All shoppers know that trying on clothes can be time-consuming, demoralizing and tiring. And in a dressing room you often don’t get a complete view of the new garment you’re trying on.
But in San Francisco, USA, researchers have come up with the Memory Mirror, designed to make buying clothes much easier. The device contains a video camera, which records a 360 degree view of what an outfit looks like and makes side-by-side comparisons. It can also playback twirls, so shoppers can see themselves from all angles. And it can suggest accessories.
Alysa Stefani is a sales manager at Neiman Marcus and has been trying the mirror out: “It’s been fabulous for our clients who really want to get the full view of what they’re trying on who maybe have multiple pieces that they’re looking at and are unsure and want to see a full 360 view which is hard to get into a fitting room.”
The mirror records an eight-second video, which is password protected and can be e-mailed, so that shoppers can other people for opinions. The mirror can also change the color of a garment, and remembers everything a person tries on, to avoid trying the same garment twice. It can even show you how something will fit without you trying it on at all.
Rebecca Minkoff is the CEO of Uri Minkoff, and demonstrated the mirros: “This is a great tool here for people to discover. For example, this is a great jacket, I can see how it’s been worn in different ways, now I’m being educated and given styling tips here. But let’s say I want to add this to my room, I’m a size small, I select that, I add this to my room and there it just went up.”
The question is how companies can reassure customers that their data will be protected, and how it might be used in the future.
