Most people buy clothes based on existing scales of sizes. Therefore, we have to fit into a certain size: small, medium, large, 36, 42, etc. Of course some people choose to use a tailor service to have customized clothes, except that it is expensive. It is also very hard to scale up to, say, a million customers. A Japanese company, ZOZO, has arguably resolved this dilemma.
ZOZOSUIT is a stretchy bodysuit that fit the whole body with the purpose of measuring the body shape and size. ZOZOSUIT is black in color with over 350 white dots that serve as fiducial markers. The ZOZO mobile app will then be used to take 12 photos of a customer and capture the unique way that those white dots are located in space. The data is transformed into an accurate model of the body shape and size of the customer, which is used to produce clothes that will surely fit. Customers do not need to worry about choosing a size anymore. The company is also able to control the cost such that even though the clothes are fully customized, the prices are still quite reasonable. This innovation is particularly attractive to those whose body shape or size is not typically served by traditional clothing.
Following the same line of thinking, customized gloves, shoes, hats, scarfs, jewelry, wearable electronics (including medical devices), furniture, massaging equipment are all possible. It is not entirely impossible to use body data for medical research purposes, in addition to commercial uses (clothing, wearable, dating etc.). For example, combining this set of data with genetic data (think about 23andme) may lead to deeper understanding of genetic control of body shape and size. And what about using the data for fitness/body building purposes? Maybe the company can simply sell the ZOZOSUIT as the end product to track the progress of bodybuilding. Maybe the body data can be used to produce a different kind of clothes: the purpose is not to fit your body, it is to enlarge your shape to make you look the way you want, such as for actors in a movie.
Update: the product is discontinued in many countries. However, ZOZOSUIT 2, the new version of the measurement technology, is still in use.
Link: https://corp.zozo.com/en/measurement-technology/
Location: Japan
Mentioned: among the best inventions of the year by Time
Purpose
To mass customize clothes
Idea
Use a mobile app to take pictures and measure body shape and size
Further Possibilities
1. Develop a service to provide body data, such as through ZOZOSUIT or a 3-D scanning machine
2. Use body shape and size data for medical, genetic or dating research
3. Use the technology for bodybuilding purposes, such as selling the data to those who track their bodybuilding progress
4. Use the data to build avatars for customers in games, virtual reality or social media
5. Use the data to build avatars to try different clothes on virtually
Questions
1. What might be all the products that should be fully customized?
2. How else can we easily measure customer data?
3. How might we better protect customers’ data privacy?
