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Gap acquires 3D fitting room startup Drapr

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Re: Gap acquires 3D fitting room startup Drapr

#51
post #36
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One problem with that is that not all the articles are the same size. You can order 1000 t-shirts in the same size from a manufacturer and not all of them will be the same size (especially if you order the cheapest you can find). This is mainly due to cheap fabrics stretching unevenly (roll to roll difference and beginning of the roll can stretch differently from the end) and if you cut them by pressing through a thi…

What if we ended up with a system where I know I'm a B29. Then after every shirt made, it's tested against the B26 - B34 (since it's probably somewhere in there) and then labelled as a fit for B29. Then I just go shopping for B29s.

Assuming B29 is a series of measurements, this is the right solution in my opinion. The challenge is the cost of measuring and tagging every item after production. The relationship to model out is cost of pre-measuring every garment vs cost of returns. If you could dramatically lower your return rate you may be able to be more profitable measuring every garment. But... even measuring successfully presents challenges.

Going in to a store would seem absolutely insane if you could just order tons of stuff in your size and it all fits and you would not have to make returns.

Re: Gap acquires 3D fitting room startup Drapr

#52

This seems to be an acquihire? IF you wanted to get a high valuation you would have stuck it out by yourself longer I would think?

Gap, Inc. also has a collection of dying brands and is a little desperate. Gap and Banana Republic are stale. I guess Old Navy is doing OK. Google trends says Athleta seems to do OK, but it's a second-rate Lululemon.

Re: Gap acquires 3D fitting room startup Drapr

#53

Personally I don't think the issue is "3D fitting" - the issue is that the sizing and fit of clothes hasn't both been: standardized and quantified. Do both and a 3D fitting room wouldn't be necessary to begin with.

> Personally I don't think the issue is "3D fitting" - the issue is that the sizing and fit of clothes hasn't both been: standardized and quantified. Yes, it has. The problem is that nontrivial clothing requires multidimensional fit which is impractical for mass-produced off-the-rack clothing, and marketing of mass-produced clothes is therefore driven by all kinds of things, none of which is using the well-establishe…

>Yes, it has.

It most certainly has not. Even in men's legwear where your clothing is more or less fully defined by two measurements (waist circumference and inseam length), there are lots of variations between brands for garments with the same nominal size.

I have 2 pairs of billabong board shorts that are slightly too big and fall down if I don't cinch the drawstrings extra tight. Size 34 waist.

I have another 2 pairs of o'neill shorts that fit perfectly and don't fall down even if I don't lace up the drawstring at all. Size 34 waist.

Let's not even get into women's clothing where you can have such ill-defined terms like "size zero".

Re: Gap acquires 3D fitting room startup Drapr

#54
> by showing them how an item will actually look on their body

This is only half of the equation, and I find a lot of people are ignoring - mainly because it seems intractable.

As important as how an item of clothing looks on my body, is how it feels on my body. Does it constrict when I move. Am I able to sit, stand, and walk comfortably in it?

Some times a piece of clothing can look perfect, if I am standing rigidly like a mannequin, but it is highly uncomfortable with any movement.

Re: Gap acquires 3D fitting room startup Drapr

#55
post #36
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One problem with that is that not all the articles are the same size. You can order 1000 t-shirts in the same size from a manufacturer and not all of them will be the same size (especially if you order the cheapest you can find). This is mainly due to cheap fabrics stretching unevenly (roll to roll difference and beginning of the roll can stretch differently from the end) and if you cut them by pressing through a thi…

What if we ended up with a system where I know I'm a B29. Then after every shirt made, it's tested against the B26 - B34 (since it's probably somewhere in there) and then labelled as a fit for B29. Then I just go shopping for B29s.

"Sorry, B29 is a mild outlier in terms of sizing - only 5% of the population wears B29 so we don't keep that in stock."

I had this problem when I was younger with an outlier waist/inseam ratio. I was only one inseam size out of "normal" but had to catalog order my pants. I wonder how it would work now with modern supply chain efficiencies. Back then I could rely on a warehouse somewhere having my size, but just-in-time may not allow room for that.

I love the idea though. As someone who rarely finds a t-shirt where I like the fit (either too tight or too long), I'd love to just have something I could count on. I can't even rely on just getting the same size from the same store each time.

Re: Gap acquires 3D fitting room startup Drapr

#56
Zozo solved this with the Zozosuit: https://corp.zozo.com/en/news/20201029-6375/ (that is version 2).

You wear a ridiculous looking figure-hugging suit and scan yourself with their app. Then you don't wear the suit again (unless you change shape). Version 2 of the suit looks much less silly.

Now you can order what you want and it's for your size!

It does works, but... make sure you know exactly what you want. e.g. do you want a closer fit? Looser fit?

Re: Gap acquires 3D fitting room startup Drapr

#57

Personally I don't think the issue is "3D fitting" - the issue is that the sizing and fit of clothes hasn't both been: standardized and quantified. Do both and a 3D fitting room wouldn't be necessary to begin with.

Body types vary widely though. If you’re athletic you may have a strong shoulder to hip drop, getting shirts that are blousy in the midsection. Conversely, if you’re heavy set or short you may get garments that are overly long. Some companies do try to address this to a degree with slim or athletic cuts, and yes a tailor could take you the rest of the way ‘mostly’ there, but the future of clothing is 3D scanning and…

I can't imagine 3D printing clothing working for most kinds of garments any time soon. Just mechanically stitching straight seams with a robot has proven to be nearly impossible. It might be economically feasible to laser cut some fabrics and drive down MTM costs, but you can already do that fairly cheaply with existing tech.

Re: Gap acquires 3D fitting room startup Drapr

#58
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Personally I don't think the issue is "3D fitting" - the issue is that the sizing and fit of clothes hasn't both been: standardized and quantified. Yes, it has. The problem is that nontrivial clothing requires multidimensional fit which is impractical for mass-produced off-the-rack clothing, and marketing of mass-produced clothes is therefore driven by all kinds of things, none of which is using the well-establishe…

>Yes, it has. It most certainly has not. Even in men's legwear where your clothing is more or less fully defined by two measurements (waist circumference and inseam length), there are lots of variations between brands for garments with the same nominal size. I have 2 pairs of billabong board shorts that are slightly too big and fall down if I don't cinch the drawstrings extra tight. Size 34 waist. I have another 2 pa…

> Size 34 waist.

If you want an extra shock: measure your waist. It's not 34 inches!

Re: Gap acquires 3D fitting room startup Drapr

#59
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Personally I don't think the issue is "3D fitting" - the issue is that the sizing and fit of clothes hasn't both been: standardized and quantified. Yes, it has. The problem is that nontrivial clothing requires multidimensional fit which is impractical for mass-produced off-the-rack clothing, and marketing of mass-produced clothes is therefore driven by all kinds of things, none of which is using the well-establishe…

>Yes, it has. It most certainly has not. Even in men's legwear where your clothing is more or less fully defined by two measurements (waist circumference and inseam length), there are lots of variations between brands for garments with the same nominal size. I have 2 pairs of billabong board shorts that are slightly too big and fall down if I don't cinch the drawstrings extra tight. Size 34 waist. I have another 2 pa…

>Let's not even get into women's clothing where you can have such ill-defined terms like "size zero".

size zero at least makes sense if it's the smallest, and they're using zero based indexing. It really gets ridiculous when they have size 00.

Re: Gap acquires 3D fitting room startup Drapr

#60
post #55
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if we ended up with a system where I know I'm a B29. Then after every shirt made, it's tested against the B26 - B34 (since it's probably somewhere in there) and then labelled as a fit for B29. Then I just go shopping for B29s.

"Sorry, B29 is a mild outlier in terms of sizing - only 5% of the population wears B29 so we don't keep that in stock." I had this problem when I was younger with an outlier waist/inseam ratio. I was only one inseam size out of "normal" but had to catalog order my pants. I wonder how it would work now with modern supply chain efficiencies. Back then I could rely on a warehouse somewhere having my size, but just-in-ti…

If we got away from factory clothes and moved to a model where someone made two or three year's worth of clothes for $500 (well I guess the price would be based on your packages??)

Then the clothing designer would input B29 and it would adjust all sorts of things and print out a pattern. Then the clothing designer could "test fit" the final shirt on a really cool adjustomatic mannequin made of weird pistons and balloons. Ok that last part is unlikely to happen but it sounds awesome.

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