Article

Will customizing kiosks fit?

The drive to develop custom-fitting software and kiosks for retail shoppers has hit a few snags. But advocates believe the application's time is coming.

February 21, 2002

Shopping for clothes using the Internet is not a new phenomenon. But for consumers wary of how their purchases will fit, there is a need for online shopping with a virtual dressing room. Body scanners, kiosks, and Web-based tools have been developed that offer consumers a 3-D image of their bodies dressed in apparel available from online retailers.

Making the transition from potential to success, however, has been tricky for companies pursuing customizing software, either on the Internet or at Web-enabled browsers. Over the past two years, body-scanning has been hampered by a variety of factors:

-- Few customers currently have the bandwidth on home computers to support 3-D animation.

-- Many clothing retailers and manufacturers are either unwilling or unable to make the high-tech investments to enable mass customization.

-- Some companies that have made the customization kiosk leap have already hopped back out, finding the waters too frigid at the moment.

With developers and retailers entering and leaving the market at a rapid pace, the question is whether there is an established market that is interested enough and substantial enough to create a market for body-scanning kiosks. Dinesh Sawal, business development director for customized fitting software developer FitMe.com, believes the sector can grow and develop.

"The fact is, online clothing sales are low, and retailers are looking for ways to boost consumer confidence," said Sawal, whose company in October unveiled Size Genie, a new Web-based custom-fitting software application.

The big boys

Three major retailers are among the companies that have tested the customization kiosk market.

To boost sales and curb returns, Lands' End initiated a project last year to obtain 3-D body scans of customers. The Dodgeville, Wis.-based retailer launched My Virtual Tour 2000; a truck that contained a body-scanning kiosk toured selected cities.

Customers would step into the scanning center and more than 200,000 points of measuring data would screen the user. Within 10 minutes, the kiosk would offer a printout with measurements and an ID and password that customers could use for ordering on-line through Lands' End's Web site.

"Sounds like science fiction, doesn't it?" asked Lands' End's Web site. "But Body Scanning is simply a brand new technology available to the consumer. It's fast, easy, safe and fun - and more accurate than tape measures ever dreamed of."

But the 200,000 points of light have been switched off. Lands' End spokesperson Emily Leuthner said the company has no plans to continue with the body-scanning project, but did not go into detail on why the project was shelved.

Instead, Lands' End is offering an online customization program for its line of chinos. Customers enter their weight, sizes, style preferences, and other body shape details. A digital order is then sent to Lands' End's manufacturing partners, which individually cut and sew the product based on a computer-generated pattern.

"(The Web site) has gone beyond our expectations," Leuthner said.

Leuthner did not disclose sales figures or the number of hits generated by the site, but she did say the company plans to expand the program to include jeans, dress slacks, shirts and swimsuits.

Cary, N.C.-based software developer Image Twin, which developed Lanes' End's ill-fated body-scanning software, has designed a similar program for clothing retailer Brooks Brothers. The upscale suit maker announced on Nov. 19 that it would test a digital tailoring program at its store in midtown Manhattan.

Lanes' End suspended its body-scanning kiosk in favor of an online customization model. (photo: Lands' End Web site)

Brooks Brothers will use the software to create a 3-D customer scan. The scan will be used to create custom-made suits that start at $698.

As part of a Levi Strauss strategic realignment that began in the mid-1990s, the company began experimenting with custom-fitting kiosks several years ago at Macy's department stores and other New York retail outlets. A store clerk manually measures customers, and their sizes are registered at the kiosk. Customers can then order jeans through the kiosk, using the measurements and selecting other features, such as colors and leg styles.

Attempts to contact Levi Strauss officials to discuss the company's project were unsuccessful.

Making it work

Image Twin is not the only company developing custom-fitting software packages. Two other companies - the aforementioned FitMe.com and Cyberware - have also designed software packages.

Sawal said the problem with early-model body scanners was that the equipment is too technical and difficult to use. With Size Genie's data extraction software, the time it takes to complete the scanning process is trimmed to 15-20 seconds.

"When people first used body scanners, they found after the scanning process that they had a huge computer file with all sorts of data to extract," he said.

Sawal is optimistic that body-scanning kiosks and applications such as Size Genie will go over well with online retailers - particularly non-mainstream retailers that provide big and tall sizes or plus-size apparel.

"Those consumers have fewer choices off-line," he said.

FitMe.Com hopes to raise $10 million in venture capital for the its next round of development and marketing, part of which will be used to promote Size Genie. The company will charge an unspecified fee for the software and for setting up the system, and will also generate revenue through commissions on items sold through the product.

Officials at body-scanner manufacturer Cyberware believe that 3-D body scanning will prove popular with the garment industry and other industries.

The Monterey, Calif.-based company manufacturers a 3-D color laser digitizer that can perform cylindrical or linear scans of objects with up to one million points of light. Cyberware's scanners start at $120,000 and are more affordable when manufactured and purchased in quantity.

Cyberware's customers include the Defense Logistics Agency, the National Institute of Occupational Safety & Health, Gentle Giant Studios and CyberDressForms.

"A quality 3-D body scanner's measurements are very accurate and can be fed automatically into size selection, custom clothing manufacturing or other processes," said Sue Addleman, vice president of technical sales and support for Cyberware.

34 pants on a 36 waist

The optimism of FitMe.com and Cyberware notwithstanding, opinion varies on whether consumers are even willing to accept the concept.

Kiosk consultant Francie Mendelsohn, president of Summit Research Associates, said customer resistance could prove the biggest challenge in deploying custom-fitting kiosks.

"Any time you ask for information such as weight and body dimensions, people are reluctant to provide that," Mendelsohn said. "And having your body scanned, that's pretty invasive. It might work for customizing the fit of eye glasses or shoes, but a psychological barrier goes up when it gets that personal."

However, a survey conducted by Kurt Salmon Associates indicated that the majority of consumers are willing to have their bodies scanned if it means a better fit. And Sawal argues that consumers are already providing other kinds of personal data online.

"It's the same as if you were giving out your pants size or your dress size," he said.