London-based company Bodymetrics has joined forces with PrimeSense to develop a 3D scanner capable of 'mapping' a human body to give it instant advice on the fit of a suit: this "Body Mapping" platform uses special sensors to take measurements of a user and create an exact replica. The system then connects to a database of manufacturers to 'apply' to the scanned body the clothes that best suit (in terms of design and size) the customer's body.
The first Body Mapping is available in a London shop, in the Westfield Stratford area: on the technology, however, all it takes is a little research on the web to realize that the dream of a 'virtual dressing room' was not born today. In the recent past, two companies (Unique Solutions Design and Intellifit) have developed solutions based on body scanning and made them available to a few companies in the sector (Levi's above all, which used it to track an 'average' of the customers' bodies, with the aim of designing jeans with a fit closest to the public's needs).
Bodymetrics' solution seems to be the first, however, capable of reaching the mass market and ending up in stores. Reason? Quite simply: it is cheap compared to the others developed so far.
When (and mind you: not SE) this technology or equivalent technology will be applied on a large scale, will be able to enormously accelerate purchasing times, to completely redesign the clothing market and the architecture of shops: in particular, it will be possible to completely bridge the gap between industrial clothes and tailoring clothes, allowing multinationals to create products exactly customized to the customer. That's not enough: the costs of materials will also undergo a drastic reduction, if we consider that today from 20 to 40% of clothes purchased online are returned because they are not the right size.
“The body is the next piece of information we will make digital,” says Suran Goonatilake, CEO of Bodymetrics. “A good part of our lives is already in digital form (we listen to digital music, we exchange virtual currency, we have friends online): Bodymetrics and PrimeSens are about to give people the possibility to transmit their characteristics to the companies that will have to dress them.
Are we heading towards a future in which we will access a shop only once to 'scan ourselves' and then we will be able to conveniently buy our total look via the internet?
