It is no surprise that poor fit is a huge problem throughout the fashion industry. It’s resulted in billions of dollars in revenue lost for companies due to customer returns, while also exacerbating the waste problem. For a long time, companies have relied on old sizing studies or old data, which has inhibited them from designing with a true understanding of their customer. Integrating fit solutions like BodyBlock AI with 3D design tools can aide in solving this problem by speeding up the time to market, and reducing costs and the likelihood of returns. This technology created by BodyBlock AI helps brands evolve their sizing strategies to keep up with the changing sizes of today’s populations.
BodyBlock AI has built a variety of services on top of a database of 1.5 million body scans that helps brands run sizing studies, design in 3D around representative avatars, and market to consumers based on their body shape. “Data is revolutionizing the apparel ecosystem. Using body data can literally impact every step of your supply chain for a competitive edge,” says Patrick Donnelly, Director of Marketing. He continues, “BodyBlock was created in part because people feel that ‘clothes don’t fit them’ where our data shows it’s the other way around. Clothes from the math, can’t & won’t fit the majority of people. By helping improve fit for brands overall, we’re providing a valuable service to the masses.” Wrong fit affects sell-through, return rates, and sustainability, and this is what BodyBlock AI looks to combat. “We see fit as the cornerstone of the entire customer journey with the brand,” says Greg Moore, CEO and Co-Founder. He continued, “BodyBlock AI allows us to build the entire apparel industry with a body-first approach.”
The foundation of the “ideal fit” and highest factor for customer satisfaction and retention is for a company to implement a sizing strategy. The only way to do this is by capturing data which can be tedious. The services that BodyBlock AI provides allow for brands to take advantage of data that has already been collected and run sizing studies off of that in just a matter of days. Being that BodyBlock has already created solutions to measure customers at scale, brands do not need to collect the data themselves. BodyBlock gives brands the best understanding of the sizing and shape of their customers, which allows brands to successfully focus on their mission to develop great fitting, looking, and feeling products.
There are several specific steps that a brand can take to maximize their fit coverage:
- Do a sizing study to get to know the shape of your customers. If you haven’t done a sizing study in the last 3 years or don’t know the shape of your customers, you should do another one.
- Refine your grade rules to match your target population.
- Use your sizing study to download representative avatars of your customers to use in a 3D design software like CLO.
- Implement an online fit predictor, like BodyBlock, to help your customers measure themselves online & pick the best fitting garment.
When integrated with a 3D design tool, BodyBlock can give any 3D designer representative avatars within each size grade they have. They can then design in CLO, designing for fit digitally to help create the best garment fit possible before moving into physical sampling.
In recent years we have also seen companies striving to be more inclusive with extended size offerings to cater to the plus size market; BodyBlock AI says this another area their technology can help. The company offers something called a Fit Coverage Report that helps brands understand what percentage of their standard sizes actually fit their customers. Being aware of this early on has a huge positive impact on the overall design process. Another thing that should be considered are grading rules. Most brands, or the factories they work with, use linear grading which can assume that most people, regardless of size, have similar proportions and that is simply not the case. “We help brands adjust their grade rules to best fit the bodies of the consumers they sell to. This generally increases the brand’s fit coverage by 3-4X,” says Donnelly. “This isn’t incremental, it’s a game-changer that gives more consumers a chance to the brand’s clothing.”
BodyBlock AI has provided 8 different avatars compatible with CLO that you can download here for your own use. For more information on the company and how a brand can work to evolve their sizing strategy, visit bodyblock.ai.