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Episode Teaser

Introduction

“…Why do I need to encourage the industries to produce more? Why wouldn’t I participate in Circular Economy? …”

Biography

Julia K. Dietmar is the co-founder and CEO of OpenWardrobe, an AI-powered platform that helps people get more from the clothes they already own—through smarter outfit planning, alterations, resale, and mindful styling. Her mission: to keep clothes in circulation and out of landfills by turning every closet into a climate solution.

Julia brings over 20 years of experience in retail tech, including serving as Chief Product Officer at Vue.ai, where she built AI tools for global fashion brands to reduce overproduction and personalize shopping. She’s also held leadership roles at Walmart eCommerce, thredUP, and Yahoo! As a certified image consultant with degrees in Computer Science (UC Berkeley) and an MBA from INSEAD, Julia blends data-driven insight with personal style expertise. She helps people dress better, buy less, and feel great doing it. She is also a Forbes Technology Council member.

SPECIAL OFFER: Style Blueprint is your shortcut to dressing better without overthinking it. It’s a personalized plan that helps you discover the colors, fits, and brands that actually work for you — all backed by expert stylists and smart AI. Whether you’re starting a new job, getting back out there, or just want to feel more put-together, Style Blueprint makes it simple. And it comes with masterclasses and a workshop to help you put it into action. Listeners of this show can get 20% off with promo code TGC. Go to https://www.openwardrobe.app/style-blueprint/men or https://www.openwardrobe.app/style-blueprint/women to get started, fill out a short questionnaire and use promo code TGC and feel confident every time you get dressed.

Resources Related to the Episode

• Lake Tahoe, California – Visitor’s Guide
• “Kleider machen Leute” (Clothes makes the man), a novella by Gottfried Keller [GoodReads] [Wikipedia]
• Removing decision fatigue in dressing, the story of Steve Jobs and Albert Einstein’s clothing choices – there are numerous articles on Steve Jobs’ clothing choices [Medium] [Inc]
• Julia’s Journey:
  • Julia got her IT Degree from UC Berkeley and then studied business at INSEAD
  • Yahoo and Walmart
  • Vue.ai
  • OpenWardrobe
• The history of retail (from shops to digital)
  • BBC Article: The curious origins of online shopping [Link]
  • Timeline: Key Events in the History of Online Shopping by Visual Capitalist [Link]
  • The New Rise in Secondhand Buying: Why Is This? by The Carbon Closet [Link]
• Sustainability of the Fashion Industry – the supply chain
  • The “Last Substantial Transformation” of a fashion product to allow its label “Made in X” – here’s an example for “Made In Italy” – it’s an EU Regulation.
  • A few “Ultimate Guides” on Garment Manufacturing and its supply chain [Link] [Link]
  • McKinsey’s article – Style that’s sustainable: A new fast-fashion formula [Link]
  • Fashion and the circular economy – deep dive, from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation [Link]
  • UNECE (2018) Fashion and the SDGs: what role for the UN? [Link]
  • UNEP (2019) – Fashion’s tiny hidden secret [Link]
  • Cost per wear: How this economic indicator could finally counter ultra-fast fashion [Link]
• An nice article about wearing garments 30 times, also from the Guardian
• To learn more about OpenWardrobe, go to the website and sign up for the app. As you sign up, you’ll be asked to do the questionnaire – use promo code TGC for 20% of if you want to take it further!
• What Happens When a Normal Person Hires a Stylist – by Tove Danovich, Marie Claire [Link]
• The podcast with LolaAI, “Conversations with Lola” [Link]
• What is the uncanny valley?
• All about Google’s Try it on AI
• The two books by Robert Chialdini:
  • Pre-Suasion – A revolutionary way to influence and persuade [View on Amazon]
  • Influence, New and Expanded: The Essential Guide to the Psychology of Influence and Persuasion in Everyday Life [View on Amazon]

Episode Chapters

(Chapters are embedded in the episode for quick access, click this to expand and view all chapters and time stamps)

• 00:00 Intro
• 1:59 Style Blueprint Offer
• 2:46 Guest Intro & Cozy California Cabins
• 4:37 You are what you wear – clothing makes people
• 6:39 The decision fatigue of choosing what to wear
• 10:22 From an IT study into the fashion industry
• 17:12 Sustainability issues in the fashion industry
• 33:06 What is Open Wardrobe?
• 39:57 Data Driven Fashion for sustainability
• 44:14 Getting started with the Open Wardrobe App
• 46:52 The power of GenAI and Lola AI
• 51:28 Julia’s next steps with OpenWardrobe
• 57:57 Q&A Start
• 58:08 What does innovation mean to you?
• 59:36 Key moment, book, event, person
• 1:04:12 Time Management
• 1:07:04 Favourite Childhood Memory
• 1:08:17 Biggest Challenge to date
• 1:10:14 Advice for young professionals
• 1:11:13 What would you most like to be remembered for
• 1:11:46 Style Blueprint Offer
• 1:12:39 Where can people find you?
• 1:13:51 Final Message
• 1:14:13 Outro

Connect with Julia K. Dietmar

• OpenWardrobe.co (.co not .com)
• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• Facebook

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Credits

• Hosted by Peter Marcus Bach, follow me on: X: @petermbach, Instagram: @petermbach87 or subscribe to my channel on YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/PeterMarcusBach/
• Intro/Outro Song: ‘Starsky’ by Alex Keren (Check out more of his tunes over on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5vZ3lENfDLjkln8scBJ8mW)