After an prolonged downturn, Stitch Fix finally appears to be turning things around — or at the very least stemming the bleed. The corporate, now back under the leadership of founder Katrina Lake, exceeded expectations with its third-quarter earnings report on Tuesday because of a series of cost-cutting measures.

Not that business has picked up, amid economic pressures driving consumer spending down on discretionary items like fashion. In comparison with the year-ago quarter, sales revenue plummeted 20 percent, with today’s figure landing at $394.9 million.

Yet it managed to contain its net loss, with $21.8 million or 19 cents per share faring much better than the $78 million or 72 cents per share within the year-ago quarter.

Analysts expected an improvement, with a net lack of 31 cents per share on revenue of $389 million, in order that they were thrilled with that a part of the outcomes. Stitch Fix also managed to hold onto more of its lively clients than predicted. So although lively clients shrank 11 percent, to three.48 million, it didn’t quite fall so far as the three.45 million expected.

“We proceed to deal with delivering profitability and preserving money flow, and I’m pleased with how far we’ve come,” Lake, in her capability as interim chief executive officer, said in an announcement. “This quarter we delivered adjusted [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization] of $10.1 million, exceeding our guidance range and significantly expanding our free money flow.”

Guidance looks a bit soft, as the corporate predicts the fourth quarter will bring sales of $365 million to $375 million, landing below the anticipated revenue of $379 million. But Wall Street rewarded the corporate nonetheless, handing it an uptick in shares of 4.4 percent in after-market trading. The upswing stands out, largely due to the dismal performance of Stitch Fix shares over the past 12 months, because it bottomed out 57 percent.

The price-cutting began under previous CEO Elizabeth Spaulding, with restructuring, rejiggered distribution center plans and layoffs, and it’s clear it’s going to proceed under Lake.

In other words, that is the start of the belt-tightening, not the tip.

In line with the net fashion and styling platform, it’s preparing to shelve its Dallas warehouse next 12 months and run out the clock on the lease term at one other distribution center.

The business might also contract in other ways, as Stitch Fix considers reversing its U.K. expansion so it might probably consider the U.S. In its earnings announcement, the corporate stated, “Along with a strategic refocusing on our styling-first business within the U.S., and despite ongoing efforts to regulate costs and increase efficiencies across the corporate, we’ve got concluded the necessity to explore exiting the U.K. market in [2024].”

That level of candor is rare, and the move itself can be a notable development, on condition that executives have often touted the expansion and learnings from the U.K. since launching there in 2019. Apparently what it’s learning now’s that the value of world expansion is pricey.