Fit: Match will launch a handful of slots this fall with Brookfield, which owns malls like Brookfield Place in downtown New York and Fashion Show in Las Vegas, the companies announced Tuesday.
Source: Brookfield
Tired of going to the dressing rooms to try on clothes and find your correct size? And feel like you’re a different size in different stores?
Well there is a new solution for that.
A startup that has developed 3D technology to scan your body in less than a minute and tell you what size it has for different garments in different stores has partnered with one of the biggest mall owners in the US to start opening kiosks. in shopping centers across the country.
Fit: Match will launch a handful of slots this fall with Brookfield, which owns malls like Brookfield Place in downtown New York and Fashion Show in Las Vegas, the companies announced Tuesday. The first opening at Oakbrook Center in Chicago in mid-August, followed by Glendale Galleria in Los Angels and Stonebriar Center in Dallas in mid-September.
The founder and CEO of the retail startup said he wants to disrupt an archaic industry and adjustment process and help many clothing companies improve their results by getting to know their customers better, right down to the exact size of their pants, shoes and shirts.
“How to make clothing purchases profitable? You limit returns and increase conversion rates,” Fit: Match founder and CEO Haniff Brown told CNBC. “You don’t have to spend as much money on marketing for a person when you already know them.”
Fit: Match opened a pop-up store at Brookbrook’s Baybrook Mall in Houston last November.
“We think just going into a store to get settled is boring,” said Patty Hirt, director of retail development for Brookfield Properties, about why the two came together. She said that many people passing through the Baybrook location would be intrigued to come and see this new technology being used in real time, especially younger shoppers. The average age of visitors was 26, he said.
“Now, they have a lot of brands approaching them” to get on the Fit: Match platform, he said. “We decided to work with them to help them climb.”
Brookfield has also invested money in Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based Fit: Match, but the company declined to say how much.
Source: Fit: Match
All of this happened before the coronavirus declared a pandemic on March 11. Fit: Match and its technology have been in development for years. Now the concept makes even more sense.
Retailers have been considering virtual testers for many years. Several startups, like Israel-based Sizer, and the 3DLOOK body data platform tout the ability to scan bodies to help with size in retail. Neither of these concepts has yet been able to scale, but the pandemic could give them a boost.
People generally don’t feel comfortable going back to the changing rooms. A recent survey found that approximately 49% of millennial consumers said they would not feel safe trying on clothes in locker rooms, even after the pandemic subsides. And that percentage was much higher for baby boomers, at 71%.
Overall, according to the survey conducted by retail predictive analytics company First Insight, 65% of women said they wouldn’t feel safe trying on clothes in locker rooms. Fifty-four percent of the men said the same thing.
“Coronavirus has moved this industry from high contact to low contact,” said First Insight CEO Greg Petro.
According to Brown, getting a scan with Fit: Match will be a “totally contactless” experience, which would bode well for people who are afraid to try on clothes physically.
A 10-second body scan will take more than a dozen measurements from a person, which will then be synced to inventory at each of their retail partners to show the items of the person you’d like based on your fit, Brown said. It also hides inventory that doesn’t fit.
Each user gets a suitable “ID” that they can customize over time and re-adapt as their body changes.
Fit: Match’s goal is to add more retailers to its platform over time. He has not yet revealed which companies he is currently working with.
In the future, physical clothing stores will serve only as “vehicles to provide satisfaction,” added Brown. “We see this as the future. This will become bets.”
Brookfield has also invested money in Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based Fit: Match, but the company declined to say how much.
“I absolutely see this happening across the country,” said Hirt of Brookfield. “Think about fit at all levels. Back to school for kids … retailers are really struggling to get the right size for kids. There are a number of applications.”
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