Jack Morrison is Co-founder and CTO at Replica Labs, a talented team of computer vision researchers whose first core product is addressing the problem for shoe retailers of products being returned from consumers because they do not fit properly. Replica Labs say that Zappos see a hefty return rate of more than 30% creating logistical costs which need to be factored into business planning.
Rendor Fit is Replica Labs first product which allows users to print off a ‘calibration grid’ on a sheet of A4 before scanning the phone around their feet in order to create a perfect 3d model of the foot which is accurate to under a millimetre precision (see Render Lab video).
The model allows online stores and footwear manufacturers to create and recommend perfectly fitting shoes customised for consumers considerably reducing the high return rate of products, therefore increasing margins for businesses.
Morrison presented at Boulder Startup Meetup this week to promote the capability of apps in learning about the 3d world and scanning, with a focus on Render Fit, explaining how scans are uploaded to the cloud and processed.
What impresses me about Render Fit is that whilst the Replica Labs team are a technically assembled startup, there is an extraordinarily high number of features and benefits to be able to pitch and sell whilst Render Fit is only the first product! For example, custom shoes can be pin point fitted at home without people having to go and get measured by a manufacturer on top of being able to give shoe recommendations through data engines whilst all of the benefits come from time and money savings. This is all before thinking about vast pools of data and the future.
Things could get seriously exciting for Replica Labs once manufacturers have the data available to them to be able to seasonally forecast demand with an accurate picture of the sizing and buying habits of the population, especially with clothing.. and I don’t think it will take long.
Definitely one to watch!
