Video: How the ISizeYou virtual tailor works.

Websites are already using 3D imaging technology and various tools to let people try on clothes virtually. But returns remain a costly headache for clothes retailers and for the environment.

According to several reports, almost two-thirds of online clothes shoppers have sent something back at some point and clothing returns can be as high as 40 percent[1].

It's not just because some products are poor quality or defective, but mainly because consumers find it nearly impossible to choose the right size online.

As a result, they replicate the process that occurs in bricks-and-mortar stores and order various sizes and colors, and then turn their bedroom into a retailer's changing room. The problem is free returns are costing retailers big money, and that's not sustainable.

ISizeYou[2] aims to solve this problem by acting as a virtual tailor and measuring your body, so that it's easier for you to pick the right size when buying online.

As Marc Cortés, professor of digital strategy and marketing at ESADE Business School in Barcelona, says: "reducing customer friction points is key for e-commerce success."

The app, funded to the tune of €1m ($1.23m) by EU project Morpheos, has been developed jointly by the UPC's Institute of Textile Research and Industrial Cooperation (Intexter), companies iDeal and Holonix, Italian clothing manufacturing Piacenza, and the Technical University of Munich, as well as the Spanish Technology Institute on Metal-Processing, Furniture, Wood, Packaging and Related Industries, AIDIMME.

Development of the app began in January 2017, with the first version released in January 2018 for iPhone and Android.

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