Trying on clothes in stores is a pain. For you and the store, since about 40% of clothing purchases are returned because they don’t fit right. Kinect to the rescue. The Kinect now officially does everything.
Bloomingdale’s recently contracted with British body-mapping firm Bodymetrics to provide an in-store service to help women purchase the correct size jeans. The Bodymetrics Pod system uses an array of eight Kinect for Windows scanners that analyze and categorize your body based on a 3D model. This helps you find clothes that fit and will reduce the 40% return rate in the process.
You step into the Pod and get scanned. Then it classifies you into one of three groups. Emerald, sapphire, or ruby. I know, it sounds like a Pokémon game. Then you can match yourself with sizes and styles that fit your classification before you buy. Here’s some footage from the system in action at an earlier installation at UK retailer Selfridges:
I’m sure this kind of technology will be in all clothes stores in no time and it might actually help women shop faster. I hope.
[MSDN Blogs via Techcrunch]
