A Milwaukee company behind an app that operates as a virtual fitting room for consumers has the potential to double its workforce in 2021 due to demand for its product and growth in the online clothes-shopping industry.
Due to Covid-19 lockdowns in 2020, Christian Ruth, founder and CEO of local tech firm MySureFit, said the online shopping industry accelerated at least five years ahead in regards to how brands do business with customers. Industry experts, Ruth said, believe online shopping will increase 35% or more in 2021. That's because the majority of consumers, at least for most of 2021, will not shop inside stores or use fitting rooms, in addition to brands not letting people try on clothing items, as a direct result of Covid's impact on how people socially distance and avoid touch surfaces.
“It’s really changing the experience for people," Ruth said.
Ruth launched MySureFit in 2015. Through the app, a person uploads their photo for digital scanning. The company’s technology then determines the users' measurements and allows them, using either their own virtual image or demo model, to shop for clothing items that fit their sizes across different brands, as styles within clothing brands – despite being labeled the same size – fit differently for individuals due to unique characteristics targeting certain body shapes, he said.
Typically in a store, a person can try on different sizes of the same garment to make sure it fits. With online shopping, however, more than 50% of consumers order the same garment in multiple sizes, hoping one will be a perfect fit. This leads to high rates of returns, logistics expenses and inventory issues for clothing companies, Ruth said.
“We can reconcile their unique measurement with the actual sizes across hundreds of brands by tens of thousands of styles," Ruth said.
The company has roughly 40 employees, with 50% of its U.S. talent based in Wisconsin, Ruth said.
The technology boasts a 99% measurement accuracy and an average return rate of 1%, Ruth said. Through the app, the original brands automatically fulfill orders directly to consumers. Also through the app, users can share their virtual mannequins with friends. Ruth said the company is looking to combine its measurement technology and user preference data to generate possible outfits for users within a digital carousel.
Some of the brands using MySureFit include Levi's, Calvin Klein and Kendal + Kylie, the clothing line by celebrities and models Kendall Jenner and Kylie Jenner.
The company's app is available on IoS and Android, but consumers can also access the virtual fitting room from the company's website. Since launching, the amount of users on the platform has reached into the hundreds of thousands, leading to thousands of items purchased from over 200 brands, Ruth said.
