every once in a while, but never like interacted

Caroline Lakshmanan (27:36)
It's wicked, you just don't.

never I almost did

recently just to test because I'm like building this and I was like, Oh, comfortable. I don't I don't want to do that delete. So yeah, it's like, okay, sure. I could post on my Instagram story my outfit but like what does my brother want to see that like and my mom like your grandma it's just like it's not the location. And then ticked off.

Julia Lach (27:53)
That says it all.

Yeah.

Hmm. Yeah, that's true.

Caroline Lakshmanan (28:09)
you feel like you need to be so creative, right? It's like, everybody's so amazing, these content creators on there. And I'm like, I just wanna like showcase my outfit to my friends and see what they think.

Julia Lach (28:16)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm. That is also a bit

Like also TikTok, I've never tried it, never. It´s always this kind of barrier somehow for me.

Caroline Lakshmanan (28:27)
I hear you. I'm not active, you know? I hear it's very addicting. So I'm scared to do too much time, right?

Julia Lach (28:33)
We don't need another app that we're addicted to right?

Caroline Lakshmanan (28:36)
No, no, no, Not our intent with cloud closet.

Julia Lach (28:40)
Yeah,

Caroline Lakshmanan (28:40)
Yes, exactly.

Julia Lach (28:42)
Nice. Okay, looking ahead, where do you see Cloud Closet evolving over the next 12 months? You already mentioned the co-pilot integration. Is there anything else that we should keep an eye out for both in terms of product and partnerships?

Caroline Lakshmanan (28:58)
Yeah, I think we're going live with some really fun partners. Everybody's like unexpected types and that was the goal.

I think the majority of like the hot fashion tech goes live with like the Net-a-Porter and Moda Operandi and Essence. And we were like, all right, who has that like amazing quality needs more exposure just as like a business. And it has amazing product index and that's who we are strategy. And then I'd say some features that I'm really excited about, know, just think social.

that you just didn't even expect it all like capitalizing on behaviors you're already doing socially amongst friends, just making it easier and more fun to swipe in and hang out with your friends in that way. I'm really, really, really excited about this potential partnership with Dress for Success.

Julia Lach (29:42)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Caroline Lakshmanan (29:55)
which is a global nonprofit organization that helps women prepare for job interviews and provides clothing for them for these job interviews. So I've just started, I joined the organization as, you know, like a volunteer member. And I've been just working with the local teams and talking about how

Julia Lach (29:55)
Mm-hmm.

Caroline Lakshmanan (30:17)
we can build this out for them, a special product. ⁓ I need to do more appointments with the women to understand where we fit into the customer journey. just the pure ability for us to help women who get two outfits, you get one hour and two outfits, to help extend that is priceless. And to me, if I do anything with Cloud Closet and just that, I have succeeded. I just feel so personally passionate about it.

Julia Lach (30:19)
Okay.

Very interesting.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah,

yeah. That sounds highly rewarding. It's a really, really great cause. Awesome. Awesome. Yeah, yeah. Stay tuned. Definitely. Was it important for you to build in that social impact layer from the start? Or did it just develop throughout the process?

Caroline Lakshmanan (30:52)
So stay tuned.

You know what? It's

Such a good question. It was not on my radar, you know, because I have too many things on my radar.

Julia Lach (31:14)
Feel you, feel you.

Caroline Lakshmanan (31:15)
But the truth is I've been networking relentlessly, right? It's just the name of the game. What's the goal of networking of just partners, potential team members, potential investors, potential users, all that. And I met this woman who mentioned this to me and I was like, brilliant. That is it just, you know, it was oh my gosh.

Julia Lach (31:20)
Mm-hmm.

I to meet you there.

Caroline Lakshmanan (31:39)
like next day met with the team. It was like, how can we make this happen? And it's a long game in that way, but that's okay, because we're going to do it right. And it's like what's so overlooked, you know, in the sense of in the US, all money is poured into New York and San Francisco startups fact. And they're building for the rest of the country in the world who don't

Julia Lach (32:00)
Yeah.

Caroline Lakshmanan (32:04)
live in these places or operate or have these type of incomes or have these type of backgrounds. And like the people who could maybe benefit the most are overlooked. I almost felt like a shame on me moment. I didn't think of it. I was like, my gosh, this is eye-opening and also like adoption of new technology for people isn't easy.

Julia Lach (32:08)
Good.

Hmm. Yeah.

Yeah, eye-opening. ⁓

of course, it's hard to get into it.

Caroline Lakshmanan (32:30)
So the question, our challenge lies, okay, how do we build for that? How do we build a product that produces this type of interaction with that solo level? That's not even downloading an app. Really, that's what we're talking about. Like we're getting that abstract. And also the team, they're like,

Julia Lach (32:46)
Mm-hmm.

Caroline Lakshmanan (32:48)
know, Caroline, we love Cloud Closet and we love your mission, but like, we don't really love promoting fashion to these, to some of our clients. And I get that, you know, that's the last thing on their mind. It's just purely like, how do I just show up as my best self? You don't need to be fashionable to do that, right? feel confident and feel your best.

Julia Lach (33:05)
Uh

Definitely, definitely. That's what clothing can do.

Caroline Lakshmanan (33:10)
So, and

That´s why I built that, you know, like that's why I even got into this. So, and you know, just growing up, I went to an all girls high school. was, you know, in fashion industry for 10 years, like I've been just around powerhouse women. And I know what feeling powerful is like, and it comes with, great outfit.

So how can I contribute to that? And if I can contribute to that, that's success.

Julia Lach (33:34)
Lovely,

Lovely, really, really amazing.

Caroline Lakshmanan (33:40)
Yeah, it's beautiful. A few weekends ago, I helped to sort through all the donations, Myself and the other volunteers were just trying on and having so much fun with these pieces that came through. But just like designating what we would put in the shop for them.

was so special of like, wow, okay, this blazer is gonna make her feel, you know, so powerful

Julia Lach (33:59)
Mm-hmm.

A whole different purpose behind it, Nice. And who knows what these women are able to do in the future? Just

Caroline Lakshmanan (34:09)
Who

Julia Lach (34:10)
climbing this hurdle, which is job interview or whatever, and the way you're supporting them. It's really lovely. Really lovely.

Caroline Lakshmanan (34:16)
Totally. Maybe on our next podcast,

I'll have more success stories to share with you.

Julia Lach (34:23)
Really cool. Okay, So let's do a little time travel. Imagine it is 2030 like five years from now. How do you envision your own wardrobe to look like and what role do you hope Cloud Closet will play in people's lives?

Caroline Lakshmanan (34:38)
⁓ my gosh, it's hard to think that far ahead at this juncture. I think my closet hopefully will be increasingly fabulous. What does that entail? That entails just like, I'd like to be a little bit more adventurous in my dressing. I'm very much a minimalist kind of like.

Julia Lach (34:51)
Lovely.

Mm-hmm.

Caroline Lakshmanan (35:00)
90s Carolyn Bissette vibes, I'd say. Yeah, so there's elements where I would like more pieces that are special. And you know what, my closet's going to be more fluid in the sense that I will be renting out and selling more frequently to people I know for sure. ⁓

Julia Lach (35:04)
I see, I see.

Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah. It's popping. Mm-hmm.

Caroline Lakshmanan (35:23)
I just started on an app called Borrow, where I put up three or four dresses that were close to $1,000. I'm just not going to wear them for the next few years. And getting requests for people to rent them from me for $50 is just awesome and exciting. And I want to do more of that. And how will Cloud Closet look? The grand question.

Julia Lach (35:34)
Mm-hmm.

Caroline Lakshmanan (35:48)
You know, I think we will be the social shopping destination globally, where you come for discovery and you interact with your friends over your clothing choices.

Julia Lach (35:54)
Mm-hmm.

Love it.

Love it. You have to dream big, right? Big visions. That's how it works. And I really keep my fingers crossed. All the best luck for that to really happen.

Caroline Lakshmanan (36:10)
Thank

Julia Lach (36:11)
Alright, let's jump to last question already. You've described yourself as a global citizen, which I love, because same. Are there any upcoming travel plans, either related to Cloud Closet or personal, that you're particularly excited about?

Caroline Lakshmanan (36:27)
I mean, I've been so heads down this year, right? Like focusing on building. But my husband and I, we are doing a wedding. We're gonna have a big party in ⁓ Mexico City in February that I'm excited about.

Julia Lach (36:34)
Sure.

lovely, in Mexico City, okay. Do you have any relations there?

Caroline Lakshmanan (36:49)
Have you been before?

I spent a month there a few years back when I was like very much a digital nomad in my work. and it's just magic. It's fabulous, like amazing art. It's green. It's lush, incredible food, quite walkable. and so we just found this like amazing Belle Epoque mansion. that's so romantic and

Julia Lach (37:12)
It

sounds fabulous indeed.

Caroline Lakshmanan (37:13)
It just made sense for us to do it there. Yeah.

Julia Lach (37:15)
Yeah.

That's the dream.

Caroline Lakshmanan (37:18)
you're good.

you know, so many of our guests have wanted to go to explore Mexico City. So it was like this kind of opportunity to to check it out.

Julia Lach (37:26)
Yeah.

Perfect. Sounds amazing. Awesome. Thank you so much, Caroline. That was brilliant indeed.

Thanks for tuning into the Luxe AI Highlights. I hope you're walking away with a fresh perspective on how fashion, tech and community are colliding in 2025 and how women like Caroline are leading the charge. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider sharing it with someone who still screenshots outfits into their notes app. We do see you. You'll find all things Cloud Closet linked in the show notes.

Support and follow Caroline and Cloud Closet in social media. And if you want more conversations like this, follow me on LinkedIn and subscribe wherever you're listening. Until the next time, stay curious, stay creative and keep shaping the future.