CES 2012: Turn TV into a fitting room

Bodymetrics has announced technology that scans a customer’s body in 3D, allowing them to choose clothes that fit perfectly without having to try them on first. The company also plans on integrating the technology into smart TVs allowing clients to order clothes online without the worry of having to returning them.

Bodymetrics, a company specialising in 3D body-mapping has announced a new era of personalised retail and in-home commerce experiences. In retail Bodymetrics technology digitally maps a person’s body allowing them to find perfect fitting clothes before they try them on. In the near future Smart TVs will have the capability to body-map customers and order perfect-fitting clothing in their own homes, thereby reducing returns and beginning the end of the era of the online sizing chart.

Utilising PrimeSense 3D sensor solutions, Bodymetrics carefully calculates and maps every contour and curve of the body. Once a Bodymetrics account is created, users can virtually try on garments from partner retailers to determine whether a garment fits and flatters their body.

Until very recently, body-mapping required expensive body-scanners. With the advent of the 3D sensors by PrimeSense, this technology can be installed at any clothing store, big or small, and is also inexpensive enough to be integrated into future smart TVs.

Jonathan Hull, Vice President Emerging Experiences at Razorfish, says, “What consumers want are incredible digital experiences that are connected across channels. We are very excited to work with Bodymetrics to help pioneer this new era of retail and personalized TV commerce. It doesn’t get more personal than having your body scanned in-store or ordering clothing from your TV, knowing that it will fit perfectly.””

Hull adds, “”More than 90 percent of customers still shop at stores for clothing. Now they can get scanned in-store, share their looks with friends on Facebook, and continue to shop at home through their TVs, PCs, tablets and mobile devices.””

Bodymetrics’ pioneering solution, designed to body-map a customer’s exact body-size and shape to the exact dimensions of a garment, has a successful seven-year track record in retail at Selfridges in London, voted as the world’s best department store.

Bodymetrics makes buying clothes quicker, easier and more fun, both in-store and online. For most people, buying good fitting clothing is a trial-and-error, time-consuming process. Human bodies are different in a million ways, but when clothing companies produce garments they make them to fit an average person. In the real world, however, there is no such thing as an average body.

“”When you walk into a clothing retailer or browse an online fashion site, they have no idea of your body size, shape or style,”” says Suran Goonatilake, CEO of Bodymetrics. “”Bodymetrics body-maps you within a few seconds and gets hundreds of accurate measurements and analytics of your shape. Then, we match this data to the exact dimensions of a garment and allow you to virtually try it on your own body to see whether it is too tight, too loose or just perfect.””

Although the online clothing market is the largest e-commerce category, worth $30B in the US, it is still a small part of the total US clothing market of$370B. This contrasts with nearly half of computers sold online and the virtual disappearance of physical travel agents that sell airline tickets. The key reasons are that customers lack confidence in buying clothes online, and there is too much hassle associated with returning garments back to the retailer if they do not fit. Depending on the type of garment, up to 50 percent of garments sold online are returned — an enormous financial cost to the retailer and a process that takes a huge environmental toll due to shuffling of garments back and forth to warehouses.

“”With body-mapping, sizing charts and hand-measuring yourself will also become history,”” says Lainey Sheridan-Young, head of fashion at Bodymetrics. “”Because there are no standards in fashion sizing, your size can vary dramatically from brand-to-brand and from country-to-country. Add vanity sizing, where brands give smaller size numbers to garments to boost customer self-esteem, and you have complete confusion. What we need is a simple way to map clothing sizes from one brand to another, from one country to another, based on your body.

Bodymetrics will do this,”” adds Sheridan-Young.

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