性视界

Founded in 2008 and launched commercially in 2012, Metail has developed a virtual fitting room technology that allows consumers to generate a 3D model of themselves, the 鈥淢eModel鈥�, by uploading a photo and entering just a few key body measurements (height, weight, age, bra size, bust, waist and hips). The result is an image that reflects size and shape with 92% to 96% accuracy and the ability to rotate and change hairstyle. Selected items of clothing are then superimposed over the models, and can be viewed from 360 degrees (see images).

 

Its founder and CEO Tom Adeyoola (see portrait of him), an economics graduate from Cambridge and former Head of Gaming at Inspired Gaming Group, had the idea for his company after his wife complained about her clothes-buying experiences. Metail鈥檚 growth has been rapid. The initial $75,000 of funding from 鈥渇riends, families and fools鈥� has become a pot of $20 million; in its latest round in 2014, Metail raised $12 million in funding with a new lead investor, TAL Apparel of Hong Kong-based TAL Group, a global leader in garment manufacturing and responsible for making 1 in 6 men鈥檚 dress shirts. In 2015, Metail won the 鈥淚BM Commerce Ecosystem Technology Innovator of the Year鈥� and, in 2016, became one of the first 30 companies to be involved in the 鈥淭ech City UK Upscale Program – A network of founders, scaling faster, scaling together鈥�. Metail鈥檚 team consists of about 60 people, including 14 PhDs, and is based in London, United Kingdom with additional offices in聽 Cambridge and Singapore. The service is available on mobile, tablet and desktop, and only caters to creating women 鈥淢eModels鈥�. 聽The virtual fitting room technology solution is typically sold to retailers, who rebrand it so the end-consumer sees it integrated into the store鈥檚 e-commerce platform. Partner retailers have included Tesco, Zalando, House of Holland, Warehouse, Rocket Internet鈥檚 Dafiti and an increasing number of Asian retailers, e.g. Thailand鈥檚 BeesYou, India鈥檚 abof.com and Singapore鈥檚 SingTel. 750,000 people have already created 鈥淢eModels鈥�, and online retailers are expected to digitize up to 200,000 garments with Metail this year, up from 40,000 last year.

Value creation

鈥淪eeing something very visual, getting to the clothing most relevant to you really quickly, not being intimidated by infinite choice and having a fun and engaging experience 鈥� that鈥檚 what we鈥檙e trying to deliver,鈥� explained Adeyoola. Through 鈥淢eModel鈥� consumers can shop, interact with clothes and get a preview of how garments might drape against their body type so that they end up with clothes they actually want to keep. Furthermore, Metail has developed an intelligent algorithm giving personalized size and style advice based on 鈥淢eModel鈥� data, previous purchasing behavior and data of other customers (see machine learning diagram).

Retailers have to cope with fewer returns, while also boosting brand engagement and loyalty. This alleviates a major problem for them; traditionally, up to half of online apparel sales are sent back, often due to poor fitting. In addition, Metail offers data analytics to the online retailers (see consumer insight dashboard), which illustrates how consumer-facing AR applications can drive back-end benefits: 鈥淥ur big partner in India is using data that is coming through to re-cut their clothes to match the fact that India is not a one-size demographic 鈥� people are taller in the North and shorter in the South. They are starting to rethink and recut clothes,鈥� said Adeyoola. 鈥淔or another retailer, for example, we saw that only 20 percent of their customers matched the clothes that were cut. By resourcing the garments, they could do a better job of matching that demographic.鈥�

Metail is convenient, easy and quick: From the consumer鈥檚 point of view, generating the 鈥淢eModel鈥� is done from basic information and in only ten seconds. A聽user only has to create a “MeModel” once as it is portable across supporting sites. From the online retailer鈥檚 point of view, digitizing clothing is quick and cheap to avoid having to charge retailers for it. Metail was able to reduce the cost of making 3D images of garments from between $300 and $400 an item to less than $10, and halved the cost of 2D images for catalogues by introducing 鈥淐omposed Photography. Models only need to be photographed once, whilst the collection is shot separately on custom-made mannequins. Techs then dress the model in the online retailer鈥檚 clothing as if she was photographed wearing it.

According to research conducted by Metail in conjuction with Tufts University and the Kellogg School of Management, the Metail鈥檚 AR application can boost sales by 22 percent.

Value capture

Metail charges retailers a basic license fee for incorporating the technology into their online shopping portals, and then takes a share of sales.

Going forward

鈥淲e want the MeModel to reflect the way consumers buy and then use fashion鈥�, said Adeyoola. 聽That spans ideas such as an advice model that suggests outfits from the consumer鈥檚 wardrobe depending on today鈥檚 weather, or a styling service to help people find clothing consumers have seen in magazines or just on someone walking down the street. The long-term vision is for Metail to become the 鈥淕oogle of sizing and shape鈥� with data from its聽3D visualization technology: The more consumer use the 鈥淢eModel鈥� in their clothing related experiences, the better the recommendations and search skills will get through artificial intelligence and 鈥渄eep learning鈥�. Metail will be the custodian of the world鈥檚 size and shape dataset, like Facebook is of the world鈥檚 social graph, and become the Google of sizing and shape through being the access channel for users to quickly and easily find and get recommended clothes that they will like and which will look good on them.

However, Metail isn鈥檛 the only one tackling the fashion e-commerce fitting problem. A number of startups across Europe are cropping up in this space: Fits.me, founded in 2010, has raised about $14.3 million in funding and offers a similar virtual fitting room solution that involves creating a robot mannequin based on the consumer鈥檚 measurement and allowing them to try on clothing to choose the best fit. Bodi.me utilizes 3D scanning and lets shoppers create profiles with a webcam.

With eight patents and 23 pending, Metail should continuously focus on the protection of its intellectual property. However, since the 鈥淢eModel鈥� shows promising result, the attention can be shifted slightly from product and technology development to scaling the company. In order to build a platform and preempt competition, Metail needs to build relationships across the fashion retail industry and attract more clients. Furthermore, the company needs to build a consumer-facing mobile app on its own – a departure from simply powering the virtual fitting room offerings 聽of partner retailers 鈥� to implement the wardrobe advice model and clothing search service. 聽Then, it should continue its international expansion, which has led the company already to Germany, South America, Singapore, India, Vietnam, Korea and Taiwan. Thereby, it mustn鈥檛 forget to keep the digitization process quick and affordable, because the business relies on retailers digitizing all of their clothing offer 鈥� that is, mapping the exact sizing online of tens of thousands of garments that come to market every single day.

 

Sources

Company Homepage.

Company Overview of Metail Limited.

Edwin Jiang (Feb 28, 2017): Virtual Reality: Growth Engine for Fashion?

Vicki Owen (Feb 25, 2017): Metail’s message to retailers: Try on this tech for size if you really want to make clothes that fit.

Claire Hutchinson (Nov 28, 2016): Entrepreneurs: Goodbye fitting-room blues as Metail adds new dimension to buying fashion online.

David Prosser (Aug 30, 2016): Meet Metail, The Next Big Thing In Online Fashion.

Charmaine Li (Oct 28, 2014): One size does not fit all: why London-based Metail just raised $12 million for its 鈥榦nline fitting room鈥�.

Steve O’Hear (Oct 17, 2014): Virtual Fitting Room Startup Metail Raises Further $12M 鈥� Shunning UK VC Money Along The Way.

Rebecca Burn-Callander (Oct 16, 2014): Virtual fitting room firm raises 拢7.5m as consumers find new ways to shop online.

Steve O’Hear (Nov 5, 2012): Metail, The Virtual Fitting Room You鈥檝e Probably Never Heard Of, Partners With Warehouse, Shop Direct, Following Tesco Trial.