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 make an exact replica of it. The system then connects to a database of manufacturers to 'apply' to the scanned body the clothes that best fit (by design and size) to the client's body.
The first Body Mapping is available in a London store, in the Westfield Stratford area: on technology, on the other hand, a little research on the web is enough 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 have made them available to a few companies in the sector (Levi's above all, which used it to track an 'average' of the body of customers, in order to design jeans with a fit that is closer to the needs of the public).
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 greatly accelerate purchase times, to completely redesign the clothing market and the architecture of the stores: it will be possible in particular to completely bridge the distance between industrial and tailor-made clothes, giving multinationals the ability to create products exactly tailored to the customer. Not enough: even the costs of materials will suffer a drastic reduction, if we consider that today from 20 to 40% of the clothes purchased online are returned because they are not of the right size.
"The body is the next piece of information we will digitalize," says Suran Goonatilake, CEO of Bodymetrics. "A good part of our life 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 opportunity to pass on their characteristics to the companies that will have to dress them.
Are we moving towards a future in which a shop will be accessed only once to 'scan' oneself and then we can easily buy our total look through the internet?
