Avametric’s 3D Scanning to Change Fashion Ecommerce
With $10.5 million of new funding, fashion and technology startup Avametric is poised to turn the way we buy clothes and accessories on its heels. Four years in development, Avametric combines Hollywood visual effects, Silicon Valley entrepreneurialism, and fashion sophistication to bring customers a realistic online “fitting room” that aims to rival the physical retail experience.
Avametric’s new Series A funding, as well as its previous seed round, is in part the result of championing by Khosla Ventures partner Keith Rabois, as well as early participation by startup incubator Y-combinator. Rabois and Ivy Ross of Google Glass fame have both recently joined Avametric’s Board of Directors, alongside CEO Ari Bloom, a longtime investor and entrepreneur, and fashion industry veteran Kendra Gratteri. Gratteri, who previously worked at Forever 21 and Urban Outfitters, is the company’s Chief Customer Officer.
The merging of tech talent with business and fashion expertise is not as rare as it used to be in Silicon Valley, but Avametric is adding another ingredient that makes it unusual among tech companies: Hollywood animation. The company was founded by Stanford computer science PhD David Jackson; his co-founder, James O’Brien, is an Academy Award winning digital animator.
One of the greatest barriers to online shopping adoption has been a consumer’s inability to be certain about the perennial problem of fit. As a 2011 New York Times infographic documented, a size 8 can vary by as much as five inches depending on the designer. According to an interview Avametric CEO Ari Bloom had with VentureBeat, the chance of turning shoppers into buyers rises by 70 percentage points when items are actually tried on in a fitting room.
Avametric’s function is to provide online customers with the same opportunity to see how garments look on their bodies, regardless of brand-specific fit and sizing. Its booth-like fitting room scans up to 200 physical data points to identify a customer’s unique shape. (Alternatively, the technology can estimate shape based on customer-provided measurements.) Avametric then creates accurate 3D renderings of how a garment looks on the customer’s personalized avatar, including details like the texture, weight, and form of each piece. This allows customers to shop as confidently with participating online merchants as they currently do using physical dressing rooms at brick and mortar retailers.
With consumers increasingly using devices to conduct their lives online, retail apparel and accessories e-commerce continues to increase. In 2014, according to Statistica, the U.S. apparel industry generated $52.2 billion in revenue, a number that is expected to rise to $86.4 billion in the next three years. Fashion brands have been scrambling to adjust their business models, align with emerging technology platforms, and improve the online customer experience. With its $10.5 million and the combined talents of its senior team, Avametric hopes to improve the reliability of online shopping in a way that helps consumers be more certain that what they see online is what they will get.
