Evolution of Fashion retailing using AI

It is undeniable that trying on clothes is a time-consuming, unpleasant, and exhausting experience for many buyers. And you don't always get a full glimpse of the new outfit you're trying on in a dressing room.?But thanks to the technology that has made our lives simpler by introducing Artificial Intelligence into fashion marketing.

The recent discovery of the “Virtual Fitting Rooms” have been designed to make the buying of clothes and accessories much easier. Yes, you read it right, now the buyers can buy the apparels of their choice without even having to try it physically. Sounds very futuristic right? But it is not as complex as it appears to be once you understand its working.?

It is purely based on Artificial intelligence (AI) technology. By Augmented Reality technique, the items are placed over live imaging of the customer, so that they can check the style, fit and the size of the product that they are thinking to purchase. AI uses algorithms and machine learning to create full-body 3D models of the shopper standing in front of the camera.?

The 3D model created by AI or AR is combined with?radio frequency identification (RFID). This is another technology that scans the products a shopper has taken to the virtual fitting room.?

Some retailers are developing their own software. The augmented reality platform ARKit, developed by Apple, can be used to construct virtual fitting rooms for iOS apps. Amazon is also said to have patented a "blended-reality" mirror that uses augmented reality.

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?This has started gaining popularity post the COVID-19 pandemic era, since the global lockdown resulted in the decline in the retail sales of clothing by 43.5% as customers were unable to visit stores and even when the lockdown was eased, they were skeptical to touch the garments or try it because of the risk of getting exposed to the virus.?

These virtual fitting rooms reduced the risk drastically as the buyers could virtually see how the garment would look on them without even having to touch them. There are a lot of benefits that these virtual fitting rooms provide. People will be willing to pay more for a product if they are provided with such facilities. Also, the stores could utilize the trial rooms’ space to showcase more of their stock.?

There will be a decrease in the return rates as it is believed that most of the returns are made due to unsatisfactory garment size and fit. With this technology, such problems can be eliminated.?The convenience to shop will result in more footfall in the retail stores.

Now the question arises whether people will adapt to this technology or not.

Many of the companies have already incorporated this technology. For example, Adidas have already employed these virtual fitting rooms in their stores and their ecommerce platforms as well.

Gucci had partnered with Snapchat to showcase their new shoes collection which redirected the buyers to their website and had gained a lot of reach through it.

Lenskart also has adapted a similar version of the virtual fitting technology on their ecommerce platform where the buyers can try out new frames before ordering them.

These might have certain drawbacks and small businesses might not be able to adapt to them because of the huge investment required for this but eventually the world will adapt to such technology in one way or the other because buyers want convenience, and the brands will go above and beyond to fulfill that.