Dressing Rooms of the Future

It’s difficult to know if something will fit you by seeing a 2-D representation of it. Perhaps that is why only 10% of all apparel is purchased online.¹ Obviously, there is no way to try on clothing you see on a website. No matter how many product images, videos, or demos there are, there’s always the intangible aspect of shopping for clothes online.

Or is there?

I recently saw the video above that really blew me away. Is this the future of online shopping? After all, online retailers lose large amounts of money with returned apparel, since by the time the product is returned, inspected, and put back on the shelves, it is likely out of season. Customers lose money when they have to pay for return shipping, resulting in a net loss even if they receive full credit on the item (another reason to shop at stores with free returns!) Virtual dressing rooms would reduce the need for costly returns and exchanges.

While the video above is, at the moment, conceptual and not yet implemented, there are currently a few virtual dressing rooms online that are less advanced and interactive. Fits.me is a virtual fitting room for online retailers of apparel. Consumers can input their measurements and see a pre-figured 3-D image of how different sizes would appear on them. Tobi.com has a virtual dressing room in which users upload copied-and pasted images that link up to a live image of themselves through a webcam; however these images are also pre-figured and don’t give a true sense of what the product looks like on the user.

Is this the future of online shopping?  Surely virtual dressing rooms get us one stop closer to translating the virtual world of online shopping to mimic the experience of a physical store.

¹http://money.cnn.com/2007/05/14/news/economy/online_retailing/