Life & Style

Avoid the dreaded dressing room and try on your fashions virtually

Tribons’ online shirts customizing platform Shirts Specter not only asks questions related to size, such as the lengths of the neck, shoulders, chest and waist, but also allows consumers to customize detailed designs for the collar, pocket and cuffs. [SHIRTS SPECTER]

Most consumers believe ordering bottled water online poses a much smaller risk than ordering a pair of pants that may or may not fit. But the advancement in artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR) and big data technologies is helping consumers have a much better experience when it come to shopping for clothes online.

As the Covid-19 pandemic persists, people are shying away from visiting stores and dressing rooms and instead turning to the internet.

Mobile research platform Open Survey released the "2020 Mobile Shopping Trend Report" on Aug. 3, which studied 1,000 consumers aged between 20 and 49 for three months and how their shopping tendencies changed amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The report showed that online and mobile purchases of food increased by 15 percent, while purchases of fashion items increased by 4.2 percent in the past three months.

Ordering a customized shirt may seem like a high-end tailor shop service, but now online consumers can make such purchases from the comfort and safety of their own homes by answering some basic questions. They will receive their custom, tailored shirt within seven days.

Tribons, which officially imports men’s shirt brands such as DAKS and Jill by Jill Stuart, developed Shirts Specter with the accumulated data of one million Korean men’s body patterns based on their history of returns and repairs.

"We spent more than a year developing and building an AI-based size measurement system in search of patterns suitable for the average size of Korean men,” Kim Hak-il, head of the business division of Tribons, said. “We measure beyond just the arm length or shoulder length, but whether their shoulders are slightly curled inward or their backs are bent forward." In addition to size, consumers can choose detailed designs such as for the collar, pocket and cuffs.

There are eight questions that Shirts Specter asks, which include age, height, weight, preferred fit and the consumer’s usual shirt size. It doesn’t ask for exact tape measures of arm length. Using big data, Shirts Specter can analyze consumer language such as "I am skinny but have a muffin top," or “my arms are long relative to my height” and translate it into actual figures.

No matter how convenient online shopping is, buying shoes online is often overlooked as consumers want to try their footwear before buying.

Perfitt, an online shoe shopping platform, uses the 30,000 to 40,000 pieces of size data collected from 40 major shoes brands and AI-based size recommendation technology to recommend the best shoe size for each consumer’s feet. [PERFITT]

Perfitt, an online shoe shopping platform, recommends shoes that fit each consumer’s feet size by using size measurement data and AI-based size recommendation technology. Consumers can still buy shoes without registering their shoe sizes, but the customer satisfaction level of purchasing shoes after registering their size is more than 90 percent, and the return rate is as low as 0.9 percent, according to the CEO of Perfitt, Lee Sun-woong.

"As the e-commerce market is growing continuously, shoe companies are starting to expand their online business," Lee said. "AR tools that recommend the perfect fit for consumers have been introduced in global fashion companies, including Nike Fit in the United States and Rakuten Fits Me in Japan."

To get a size recommendation, a consumer simply needs to place both feet on the size measurement kit provided by Perfitt, take a picture and upload it to the Perfitt app. Based on the data of 150,000 customers and 30,000 to 40,000 size data from 40 major shoes brands that Pefitt has collected, its sizing recommendation technology provides the best fit. The service is limited to sneakers but the company is planning on expanding the category to heels, which are more sensitive to size.

Lologem’s virtual jewelry try-on platform Lolo Looks allows customers to try on and purchase jewelry online. Just by uploading a selfie, one can virtually try on a jewelry, glasses and hats. [LOLOGEM]

For those who would rather try on an expensive piece of jewelry before buying, software development company Lologem launched Lolo Looks, an online platform that allows customers to virtually try on and purchase jewelry online. Just by uploading a selfie, one can virtually try on jewelry, glasses or hats as if looking into a mirror. The service is currently being offered to jewelry brands such as J.estina and Wing Bling.

Lolo Looks applied AR and facial recognition technology to virtualize colors, sizes and the sparkle of accessories. "We tried to make it as realistic as possible to give the feeling that they are actually wearing them," Kim Ha-nul, CEO of Lologem, said. "Websites that provide virtual-wearing software technology tend to have a low rate of online consumers leaving the website and a high rate of purchases."

"We are planning to introduce more realistic shopping content using 3D technology. Virtual try-on technology is not only practical, but also provides enjoyable content for consumers to try special virtual experiences online,” Kim said. “I predict that in the next one to two years, virtual try-on services will become common, not only for fashion items like jewelry, glasses and bags, but also for furniture and home appliances.”

BY YOO JI-YOEN, KIM YEON-AH [kim.yeonah@joongang.co.kr]