Pre-Register Now! 3DPrint.com Hosts Free Body Labs Webinar: ‘How to Use 3D Body Imaging to Innovate In the Apparel or Footwear Industry’

Join us this Thursday for: ‘How to Use 3D Body Imaging to Innovate In the Apparel or Footwear Industry.’ This webinar is being hosted by both 3DPrint.com and Body Labs on June 23rd from 2:30 to 3:15 p.m. EDT.

Not too long ago I read some rather logical but also concerning information regarding kids and their clothes. Logical because it suggested that parents needed to get with it on exactly what they were adorning their little miracles with because well-fitting clothes had a direct correlation with self-confidence—and disturbing because of course children are already growing out of what you bought them just on the ride home from the mall, no matter the terrifying price tag for something that weighs all of two ounces.

Now that I’m taking a hyper-aware look at how the children’s wardrobe fits and whether or not it’s elevating their self-esteem, I began looking at myself too: my favorite pants fit well everywhere but the waist which has always required a constant tug, and the blouse is still a little tight in the arms, but I like the length. The children are bounding about happily, but perhaps it’s my own closet and self image that need the boost.

How to solve this issue? Let’s shop! Some more! But are we going to buy solutions, or just more off-the-rack problems? According to 3D imaging company Body Labs, 23% of all clothing purchased is returned. When you think about it, that probably sounds right regarding your own experiences overall. But when you think about it again, how wrong! Why do we waste so much time, and how can we stop this?  Not only that, while you may think retailers are just shrugging this off as the cost of doing business, what’s actually being created today is a new phenomenon called the ‘ghost economy,’ a term and category for all those sales and profits—and products—that slip through the cracks.

It’s a flawed, frustrating system for shoppers and retailers both, especially in the world of apparel and shoes. Body Labs, as we’ve reported previously, aims to fix this rather nauseating current system and we actually think they will with their patented body modeling technology. This can be used to take you from the 2D nightmare of shopping, returning, shopping, and returning and instead launch you into an efficient 3D future of algorithms and avatars which combine customer specific data with templates.

The information can then be used as a tool for retailers to help their customers significantly improve the shopping experience by recommending sizes—and this can happen completely online without even having to meet on the storefront. Everyone’s happier—and the bottom line is saved.

The current state of the industry, problems for shoppers, problems for retailers, and solutions via body imaging are all going to be discussed in detail on Thursday, June 23rd from 2:30 to 3:15 PM EDT as 3DPrint.com and Body Labs host a webcast entitled ‘How to Use 3D Body Imaging to Innovate In the Apparel or Footwear Industry.’ You can look forward to finding out more about the results from the Body Labs’ 2016 Apparel & Footwear Retail Survey Report, along with a discussion on how Body Labs expects to see change regarding such details as:

• 64% of shoppers return items because of ill fit
• 85% of shoppers would purchase more at one time if they could find a better fit
• 46% of shoppers hate trying on clothes in the dressing room

Since you probably are a shopper or even as a reluctant retail visitor have been one at some time or another, these statistics probably don’t seem far off the mark. Think about how many times you have returned or attempted to exchange something in a hurry with this simple explanation: ‘It didn’t fit.’ With no questions asked, the customer service person has no choice but to accept the clothing or shoes back into the fold. Can you imagine how many times he or she hears that in a day? I imagine they must often feel lost in a sea of faces by day’s end, all repeating, ‘it doesn’t fit, it doesn’t fit, it doesn’t fit.’ After all, they are one chink in the chain responsible for trying to make customers happy, and in the process taking back $62 billion yearly (according to last year’s numbers) in returned apparel and shoes.

Overall, according to Body Labs, this is a $1.2 trillion global industry, with US consumers spending $250 billion annually on apparel and footwear. Now, their goal is to make history, basically, streamlining this entire retail process through solving the measuring and fitting issue, and taking a big chunk out of the fuel that feeds that ghost economy.

“Body Labs is commercializing the world’s most advanced technology for analyzing human body shape, pose and motion. Its mission is to provide a 3D digital human body platform upon and around which goods and services can be designed, manufactured, bought and sold,” states Body Labs as they gear up for their webinar with 3DPrint.com.

As Jon Cilley, chief evangelist for Body Labs, leads this webinar which 3DPrint.com is very excited to be a part of, you can look forward to learning about how their 3D body imaging technology helps with the following:

• Finding the perfect apparel fit by extracting detailed customer measurements at scale
• Customizing sizing recommendations for online retail by correlating garment or footwear measurements to individuals
• Helping customers find the right styles through virtual try on

I’m reminded of a joke I often make with my sister, that her hobby is shopping at one of our favorite discount department stores. It’s nice there; I get it. It smells good, the music is relaxing, and it’s a wonderful escape from reality, wandering around pushing a cart mindlessly like a Stepford wife (and the occasional husband too). But wouldn’t it be easier if instead of the endless cycle of returns and exchanges we just made one shopping trip and those clothes went to their forever home?

We hope you’ll join us at the webinar so that you too can learn about how Body Labs plans to reshape the future of retail, allow for shoppers and businesses to have a more symbiotic relationship, and put one important portion of the economy back on track. Many will agree: shopping should be therapy—not send you there!

You can find out more about both the Body Labs’ 2016 Apparel & Footwear Retail Survey Report here, along with more details about the Body Labs and 3DPrint.com online webinar here. The webinar is free, and we hope you’ll join us on Thursday, June 23. Please go ahead and pre-register now! Discuss this event over in the 3D Imaging Webinar forum at 3DPB.com.