« Back Virtual Fitting — an Easier Way to Buy Clothes

Clients at one of Tokyo’s most famous hair and make-up styling salons, Kakimoto arms, can now get more than stylish cuts and perms from their favorite stylist—they can also see how they look in recent fashions or coordinate a whole new look, thanks to a virtual fitting system developed by Toshiba.

Here’s how it works. Customers at the Kawasaki Kakimoto arms are now offered more than a magazine while they enter the salon. Instead, they can browse over 100 of the latest outfits on a tablet, choosing the ones they like. The tablet’s ready to help with the decision-making by offering a color-type test; a few questions to determine whether the customer’s coloring is Spring, Summer, Autumn or Winter. The salon’s colorists are also on hand to offer advice on matching hair color and styles with clothes.

Once the client’s hair is styled, it’s on to the next step of the fitting. The customer stands in front of a life-size display, a high resolution camera captures a photograph, and the selected clothes are superimposed on the image with a perfect fit. All it needs is minimum one shot, and the customer can then go from selected outfit to outfit simply by raising an arm. It’s a great way to check out the look of lot of different outfits and find the one that’s just right. It’s also a lot easier and quicker, and much more fun, than ducking in and out of a dressing room to change, change and change again.

In the final step of the fitting, the virtual world meets reality. If a customer finds something she really likes, she can get access to a photo of it with her mobile phone and take it along to a retailer in the same shopping center for a real-world fitting. And if she decides to buy, she can get a better bargain, thanks to a discount ticket picked up at Kakimoto arms.

Mr. Shigeki Yagi, Group Manager, Business Planning Division Toshiba Solutions Corporation  reveals that the system in use in Kawasaki is a demonstration model that will also be used to measure interest in and demand for the system, and to see how many people follow up of fittings with purchases. It integrates advanced sensing technology, developed by Toshiba Group in its security cameras and image authentication system business, that captures highly accurate images and delivers lifelike, true color images. It also delivers high level image processing that makes sure the line of the clothes follow body contours. It can be easily updated to reflect fashion trends and seasonal changes.

The current demonstration runs at Kakimoto arms in the Lazona Kawasaki mall from April 22 to May 31. Beyond that, Toshiba will bring the system into practical use in Japan in the second half of fiscal year 2014 and subsequently introduce it into the appropriate markets, and hopes to establish an omni channel that links fashion e-commerce sites and retailers.

Press Release Available in these languages (PDF) »

2024