The trouble with shopping for shoes online is that you can never be sure how they will fit. Just because you’re a certain size with one brand, doesn’t mean it will transfer over to another. This is why approximately 90 percent of consumers still don’t shop for shoes online.
Fitfully is a mobile app that wants to cure our online shopping headaches. By creating a 3D model of our feet, we can virtually “try on” a pair of shoes. All this can be done from the convenience of anyone’s smartphone camera.
The scanning is surprisingly simple and only requires three things: a newspaper, a business or credit card, and your smartphone of choice. First, a newspaper is laid on the ground and an aerial photo of it is taken. This provides perspective as the app scans your foot. Then a business or credit card is placed on top of the newspaper to provide a sense of scale. Now the app can accurately read how big your foot is. After placing your foot in the middle of the newspaper, the final step is to take a 360-degree video of your foot.
When all this is done properly, Fitfully creates a 3D virtual foot made up of about 30 thousand different points. This virtual foot gives you all the information you need when finding a pair of shoes. Depending on how the shoe will fit, the various points will be color coded. Green means it’s a good fit, blue means loose, and red means tight. Consumers can either look at the shoes they want or the app can provide suggestions as to what shoes might fit best.
Currently, the Fitfully app is still in beta, but anyone with an iOS or Android device can download it. Only Adidas or West Coast shoes are available during the beta, but more will be added as the service reaches full release.
