Body measurement software: ensuring the right fit choice for customers

Body measuring tools implementation could be just what your business needs to get ahead of your competitors...

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Size and fit are pain points in both fashion and the wider business landscape, with a lack of convenient measuring processes to blame for high returns and poor sustainability. Yet, body measuring technology offers a solution that benefits both businesses and their customers.

Body measurement technology is becoming more widespread in the clothing industry, which has pushed the development of innovative body measuring applications.

These innovative tools allow users to measure their body parameters without a measuring tape and get the tailor-made size and fit recommendations in a touchless manner. This, in turn, helps businesses to maintain engaging customer service, increase conversion and AOV and cut return rates.

Understanding body measurement technology specifics

Body measurement technology is a tool that plays a critical role in obtaining body dimensions and developing patterns for apparel. Using data collected through a body scanning tool, brands can design garments and plan sizes around genuine customer bodies.

It also offers a great alternative to manual measuring that costs businesses time, effort and money, while enhancing the customer experience.

According to Deloitte, 41% of consumers want personalized clothes, and the demand will only increase with the next generation entering the market. With mobile body scanning solutions, businesses can meet the needs of digitally-savvy consumers for personalization. Body measurement technology allows customers to buy garments that fit them best, enhancing convenience and customization options.

Users are also not required to remove their clothes while the scanner measures their bodies, allowing them to remain comfortably dressed throughout the whole process.

A short overview of hardware scanning

Before mobile solutions became available, 3D body scanning booths were the only option. Typically, the scanners consist of a chamber equipped with cameras and sensors, in which the customer has to stand and hold a pose for the duration of the scan. Hardware 3D body scanners provide a three-dimensional image of an individual’s entire body, where the result is a unique 3D model that depicts the precise body shape. Scans typically display accurate data on an individual’s body measurements, posture analysis, and other human body features.

Physical 3D body scanners are rather heavy due to their size and materials, and they still require the customers’ physical presence, resulting in unnecessary costs and travel time. They are also quite pricey, with some costing up to $50,000. Generally, the more precise a machine is, the more costly it is.

The requirement that people remain motionless during scanning creates further issues. Even a tiny movement can compromise the scan by several millimeters, rendering it unusable. The scanner’s sensors are also highly dependent on temperature, lighting, and time. Getting all of these elements to line up perfectly is no easy task.

AI body measurement tools: An innovative promising solution

AI body measurement is an artificial intelligence-powered promising solution that allows taking body measurements with a high level of accuracy. Typically, these solutions use a mobile device to provide customers with accurate measurements no matter where they are.

Unlike hardware scanners or manual measuring, which require customers to undergo a lengthy, uncomfortable process, AI body measurement tools typically require the customer to simply snap a few photos of their body. These innovative solutions then use a combination of advanced technologies, such as computer vision and 3D matching, to analyze the photos, detect landmarks, and generate accurate body measurements in a matter of minutes.

Why are brands shifting to mobile AI body measurement?

With today’s customers favoring digital, sustainable, and customized shopping experiences, modern body measuring tools are becoming vital for businesses to eliminate time spent on manual measuring, enhance the user experience and boost their conversion rates.

Body measurement technology provides apparel retailers with specific data that helps to provide precise size guidelines wherever the buyer is. Particularly useful for e-commerce stores, this enables customers to acquire products that look good and fit well without visiting a physical store. At the same time, companies gain from higher conversions and better profitability.

YourFit by 3DLOOK also provides access to data collected to assist companies in optimizing product creation and distribution operations and producing items in demand. This results in fewer returns and less overproduction, which reduces the volume of garments that inevitably end up in landfills. Using AI-first mobile body scanning technology, YourFit creates a 3D model of a person’s body and provides accurate size recommendations, as well as a virtual fitting opportunity.

Since consumers are increasingly seeking more customized products, it becomes a must for manufacturers to reshape the customer experience. An on-demand production is an option for brands hoping to meet changing consumer demands by producing more customized clothing. Another alternative for retailers is made-to-measure production, which involves manufacturing apparel to a specific customer or body measurement using an existing pattern.

Data obtained via mobile solutions can enable both on-demand and made-to-measure businesses to improve product development, planning, and production and offer customers better-fitting products. Solutions like Mobile Tailor by 3DLOOK allow made-to-measure manufacturers to receive up to 80+ points of measure in under 45 seconds from just two snapshots taken by the consumer. There is also the option of receiving the customer’s unique 3D Body Avatar for businesses that are using 3D fashion design software.

Both YourFit and Mobile Tailor are built upon the same technology but provide different features.

3d body scanning software: a benefit for all

When it comes to sizing solutions currently available on the market, customers’ body data can be gathered in two ways: either through the fit quiz or mobile scanning.

Fit quizzes can provide only a basic understanding of the customer’s body and are unable to offer truly precise results. This method has an essential disadvantage: it ignores the human body’s intricacy and offers a lot of space for inaccuracy. Since the size is a sensitive subject, customers may be tempted to provide false answers, which will result in them receiving clothing that doesn’t fit their bodies at all.

While size recommendations based on mobile body scanning appear to be not only accurate but more engaging as well, with fit solutions, customers receive personalized size recommendations in seconds that increase their confidence that they are buying something that will fit their unique body shapes.

Taking body measurements with 3D body scanning software is an emerging trend that aims to solve the problem of poor fitting clothing by capturing more body data than existing methods. Fashion retailers can benefit from this information in a variety of ways. For instance, they can produce more fitted clothing and reduce return rates. Likewise, brands can use this data to power experience-enhancing solutions, such as size and fit recommendations that consider the complex details of their customer base, personalized product suggestions using fit preferences, and augmented reality tools that enable customers to experience a product from anywhere.

Mobile Tailor

The first contact-free body measuring tool for made-to-measure and on-demand businesses. Switch fully online and save time and costs associated with manual measurements.

How do mobile body scanning solutions work?

Nowadays, there are plenty of mobile body scanning solutions available on the market, and the scanning process depends on the technology provider. Some tools require you to record a 360-degree video to get scanned; others offer to take several photos. 3DLOOK’s mobile body scanning process requires users to use their smartphone’s camera. Brands may be put off by the misconception that body measuring solutions are too hard to deploy or require too much workforce to operate. With innovative mobile body measuring solutions, that is not the case: brands can easily integrate a ‘measurement button’ on a product page so that shoppers can measure themselves in less than one minute directly on their site.

The process runs as follows: your customers can start the experience from their desktop or mobile device by clicking on a customized widget button installed on the product page. Then, the user, dressed in a tight outfit, takes two snaps in a preferred mode — with a friend or by themself guided by a voice assistant. As a result, AI-first body measurement software generates the customer’s body parameters. The underlying technology generates accurate size recommendations and creates a 3D avatar for the customer using this data. With this, brands can provide consumers with a genuine dressing room experience online while gathering more insight into their actual customers’ fit preferences.

MIVE Fashion uses 3DLOOK's Mobile Tailor to get customers' measurements to create custom garments

Mobile body scanning solutions marking fashion's future

Today, mobile body scanning solutions offer the best solution to capturing consumer body measurements. Thanks to improvements in AI technology, not only can these tools provide results more accurate than the human hand, but they also answer consumer demand for mobile-first, digital experiences.

Fashion businesses can already benefit from mobile body measuring apps to create better fitting clothes, reduce returns, and manage their inventory more sustainably. As the body scanning software market continues to evolve, now is the optimal time for brands to take advantage of cutting-edge solutions such as YourFit to boost sales and improve overall market performance.