Prévoir's Vision for Fashion's Future: Insights from Our Founder, Courtney Kos, on Artificial Breakdown

Our founder, Courtney Kos, recently sat down with Carrie and Pete on the Artificial Breakdown podcast — a show dedicated to navigating the evolving world of artificial intelligence for the curious, cautious, and creative.

In this insightful episode, Courtney shared the spark that ignited Prévoir's journey. With a rich background in fashion and marketing, long before AI was a common term, she spotted a clear opportunity. Back in grad school over five years ago, her research into fashion, tech, and data analytics uncovered a major challenge: fashion merchandisers were still managing data and planning collections in ways that were largely manual and inefficient.

Courtney even recalled her own retail experience from over a decade ago, wondering why some products were hits and others weren't, asking, "How do we buy better and make better decisions so you can really get more products that your customers really want?" She knew there had to be a better way than sifting through endless spreadsheets and even physically searching for products in stores.

That's where Prévoir steps in. We built it to connect directly to the Shopify API, making it easy for brands to bring in all their sales data and product images. The real magic, the core innovation, is how Prévoir uses computer vision. It automatically pulls out around 20 visual details from each product — things like the fabric, the silhouette, or even the exact color. This means no more tedious manual tagging, which Courtney noted can be a real "whoa!" moment for new users, because the AI just does it for them. 

Our platform then puts all that rich data right next to the product images in a dashboard. This lets merchandisers visually spot patterns, compare products side-by-side, and really dig into how different attributes are performing. It’s a visual way of working that truly supports how merchandisers already think, helping them make quicker, more confident decisions.

A big challenge Prévoir is designed to help with is deadstock (aka unsold inventory) — something that truly hits fashion brands in their wallets and creates a lot of environmental waste. When we offer more accurate sales insights and smarter buying recommendations, Prévoir helps brands cut down on what they produce and really boost how much they sell. That's a clear win for both their profitability and our planet.

Courtney also touched on the wider picture of AI in fashion, acknowledging the surge of new AI startups focusing on everything from sustainable fabrics to the secondhand market and waste reduction. She clarified that Prévoir isn't about AI-powered design or quick prototyping (which is often more for fast fashion), but rather about empowering luxury and mid-tier fashion brands with smart, data-driven tools for planning and allocation. Ultimately, it's about helping the industry’s talented merchandisers avoid burnout from endless hours of "less fun decisions" like allocation and reordering.

The podcast wrapped up with Courtney talking about how exciting Prévoir's progress has been, especially hitting that sweet spot where our product truly fits what the market needs. She's also really looking forward to getting approved for the Shopify App Store, as that's going to open up so many new doors for us. And, of course, she highlighted the incredible support from AltaML, who, as our technical co-founder and investor, has really been key in bringing Prévoir to life.

About "Artificial Breakdown"

"Artificial Breakdown" is a podcast that explores the intersection of artificial intelligence and various industries, featuring innovators and thought leaders who are leveraging AI to solve real-world problems. The podcast aims to break down complex AI concepts into understandable conversations, making the advancements and applications of AI accessible to a broader audience.

Check out the full transcript of the Podcast.