2.5% of independent menswear stores use AI where shoppers can see it, against 14% of menswear brands.
We read the websites of 479 independent menswear stores and nearly 1,100 menswear brands across the US. Only AI we confirmed on the page counts.
- More than 4,100
- store and brand websites on our list
- More than 2,600
- sites opened in a real browser to see what shoppers see
- 283
- sites checked a second time by a separate reviewer
Key findings
- About 1 in 40 US independent menswear stores (2.5%) shows shoppers AI on its website.
- 14% of US menswear brands and online-only shops show shoppers AI on their websites, more than five times the rate of independent stores.
- Four in ten independent menswear stores don't sell on their websites. Counting only the stores that do, 4% show shoppers AI. Brands that sell online are at 14%.
- 8% of shops where menswear is only part of the stock, such as boutiques for men and women, show shoppers AI. Tailors and made-to-measure shops are at 3%.
- At independent stores the AI is mostly search or recommendation software from an outside vendor. 1.9% of the stores run it. Try-on, size finders and AI chat assistants are each on fewer than 1%.
- Brands are furthest ahead on search and recommendations, at 10% against the stores' 1.9%. 4% of brands run a tool that works out each shopper's size.
- One vendor, Rebuy, supplies the AI at three in ten of the US menswear sellers that show shoppers an AI tool.
- None of the independent stores says in its own words that it uses AI. Fewer than 1% of brands do.
- 7% of independent stores run a tool whose AI may or may not be switched on, usually a chat window or a size app. If every one had it on, stores would still top out at 9%.
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Brands are more than five times as likely to show shoppers AI.
The share of each kind of US menswear seller whose website runs AI that shoppers can see. The lighter part of each bar is a tool whose AI may be switched on. Counting all of those, independent stores would reach 9%.
- Brands and online-only shops: 1,062 sites. AI we confirmed on the page: 13.6%. A tool whose AI may be on: another 15.6%.
- Shops where menswear is part of the stock: 452 sites. AI we confirmed on the page: 8.0%. A tool whose AI may be on: another 5.1%.
- Tailors and made-to-measure: 315 sites. AI we confirmed on the page: 2.9%. A tool whose AI may be on: another 6.0%.
- Independent menswear stores: 479 sites. AI we confirmed on the page: 2.5%. A tool whose AI may be on: another 6.9%.
fulkersonadvisors.com
At the stores these tools are most often chat windows from Gorgias or Tidio, which both sell an AI agent as an option, or Kiwi Sizing, a size app that can show just a size chart. We didn't message the chats or open the size apps, so none of them counts as a yes.
Four in ten independent stores don't sell online.
The share of each kind of US menswear seller whose website lets shoppers buy. Among independent stores that do, 4% show shoppers AI, against 14% of brands that sell online.
- Brands and online-only shops
- 92%
- Shops where menswear is part of the stock
- 80%
- Independent menswear stores
- 58%
- Tailors and made-to-measure
- 19%
fulkersonadvisors.com
For most of these stores, the AI is in their site search.
The 12 independent menswear stores where we confirmed AI that shoppers can see, with what it does and who makes it.
- Best Style Suits SupplyLexington, KYAI chat assistant, made by American Marketing & Publishing, its website platformbeststylesuitssupply.com
- CosianiLos Angeles, CAVirtual try-on from a photo, made by Try On VirtualSearch, made by Searchanisecosiani.com
- Franco's Fine ClothierRichmond, VASearch, made by Doofinderfrancos.com
- Hampton'sMooresville, NCSearch, made by Doofinderhamptonsmens.com
- Lansky Bros.Memphis, TNSearch, made by Boost AI Search & Discoverylanskybros.com
- Mondo UomoNaples, FLSearch, made by Searchanisemondouomo.com
- RiflessiNew York, NYVirtual try-on, made by GenlookRecommendations, made by Rebuyriflessi.us
- The Boy Next Door MenswearAtlanta, GASearch, made by Boost AI Search & Discoveryboynextdoormenswear.com
- The Point Clothing LoungeLynnfield, MAVirtual try-on, made by antla, a Shopify appthepoint02127.com
- The Sporting GentCharlotte, NCSize finder, made by True Fitthesportinggent.com
- The Suit DepotOak Park, MISize finder, made by The Suit DepotSearch, made by Fast Simonthesuitdepot.com
- UNION Los AngelesLos Angeles, CASearch and recommendations, made by Fast Simonunionlosangeles.com
fulkersonadvisors.com
Brands are ahead on everything but try-on.
The share of independent stores and of brands with each kind of AI that shoppers can see. A seller can have more than one. Try-on is rare in both groups.
- Search or recommendations
- Independent menswear stores: 1.9%Brands and online-only shops: 10.4%
- Size or fit
- Independent menswear stores: 0.4%Brands and online-only shops: 3.6%
- AI chat assistant
- Independent menswear stores: 0.2%Brands and online-only shops: 0.9%
- Virtual try-on
- Independent menswear stores: 0.6%Brands and online-only shops: 0.3%
- Says it uses AI
- Independent menswear stores: 0%Brands and online-only shops: 0.7%
fulkersonadvisors.com
The study counts a quiz that asks height, weight and fit as a size tool whether or not the seller calls it AI.
A few of the brands
- True ClassicAn AI chat assistant from Kodif
- MTailorTakes each shopper's measurements from a phone scan, with its own app
- Peter Manning NYCA size finder from Easysize
- FilsonSearch from Searchspring
- Woodies ClothingA sizing quiz it describes as AI
- TaelorOutfit picks that it says come from its stylists and AI
Rebuy supplies the AI at three in ten sellers that have it.
The companies behind the AI tools we confirmed at 196 US menswear sellers of every kind, by how many sellers use each. A seller can use more than one.
- Rebuy, Search or recommendations
- 60 sellers
- Athos Commerce (Searchspring, Klevu), Search or recommendations
- 23 sellers
- Searchanise, Search or recommendations
- 21 sellers
- Boost Commerce, Search or recommendations
- 18 sellers
- Nosto, Search or recommendations
- 11 sellers
- True Fit, Size or fit
- 9 sellers
- Doofinder, Search or recommendations
- 8 sellers
- Fast Simon, Search or recommendations
- 7 sellers
- Easysize, Size or fit
- 5 sellers
- Salesforce, Search or recommendations
- 5 sellers
- Wair, Size or fit
- 5 sellers
- Built by the seller
- 21 sellers
fulkersonadvisors.com
Another 35 vendors each supply four sellers or fewer.
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How we did it
We built a list of 4,123 US websites of menswear stores, brands and tailors. It draws on OpenStreetMap's men's clothing shops and tailors in all 50 states and DC, on Apollo's company database searched for menswear tags, and on the shops that brands list on their own stockist pages. Chains and department stores, such as Men's Wearhouse, Jos. A. Bank and Nordstrom Rack, were taken out.
We read each site through scrape.do on October 20 to 21, 2026, within its robots.txt, and 3,083 answered with a page. Jev, a model from TypeSafe, sorted each one by kind of seller from its home and about pages. A real browser then opened the 2,633 sites it didn't rule out as chains, businesses that don't sell clothes or addresses that now lead elsewhere. It loaded each one's home page and one product or collection page, and kept the visible text and the outside software the page called.
Jev read what the browser saw and answered every question in one pass. It said what kind of seller the site is, whether it's in the US, and whether shoppers can see each of five kinds of AI. Those are an AI chat assistant, a size or fit tool that works out each shopper's size, a virtual try-on, search or recommendations from a vendor whose product ranks with AI or machine learning, and the seller's own words saying it uses AI. Clairic, Cloudflare's extraction model, copied each seller's street address and any sentence where it says it uses AI.
Separate AI review agents, working from one written brief, opened each page again in a browser and checked 283 sites. They took every site Jev said yes to on any AI question and 30 independent stores picked at random among those it said no to. Only answers a reviewer confirmed count as yes. Jev's yes held up on 253 of 293 answers, and all 30 random stores stayed at no. The reviewers agreed with Jev's kind of seller on 255 of 283 sites.
Jev also answered, from what the browser saw, whether shoppers can buy on each site, in an online shop of its own with a cart. A reviewer checked 20 independent stores picked at random and agreed on 18, and the reviewer's answer counts for those. A shop on a separate address that the home page links with vague words can be missed.
Shares are of the US sites in each group. There are 479 independent menswear stores, 1,062 brands and online-only shops, 452 shops where menswear is part of the stock and 315 tailors and made-to-measure shops. 45 more US sites couldn't be placed in a group. A store counts as independent when it sells mainly men's clothing, has a shop open to the public and isn't part of a chain. A shop counts in the next group when men's clothing is half or less of what it sells.
Tools that appear only after a click are undercounted. Size finders, try-on buttons and chat launchers often show nothing until clicked, or load late. We opened two pages per site, so a tool used only in the cart or on search results can be missed. We didn't message any chat. 33 independent stores and 166 brands run a tool whose AI may be switched on, and none of them counts as a yes. A yes for search or recommendations means the vendor's software loads on the page. We didn't test whether each store has turned on its AI features.
The list misses stores with no website and stores none of the three sources lists. 1,040 rows couldn't be read, because the site was dead, parked, blocked, silent or refused by robots.txt, or repeated another row. 12 stores with AI are too few to compare states.
The CSV lists every US site in the groups above with its kind of seller, city and state, the answer to each AI question, any tool whose AI may be on, and the vendor and page behind each confirmed feature. It's free to use under CC BY 4.0 with attribution to Fulkerson Advisors.
Cite this study
Fulkerson Advisors (2026). AI in menswear: what 479 US independent menswear stores and 1,062 menswear brands show shoppers, October 2026. https://www.fulkersonadvisors.com/research/menswear-stores-using-ai
The charts and the CSV are free to use with a link to this page.
Questions
Do menswear stores use AI?
Few independent ones do where shoppers can see it. 2.5% of US independent menswear stores run AI on their websites, most often search software from an outside vendor. 14% of menswear brands do.
What AI do clothing stores use on their websites?
Mostly search and recommendation software that ranks products with AI, from vendors such as Boost AI Search & Discovery, Searchanise, Doofinder and Fast Simon. A handful of independent menswear stores offer a virtual try-on or a size finder, and one has an AI chat assistant.
Do menswear brands use AI chatbots?
About 1% of US menswear brands and online-only shops run an AI chat assistant on their website. True Classic's comes from Kodif and David August's from Chizy.
How many menswear brands recommend sizes with AI?
4% of US menswear brands run a tool that works out a size for each shopper, most often their own quiz or True Fit. MTailor takes measurements from a phone scan.
How many independent menswear stores sell online?
Fewer than six in ten. 58% of the 479 US independent menswear stores we read let shoppers buy on their own website, against 92% of menswear brands.
Do menswear stores say they use AI?
None of the independent stores we read says so in its own words. Fewer than 1% of brands do. Woodies Clothing, for one, says it uses sizing AI to work out a shopper's size.