The year is 2025, you are trying on a new jacket from your favourite retailer; as you rotate on the spot you find that it’s a perfect fit, and the colour of the nylon contrasts your hair beautifully. *CLICK* “Add to cart”. That was easy, who knew shopping for apparel online could be so hassle-free and quick.
Augmented reality shopping really does sound like the perfect future for us but, we’re not quite there yet. It’s 2021, and although this type of scenario could very well be what we’re headed towards, we’re still a few steps away from being a few steps away before we can harness 3D body scanning technology to build virtual fitting rooms, among other applications.
This is not to say some retailers haven’t become early adopters of the tech. As Dan Norcross a founder of Acustom Apparel a men suiting company based in New York explains “There is value in scanning” and he goes on to explain that the scanning tool is best used in the hands of someone who has experience in the traditional form of tailoring. At Acustom Apparel they utilize a 3D body scan to narrow down the general size of the client. A trained employee of the company is able to take the data from the scan and find the customers appropriate measurements for the desired jacket or suit style. This method is similarly applied in Alton Lane’s store located in New York using the same body scanner machine.
These two New York based brands are just a few of many companies experimenting with the body scanning technology as many other brands look to use different types of scanners to obtain more accurate data. For example, according to an article on the Wall Street Journal Amazon has been conducting a 3D photo scan study of consumers to study how the human body changes shape over time. The e-commerce giant is building a body scanning team that is focused on “statistical 3D models of human bodies” which will have a wide range of commercial applications for Amazon customers. The ultimate goal for Amazon is the same as the made-to-measure retailers mentioned earlier; to create a virtual fitting room so that customers are satisfied with the end product before they physically try it on. For Amazon, a retailer that suffers greatly from the amount of returns generated by ill-fitting clothes, investing in this type of technology is a no-brainer.
With all this upside you would think that this technology would have advanced further since talks first began of virtual fitting rooms in the early 2010s. Yet it seems that the technology still has much more developing to do and along with it a set of draw backs as well. “CEO of Styuk, the leading 3D body scanning technology for fitness and health argues that a 3D scanner is ill placed in a design company because the number of people placed in front of it will never be large enough to justify the collection of such specific data” and yet we see many fashion companies investing in the tech anyway. Their hope is that like many technologies have in the past, that this one will make a large leap forward in the near future.
It’s why we have seen Alton Lane, the New York suiting brand mentioned earlier, has been implementing the technology into daily use. However, despite this the company has had employees report that the body scanner is only sometimes effective and more often than not employees disregard the scanners reading altogether. These type scenarios are common among these New York based brands that have become early adopters of the technology.
Disregarding the technologies technical shortcomings there also is the psychological dilemma caused by implementing such a device into the retail space. “A study written in the ITAA in 2017 about the impact of body scanning technology on body satisfaction, mood, and appearance found that some people feel less satisfied after seeing 3D images of themselves”. These types of 3D results negatively affect their self-esteem and mood rather than offering a relaxing experience for the consumer. “Some researchers from the study argue that this technology can potentially cause consumers to scrutinize themselves and their bodies”. Regardless, for the mass majority of investors it seems the technology is a gateway into the augmented realm that seems to be getting infinitely closer and also a way to take huge steps forward environmentally.
The sustainability mantra has been growing for years in fashion and it’s been regurgitated in every which way to sell this more eco-friendly world to consumers. For once we may have a viable solution to the endless amounts of waste the fashion industry produces every year. If consumers are able to fit into more of the clothes they buy, they will waste less clothing buying sizes that don’t fit. On surface it seems like an incidental problem but the fashion industry generates 5 billion pounds of returned goods a year, which end up in US landfills. Consumers able to find a more accurate fitting online will dramatically decrease the amount of returns, which can be especially effective in this post-pandemic environment where online retailing is king.
In light of all these nuisances with the technology we see companies focusing on the promising applications of this innovation. The ability to have consumers explore collections in their entirety without ever setting foot in the store seems like a very attainable reality in the near future, and brands around the world are intrigued by this possibility. Some companies are doubly hopeful that this technology becomes accurate enough that it will one day enable mass customization of garments. It is clear that 3D body scanning technologies are becoming more apparent in the fashion world, yet there are quite a few hurdles still to be leapt before we reach this augmented reality.
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