Stitch Fix, which went public in late 2017, is known for its subscription boxes. In these packages, customers are treated to a selection of new outfits selected for them through a mix of a computer algorithm and a human stylist.

Scott Darling, Stitch Fix's CLO, is in charge of all the legal work that goes into running the San Francisco-based company, where he leads a department of three. As a GC who had already taken a few companies public, most notably real estate company Trulia Inc. in 2012, Darling was a great fit for Stitch Fix.

He spoke to Corporate Counsel reporter Stephanie Forshee about the fabric of the legal team.

Corporate Counsel: What made you decide to join Stitch Fix back in November 2016?

Scott Darling: I've always been drawn to consumer-oriented businesses. I like what the company's doing to provide consumers a better solution for helping them find what they love. Now, it's apparel. In the future, it could be other things. It's a very interesting mix of data science and human judgment to solve pain points for consumers, which [come from] shopping online and scouring through thousands of articles of clothing that you find when you do a search on Amazon or Bloomingdale's or whatever it is.

CC: What are some projects you've been working on?

SD: Last year, we launched our men's business and a luxury segment. We launched a plus-size business to serve that category, which we think has been traditionally underserved by the existing retail market. We expanded our marketing and launched TV ads for the first time. That requires legal review and looking at contracts with agencies and actors who are working with us on it. We expect to be involved in similar things over the course of 2018.

CC: With more than 3,500 stylists [at the company], do your lawyers spend a lot of time on employee issues?

SD: Just to point out, those employees are employees. They're not contractors. We wanted to take the high road on that. The distinction between us and other companies that people talk about in this space like Lyft and Uber is [that] they have contractors and they run into these wage-and-hour problems. We haven't had a problem like that because we decided to make all these folks employees.

CC: What are your biggest accomplishments since joining Stitch Fix?

SD: So much of the first year was focused on the IPO. That is by far the biggest milestone. Learning a new industry has been really fun, and we've been disrupting the industry. We're helping change it, so that's a really fun part of the job.