New virtual fitting room helps make online shopping easier

CHICAGO - If years of online shopping have taught us anything, it's this: Just because an outfit looks amazing on the model, it doesn't mean it will look anywhere near as good when we get it home and try it on in front of a mirror.

And we've learned to live with that problem. We return the items that just don't fit quite right, or, for those hard-to-buy articles, we suck it up and venture into a physical mall - braving crowds of shoppers, long lines and unforgiving fluorescent lights in search of the perfect fit.

But Berkeley-based startup Twindom is working on a solution, which it calls Drapr. The company is using its 3-D imaging technology to create a virtual fitting-room experience capable of showing you how your own body would look in any article of clothing - all from the comfort of your home.

"The final result looks like you wearing clothing that you've never worn before," says co-founder and CEO David Pastewka. "And it is as accurate as if you had actually worn it."

He says the result will resemble that scene from the movie Clueless where Cher uses a computer program to "try on" outfits from her massive closet before school.

The idea is made possible using Twindom's proprietary full-body scanners - the $27,000 devices look like small, portable cages that can be set up anywhere in less than an hour. The subject stands in the middle, cameras on all sides snap pictures, and that data is sent to a computer that converts it into a 3-D image.

Pastewka is working on forming partnerships with major clothing retailers, which will set the scanners up in their stores and invite customers to have their bodies scanned. The next step is for the retailers to photograph their clothing - which is when it gets a bit weirder. Retailers will put the clothes on a Twindom robotic mannequin, which changes shape to represent different body types and sizes. The retailer takes 3-D pictures of each clothing item in several standard sizes, and uploads them to a computer.

Twindom's software then combines the clothing images with the images of the customer's body, using its simulation technology to fill in the gaps between the robotic mannequin and the real person. The result is a 3-D image that captures everything accurately from how a piece of clothing fits, to the way it hangs, to where the fabric bunches, Pastewka says.

Twindom is beta testing its virtual fitting-room concept with customers now, and hopes to roll it out at major retailers within the next year. The startup is also working on technology that would let customers do the 3-D body scan at home using their smartphone - Pastewka says users can expect that new feature in three to four years.

In the meantime, Twindom is using its technology to create 3-D-printed, action-figured-sized models of people. They work with local retailers like PocketMe in Berkeley and Fisherman's Warf to bring family photos to life.

Tribune News Service