SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Bold Metrics Inc. (BMI), a global leader in algorithmic body measurement prediction technology, announced the addition of Apparel Insights (BMI AI). The new product allows apparel brands to leverage Bold Metrics’ proprietary artificial intelligence technology to take a more data-driven approach when designing clothes and ready-to-wear sizing.
There is a foundational shift taking place when it comes to how clothes are being made and how size is communicated and understood by consumers. At the core of this change is a departure from the traditional "fit model" approach and a move towards garment design informed by a brand's actual customer body data. Historically, brands guessed who their customers were and how customers with different body shapes, sizes, and ages interacted with and bought their clothes. The problem is, as online shopping has moved from stores to eCommerce, customers are changing brands, styles, and fits faster than ever before, leaving brands disconnected from their actual customers.
“The way clothes are made today involves a lot of assumptions and relies on insights gathered from fit models, which in most cases is an anecdotal approach to assess apparel sizing and fit,” said Daina Burnes, the co-founder and CEO of Bold Metrics. “We see the opportunity to fundamentally change the way clothes are made by using real customer data rather than assumptions and fit models. Apparel brands can now algorithmically obtain detailed body measurements of their shoppers and leverage this data upstream to curate AI-driven product decisions around sizing and fit.”
Trusted by some of the largest apparel brands in the world, Bold Metrics has quickly become a core part of ongoing fit initiatives led by brands that are trying to keep up with changes in consumers’ buying habits and body shapes.
Fit issues continue to be a major problem that apparel brands face today and the primary reason for online returns, which are 30% on average but can exceed 50% for harder-to-fit garments like denim. While fit recommendation solutions have helped consumers find the best size, brands are still flying blind when it comes to who is buying their clothes and how they can improve their fit using a more data-driven, consumer-centric approach.
“The reality is that we’re still living in a world where clothes are made using a process that was developed over 100 years ago,” said Morgan Linton, co-founder and COO of Bold Metrics. “We’ve developed a highly-scalable approach to enable brands to gain access to the body measurements of their shoppers, algorithmically, which means they can stop guessing who is buying their clothes and start making clothes for their actual customer.”
