Historically, clothing sales have been among the few brick-and-mortar retail segments that have seen a limited impact by the rise in ecommerce. The reason is far from ambiguous – shoppers are reluctant to purchase unless they know how the product will fit on them. And even if one is brave enough to place an order, there’s a good chance the merchant will end up losing money in the transaction – it’s not uncommon to see clothing return rates reaching the 40-50% range. Several start-ups are eager to change that.
Ukrainian 3DLOOK attracted a $1 M from uVentures, 500 Startups and several angel investors in their mission to bring the dressing room in the comfort of one’s bedroom.
Unlike the KODAK Full Body 3D Scanner, 3DLOOK’s technology does not require any external hardware besides a smartphone. In addition to the “utility” of fitting the clothes before purchasing, the app will collect database of human body measurements, so brands could build better clothing for all body shapes.
In a similar fashion, Original Stitch, a custom clothing producer, is expected to release Bodygram – an application giving users full body measurements as accurate as taken by professional tailors from just two photos on one’s phone.
A key difference between the two programs is their use – while 3DLOOK is to be offered as a white label solution to various stores, the later is an add-on to a specific tailor-made clothing web service.
SORTIS View: We believe the technology will be truly transformative to the apparel industry, presenting enormous opportunity to the ecommerce giants like Amazon and Alibaba, while threatening the business model of Inditex and H&M.
