Try clothes on online before you buy

Fits.me is a start-up on a mission: to let you try your clothes on before you buy them. Sounds like an old concept, but this website is attempting to let you do this via the web. Can people’s buying habits really be changed by one website?

Fits.me secured €1.3 million in series B funding today, so obviously some people think it has real potential.

When you visit the website, you give all of your measurements to the online software. When you choose any item of clothing it will automatically show you a rough estimation of how it will look on a manikin of your specific dimensions. To me this sounds appealing, but I am not sure I would use it.

It’s true when buying an item online the fear in the back of everyone’s mind is that it will not fit and sending it back will take time, money and a lot of effort. This slowed down original online clothes stores from being developed when ecommerce was first launched.

Now times have changed and websites provide customers with size charts to decide if they think an item of clothing will fit or not. This method has gone a long way to getting shoppers online but some people will have been left behind.

Very tall and short people, who naturally find it hard to get well fitting clothes, will be the most hesitant of all online customers. Will this tool change this? If I was 7ft tall I would find it useful to see how a suit jacket is going to look before I hand over my hard-earned money.

The idea is a great leap forward in online retail, but I don’t think it’ll work – at least not in its current format.

Having tested the site I know it’s not in a normal BETA stage; the tools are well developed and simple to use and it feels almost ready to transform the way we shop online.

I believe in order for it to achieve mainstream success it has set out to align itself to, or get acquired by, a retail giant – Amazon would be a prime candidate for this. This would allow the very functional software to piggy-back on the success of another retailer and gain first-mover advantage over rival products that will inevitably pop up now they have received funding.

Even with Amazon I believe there might be one large drawback holding the tool down: people are lazy online.

Although I have tested the software I don’t know if I would fully register. It seems like a lot of effort for a minimal reward. And what about when I grow or my body changes shape?

For now the website is a great concept idea that might make it mainstream if it can find a niche and expand. I’ll end it here as I have to do some Christmas shopping – right after I’ve measured my girlfriend.