I love to shop for clothes, but I don’t do much of that shopping online. Items never seem to fit the way they look like they will in the picture on the website and sending things back is a hassle. Fortunately, companies like Bodymetrics are working to fix that problem.
Bodymetrics uses the same body mapping technology that powers the Kinect (3D sensors from PrimeSense) to carefully measure every inch, contour and curve of your body and match it to the exact dimensions of a garment. According to Bodymetrics’ Head of Fashion Lainey Sheridan-Young (she and The Style Geek got along swimmingly), the company analyzes hundreds of different fabrics and threads to make sure they understand how different articles of clothing will fit a person’s body. Once their analysis is linked up to a person’s body map, Bodymetrics can give a more accurate idea of what a garment will look like on you than any sizing chart ever could.
“With body-mapping, sizing charts and hand-measuring yourself will also become history,” Sheridan-Young said. ”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.”
Once you create a Bodymetrics account, the company will store your body-map and allow you to access it from any online device. Bodymetrics is also expanding their service to brick and mortar retailers (they already have a successful partnership with premier London retailer Selfridges) to help sales associates deliver better service to their customers. Imagine walking into a store and having the sales associate hand you a bag of clothes to try on that already fit your preferences and size!
Additionally, the company is working to integrate Bodymetrics into future Smart TVs. Which means I’ll be able to try clothes on from my couch. Which means I get to be lazy and more stylish all at the same time. Sheridan-Young told me that the company is working with two US department stores and that their US launch is “imminent.” (That sounds so much nicer than saying “by the end of Q1″ don’t you think?)
Here’s a demo of the way Bodymetrics technology works.