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Dressing Room

Year In Review

Year In Review: Editor’s Picks – Biggest News Of 2015

2015 Year In Review Wrap Up_Editors Picks Top Stories Wearables Fashion Tech Environment

From smartwatches, to connected dressing rooms, to recycled clothing, 2015 was an incredible year for fashion and technology. We saw advances to help us be better global citizens, encourage kids to be smarter, and keep us connected at all times. While 2016 promises to be the year that fashion tech and wearables begin to find their audience, 2015 laid the groundwork!

Head past the break as we take a look at the stories we believe shaped the industry in 2015 and that will define where the integration of fashion and technology is headed.  

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ralph lauren Polo Oak Labs smart dressing room
Retail

Polo Ralph Lauren Launches Smart Dressing Rooms

ralph lauren Polo Oak Labs smart dressing room

Ralph Lauren announced today that it has partnered with Oak Labs to launch smart dressing rooms in their flagship Polo store on 5th Avenue in New York. When you enter the dressing room, RFID tags on the clothes you are trying on are automatically read and the mirror displays which size and styles you have brought in. As you try on items, you can select it on the mirror to see other sizes and colors are available. If you need a different size or want to see another color, simply tap the screen and a salesperson will bring it to you. As you are trying on items, the mirror displays a complete “look” featuring the article of clothing. You can use the “look” as a fit guide, to get ideas on how it would fit into your wardrobe, or even shop the “look” and have the other items brought to you in the dressing room. The new dressing rooms also address the sometimes misleading lighting in a fitting room, offering three on-brand lighting simulations: 5th Avenue Daylight, East Hampton Sunset, or Evening At The Polo Bar. While you cannot check out directly from the fitting room, like at Rebecca Minkoff, when you are finished in the dressing room you can have the items you tried on automatically texted to yourself, complete with a web link. Unlike the Polo Tech shirt which was announced a year before it launched, the high tech dressing rooms are already up and running. There are 4 specially equipped rooms on both the men’s and the women’s floors of the Polo Ralph Lauren store.

If you haven’t heard of Ralph Lauren’s partner for their smart dressing room, there is a good reason; Ralph Lauren is Oak Labs the first client. Based out of San Francisco, Oak Labs is only a few months old and  

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Rebecca Minkoff Connected Dressing Room
Retail

Connected Dressing Rooms Continue Push Into Retail

Rebecca Minkoff Connected Dressing Room

We have talked about several different connected dressing room / digital mirror technologies in the past. It seems that the technology is starting to gain some traction. If you look at the numbers it is not surprising that retailers want to improve the dressing room experience. According to retail consultant Paco Underhill, 71% of shoppers who try on clothing in the fitting room make a purchase, but only 28% of shoppers enter the fitting room. Just 36% of visitors to a store exclusively browsing buy something. Driving more people to the fitting means more sales. If you have been to a clothing or department store recently, it is obvious it wouldn’t take much to improve the dressing room experience, so the concept of the connected dressing room is a huge leap forward. New technologies allow you to share photos of your try-on experience, record 360 degree views of you in the clothing, virtually try on different colors and styles, compare looks, and request different sizes.

Rebecca Minkoff has led the charge by adapting a feature rich version of eBay’s solution in its boutiques in New York and San Francisco. The small size of the boutique has allowed the outlet to deploy as many features as possible and gain meaningful analytics about its success. The boutiques allow you to use a touch screen mirror to request items for a dressing room and be alerted when your room is ready. The clothes are tagged with RFID so the dressing room can display what items you have brought in. Through the mirror in the room, you can browse “looks” for the clothing, request different sizes, store what you tried on to your account, and even purchase items you like. According to Minkoff, the two test stores have sold product 2.5 times faster than expected and customers making purchases are spending 30% more. The company is so pleased with the technology that CEO Uri Minkoff has announced the Chicago and Los Angeles stores will also adopt it when they open later this year. Head past the break to see what the Rebecca Minkoff shopping experience is like:  

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Retail

Toshiba Demos Virtual “Fitting Room” Technology

Toshiba Virtual Fitting RoomToshiba recently demoed its vision of what a fitting room of the future could be. Simply stand in front of the video screen “mirror”, select the outfit you want to see, and then it will appear on you. The fitting room uses a Kinect sensor to accurately place you in the space and apply the computer generated clothing on your image. The technology seems a bit reminiscent of early webcam days, when software would let you virtually apply an eye patch or have birds circle your head. Ray-ban has a lower tech version of a virtual “fitting room” concept on their website (no connection to Toshiba’s tech), allowing you to virtually try on different sunglasses using the video from your webcam. It is far from perfect, and hopefully utilizing the technology in the Kinect helps Toshiba realize better results. As it currently exists, this type of technology doesn’t provide any feedback regarding fit, its use case seems to be limited to understanding what a certain style would look like on you.

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MemoMi Memory Mirror Neiman Marcus
Retail

Neiman Marcus Debuts Digital Memory Mirror

MemoMi Memory Mirror Neiman Marcus

While we continue to sort through all the relevant news surrounding CES, it is nice to take a break from all the “smart-this” and “smart-that” news regarding things that strap to our body. Neiman Marcus has announced they they are rolling out a first-of-its-kind digital mirror to many of its retail locations over 2015. Already in place at the Walnut Creek, CA location, the MemoMi developed Memory Mirror uses a camera to record you in various outfits. This allows you to playback what it looks like from all angles, compare outfits side-by-side, and share the images / videos with friends. You are also able to view your modeling session via the Neiman Marcus app. One of the more impressive feature of the Memory Mirror is that it is able to change the color of the dress you are trying on with a wave of your hand. So if they are out of stock of the dress in the color you wanted, you can try it on in any color and the mirror will display what the color you want will look like. Neiman Marcus is wisely shy about installing a camera laden mirror in the dressing room areas, so the Memory Mirror can be found on the sales floor. The company has said it is looking into developing a camera-less version that would essentially operate as a monitor. Head past the break to see it in action: 

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Retail

Nordstrom Trials eBay’s Smart Fitting Room

Nordstrom eBay Smart Fitting RoomThis week Nordstrom will begin trials of a smart fitting room in two of its department stores. The eBay designed fitting rooms feature touch screens integrated into full length mirrors. The technology is designed to allow a shopper to have many of the conveniences available via online shopping in the store. If you need an item in a different size or color, simply scan the tag on the garment and a list of different options will be provided.  Select the size or color you want and the item will be brought to you. Nordstrom is looking to see how the technology, that has only been tested in boutiques at this point, benefits a larger retail environment. Look for the fitting rooms in the department store’s Seattle and San José locations.

eBay has already developed more bells and whistles for its smart fitting room, which Nordstrom might add at a later time. The tech company’s smart fitting room is already being tested in two Rebecca Minkoff boutiques, New York and San Francisco. The boutique is able to offer additional features, such as RFID to identify clothes that are in the dressing room with you, the ability to begin the checkout process from the dressing room, and the option to remember clothes that you tried on. Head past the break to see a demo of Rebecca Minkoff’s dressing room. 

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