If you've ever sat at home wondering if a new hoodie or pair of jeans that you want to buy online would fit, the Gap may soon have a solution for you. The company is slated to launch an app called DressingRoom, which will use augmented reality to allow you to try on clothes without leaving your house.
To use the app—which was built in a collaboration between Google and San Francisco-based startup Avametric—all you have to do is enter information like your height and weight, and a 3D virtual model will appear in front of you to show you how the clothes will fit. If you like what you see, you can buy it right from the app.
Sadly, the app will only be initially available on Google Tango smartphones. So if you're not one of the three people who own one, you'll be waiting to try it out. There's also the fact that a 3D virtual model hardly accounts for the many other variables that can make a piece of clothing look good or bad on a person—things like skin, hair, and eye color; posture; and how you're built (broad versus narrow shoulders, for instance, can have a huge effect).
There's also the tactile factor of clothing. Simply reading online that something is made of 100 percent cotton doesn't tell you how it feels, how it drapes, and so on. And for anyone who really cares about clothes, that stuff matters.
Basically, this sounds like a way to add one more layer of information to an online purchase so that you'll be less likely to return it. Which is certainly a bonus. And given Gap's current struggle to attract customers, getting a technological leg up on the competition is hardly a bad idea.
