Land's End plans deployment of body scanning kiosks

OTTAWA - Sure you can buy clothes online, but when the items arrive on your doorstep do you really know how well they'll fit?

Land's End may help boost your confidence level.

According to Reuters news service, the Wisconsin outerwear retailer plans to deploy 50 digital body-scanning kiosks nationwide in the next year. Body scanning will allow Land's End customers to take a three-dimensional virtual snapshot of their measurements on a cyberspace shopping spree.

The 12-second process requires customers to wear skin tight "scan wear" while their dimensions are recorded with flashes of white light. Once the 3-D image is recorded, it can be used at the Land's End Web site to try on items of the customer's choice.

Image Twin of Cary, N.C., developed the scanning and measurement technology. My Virtual Model, a Montreal-based company, developed the software that will create the kiosk's 3D images.

Land's End is preparing a two-month trial run the kiosk in 14 cities across North America.