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Theory

theory.com · Retail

Ranked 748 of 2,047 companies in the study

36Overall score
  • Visibility17
  • Citations0
  • Sentiment79
  • Site quality73
  • AI readiness29
What this means for Theory

AI assistants name Theory in 11.7% of answers, which is higher than the typical company in the retail sector at 6.7%. Theory's overall score is 36 out of 100, ranking 748th of 2,047 companies. The website passes 4 out of 14 technical checks for AI tool readiness.

We asked 15 unbranded questions about the retail market: none named Theory. AI assistants named it in 7 of 60 answers (11.7%). The typical retail company is named in 6.7% of answers. By how often it is named, Theory ranks 234 of 640 in its sector.

Named by AI in
11.7%
7 of 60 answers
Share of mentions
25.0%
compared with 5 rivals
AI readiness
4/14
technical checks passed. Typical for its sector: 3
Rank in its sector
248 of 640
by overall score, where the typical retail company scores 34
How Theory compares with all 2,047 companies

Every dot is a company in the study. Hover one to see it; click to open its report.

This companySame sectorEvery other companyNever named

What makes up the score

Five parts, each scored out of 100.

Visibility
17

How often AI assistants name the company

Citations
0

How often AI uses the company's own website as a source

Sentiment
79

How positively AI describes the company

Site quality
73

How well built the website's own pages are

AI readiness
29

How easily AI tools can read and use the website

Visibility is calculated from the answers on this page. How the score is built.

Compared with retail

640 companies in this sector. The line on each bar is the typical company.

Overall score36
Ranks 248 of 640. Typical company: 34
Named in answers12%
Ranks 234 of 640. Typical company: 7%
AI readiness29
Ranks 222 of 640. Typical company: 29
What OpenAI actually said

An answer that names the company

“What price range should I expect to pay for men’s and women’s luxury essentials in the US?”

Below I’ve listed typical U.S. price ranges you can expect for “luxury essentials” — core wardrobe items people buy from luxury or designer brands. I give a low-to-high range (entry-level luxury → premium/high-luxury), short examples of what those items include, and quick tips for value.

General notes

Prices are in U.S. dollars and reflect retail prices (sales tax not included).

“Entry-level luxury” = accessible designer labels (e.g., Coach, Theory, Marc Jacobs, Common Projects). “Premium/high-luxury” = heritage maisons and high-end designers (e.g., Saint Laurent, Prada, Bottega Veneta, …

The AI’s answer as we received it, shortened and not checked for accuracy.

Also named
Everlane5Reiss2Vince2Hugo Boss2Club Monaco1
Share of mentions

How the mentions in these answers were split between this company and its rivals

Theory
30.4%
Everlane
30.4%
Hugo Boss
17.4%
Vince
8.7%
Reiss
8.7%
Club Monaco
4.3%
Which AI assistants named the company

Answers naming it, out of answers received

OpenAI
3/15
Claude
2/15
Gemini
2/15
Perplexity
0/15
Ready for AI agents

What this website publishes for an AI agent to read, use and buy from, on a scale of six levels.

  1. 0
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. 5

Level 1: Basic web presence. Two of robots.txt, a sitemap and Link headers are in place.

To reach level 2:
  • Content Signals

The website turns away requests that do not come from a browser. AI agents that say what they are meet the same refusal.

Can an AI agent buy here?

Not by itself. Theory publishes none of the purchase protocols we look for. An agent would have to click through the checkout like a person.

  • UCPNot present
  • ACPNot present
  • AP2Not present
  • x402Not present
  • MPPNot present

The shop runs on Salesforce Commerce Cloud.

Show every check, for your technical team
Discoverability
77 of 100
  • robots.txtPassed

    A valid robots.txt with crawl rules at the site root.

    study: 92.0%
  • SitemapPassed

    An XML sitemap listing the pages, ideally referenced from robots.txt.

    study: 86.8%
  • Link headersNot met

    Send Link headers such as rel="api-catalog" or rel="describedby" on the homepage.

    study: 0.3%
  • DNS for AI DiscoveryNot present

    Advertise agent endpoints with SVCB records under _agents.

    study: 5.5%
Content accessibility
0 of 100
  • Markdown negotiationNot met

    Return a markdown version when asked with Accept: text/markdown, for example at the CDN.

    study: 1.9%
  • llms.txtNot met

    Publish an llms.txt with a short summary and the key links.

    study: 25.1%
Bot access control
32 of 100
  • AI bot rulesPartly met

    Add explicit robots.txt groups for the main AI crawlers.

    study: 93.4%
  • Content SignalsNot met

    Add a Content-Signal line for search, ai-input and ai-train to robots.txt.

    study: 1.4%
  • Web Bot AuthNot present

    Only relevant if you run your own agents or crawlers: publish a signing key directory.

    study: 0.2%
APIs, auth and MCP
0 of 100
  • API CatalogNot met

    List public APIs in a linkset at /.well-known/api-catalog.

    study: 0.3%
  • OAuth discoveryNot met

    Publish OpenID Connect or OAuth server metadata under /.well-known.

    study: 11.8%
  • OAuth Protected ResourceNot met

    Serve protected resource metadata at /.well-known/oauth-protected-resource.

    study: 10.3%
  • auth.mdNot met

    Publish an auth.md describing how agents sign in.

    study: 0.0%
  • MCP Server CardNot met

    Offer an MCP server and publish its server card under /.well-known.

    study: 0.2%
  • A2A Agent CardNot met

    Publish an agent card at /.well-known/agent-card.json.

    study: 0.1%
  • Agent SkillsNot met

    Publish a skills index with the main tasks agents can do.

    study: 0.2%
  • WebMCPCould not check

    Register key actions such as search or cart as WebMCP tools.

    study: 33.7%
  • ARD manifestNot met

    Publish an ai-catalog.json listing every agent interface.

    study: 0.1%

Score 25 of 100 · 97% of checks could run · checked on October 5, 2026 · www.theory.com · 2,047 companies scanned

See how every company did, and how this was measured.

The checks behind the AI readiness score

4 of 14 passed. This list is for your technical team. The percentage is how many companies in the study pass each check.

These 14 checks ran during the audit and are what the AI readiness part of the overall score counts. The scan above ran later and is stricter on Link headers and Markdown, so a check can pass here and not there.

Show the 14 checks
Discoverability
  • Passedrobots.txt publishedstudy: 85.0%
  • PassedXML sitemapstudy: 73.2%
  • PassedHTTP Link headers (RFC 8288)study: 29.0%
Content Accessibility
  • Not metMarkdown content negotiationstudy: 8.3%
  • Not metllms.txt publishedstudy: 21.7%
  • PassedToken budget (page weight)study: 95.2%
Bot Access Control
  • Not metExplicit AI bot rulesstudy: 13.0%
API / Auth / MCP
  • Not metAPI Catalog (.well-known/api-catalog)study: 0.2%
  • Not metOAuth Authorization Server discoverystudy: 10.1%
  • Not metOAuth Protected Resource discoverystudy: 9.3%
  • Not metMCP Server Cardstudy: 0.0%
  • Not metA2A Agent Cardstudy: 0.0%
  • Not metWebMCP toolsstudy: 4.2%
  • Not metAgent Skills declaredstudy: 0.0%
What AI crawlers may read (robots.txt)

This website sets no rules for any AI crawler by name, like 84% of the websites whose rules we could read. Every AI crawler follows its general rules.

Training AI
  • GPTBotpartly
  • ClaudeBotpartly
  • Anthropic-AIpartly
  • Google-Extendedpartly
  • Applebot-Extendedpartly
  • Meta-ExternalAgentpartly
  • FacebookBotpartly
  • Bytespiderpartly
  • CCBotpartly
  • Diffbotpartly
  • Omgilibotpartly
AI search
  • OAI-SearchBotpartly
  • Claude-SearchBotpartly
  • PerplexityBotpartly
  • Applebotpartly
  • Amazonbotpartly
  • YouBotpartly
Answering questions
  • ChatGPT-Userpartly
  • Claude-Userpartly
  • Perplexity-Userpartly
  • DuckAssistBotpartly
  • MistralAI-Userpartly

Read from the website’s own rules file (robots.txt). An asterisk marks a crawler the file names. The rest follow its general rules. “Partly” means only some pages are blocked.

Websites the AI used as sources

How many times each website was listed as a source in these answers

businessinsider.com
27
reddit.com
15
justdial.com
12
whowhatwear.com
11
youtube.com
9
woolmark.com
9
lovau.com
8
sewmamasew.com
7
gq.com
7
thetimes.com
7

In the study as US retailers: listed as a retailer in Wikidata, a public database, and among the websites Cloudflare Radar ranks as visited.

Every question, and where the company came up (4 of 15)
QuestionOpenAIClaudePerplexityGemini
  • How does contemporary luxury apparel compare to classic designer fashion in terms of style and quality?
  • What options exist besides premium wool sweaters for a luxury yet comfortable outfit?
  • How can contemporary luxury essentials be styled for both work and weekend?
  • What’s the difference between luxury essentials and premium basics for men and women?
  • What price range should I expect to pay for men’s and women’s luxury essentials in the US?
  • How do you care for contemporary wool garments to keep them looking new?
  • What should I do if my premium tailored pants lose their shape after a few wears?
  • Are there ways to find discounts on contemporary luxury workwear apparel?
  • What are some alternatives to modern tailored blazers for a polished office look?
  • Is investing in modern workwear made from premium fabrics worth the higher price?
  • Are luxury wardrobe staples a good choice for building a versatile professional closet?
  • What are the best contemporary luxury apparel brands for professional workwear?
  • What are other sources for elevated essentials besides traditional department stores?
  • What are some outfit ideas for styling elevated workwear for business-casual offices?
  • Where can I find modern tailoring and elevated essentials for the office?
named the companyanswered without naming itdid not answer

Columns, left to right: OpenAI, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini. The AI assistants often disagree. Across the study, on 40% of the questions where a company is named, only one of the four names it.

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Overall score 36 of 100 badge for Theory

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<a href="https://aeo-audit.rezolve.com/us/theory.com"><img src="https://aeo-audit.rezolve.com/us/badges/theory.com.svg" alt="Overall score 36 of 100, US AI Visibility Study 2026" width="280" height="64"></a>
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