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Body types vary widely though. If you’re athletic you may have a strong shoulder to hip drop, getting shirts that are blousy in the midsection. Conversely, if

Body types vary widely though. If you’re athletic you may have a strong shoulder to hip drop, getting shirts that are blousy in the midsection. Conversely, if you’re heavy set or short you may get garments that are overly long. Some companies do try to address this to a degree with slim or athletic cuts, and yes a tailor could take you the rest of the way ‘mostly’ there, but the future of clothing is 3D scanning and printing.

endisneigh 5y ago
A 3D fitting room isn’t going to solve the issues you mention tho. I also think what you’re describing could be easily solved with more measurements of clothing you’re considering.
- zokier 5y ago
  3D fitting is first step for custom fitted to order clothes, like Amazons "Made for You" t-shirts https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-custom-fit-t-shirts-using-3d-tech-measurements-2020-12?r=US&IR=T https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-custom-fit-t-shirts-u...
- brandall10 5y ago
  I’ve done just this, with a tailor doing tours for a MTM business. Took about 15 minutes to do 18 measurements. With those in their system, I can custom order any number of (dress) shirts customized in a variety of ways and they do fit well. The issue is it just doesn’t scale well abd is limited by types of garments on offer, no standardized way to share measurements with other manufacturers, and requires we redo the process or for me to ‘guess’ at adjustments if my body changes in any material ways - they only come to major cities once a quarter or so.
mc32 5y ago
As exemplified by the old threadbase post: https://web.archive.org/web/20160318074519/threadbase.com/unravelled https://web.archive.org/web/20160318074519/threadbase.com/un... The sizes vary within brands themselves. Traditionally the solution was to get a tailor take your measurements and make a pattern for you and cut from cloth to make you a garment. Obviously, in today's day and age, that gets a bit expensive for most people.
- bluGill 5y ago
  I'm waiting the day when I go into a store and the fitting room scans my body (naked or just underwear) and then it creates an outfit just for my body. We could probably pull it off already, but it can't compete with third world produced on price, and those are good enough.
  - mc32 5y ago
    I think there have been failed attempts at this over the past 20 years or so. If you're willing to wait, they could do this somewhat affordably --just won't be off the rack fast (week or two?) That said, a tailor will make you pose properly and not slouch or droop your shoulder, so they would take better measurements. Presumably, SW could correct for bad posture as well.
    - ethbr0 5y ago
      Measurement is easy. Even the elastic deformation (i.e. multiple poses). Manufacturing at scale is currently impossible. Tailoring is basically robotics' worst nightmare: input material with varying characteristics from batch to batch, delicate materials, multiple different motions and tasks, a non-reducible movement and orientation space (e.g. sew a hem along a curve), and a complex mapping between physical tasks and end result (different stitch on seam = different motion). We'll get there (and if it weren't for low cost labor, would already be there for t-shirts). But it's really hard.
- mikepurvis 5y ago
  There are companies working on scaling this kind of thing, though: https://www.indochino.com/suits/fit https://www.indochino.com/suits/fit That one is a "measure at home" affair, but I've also heard tell of ones where there's a pop up at a co-working space or whatever, and you go get measured, pick your fabrics, and get the shirts in the mail a few weeks later. Cost-wise, it's definitely more than getting them at a department store, but it's not ridiculously more. Think like 2-3x rather than 10x.
mbesto 5y ago
> Body types vary widely though. The GP is more referring to companies who deliberately don't conform to standards. Best example of this is women's clothing that alter sizes so they are more appealing to women who don't traditionally fit that size number. TL;DR - "Omg I finally fit in a size 2 dress" is a huge selling point, even if its not categorically true.
- brandall10 5y ago
  Understood, that’s an issue in itself. But as someone who is on the shorter side with an athletic body type, almost no clothing produced today (aside from high end made in US brands) fits me at all. Vintage stuff does. No amount of standardization will get around that. I have to pay more for tailoring, getting custom made, or spending tons of time searching out boutique brands that work for my body type. What I’m suggesting fixes it all.
ch4s3 5y ago
I can't imagine 3D printing clothing working for most kinds of garments any time soon. Just mechanically stitching straight seams with a robot has proven to be nearly impossible. It might be economically feasible to laser cut some fabrics and drive down MTM costs, but you can already do that fairly cheaply with existing tech.

endisneigh 5y ago

A 3D fitting room isn’t going to solve the issues you mention tho. I also think what you’re describing could be easily solved with more measurements of clothing you’re considering.

zokier 5y ago
3D fitting is first step for custom fitted to order clothes, like Amazons "Made for You" t-shirts https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-custom-fit-t-shirts-using-3d-tech-measurements-2020-12?r=US&IR=T https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-custom-fit-t-shirts-u...
brandall10 5y ago
I’ve done just this, with a tailor doing tours for a MTM business. Took about 15 minutes to do 18 measurements. With those in their system, I can custom order any number of (dress) shirts customized in a variety of ways and they do fit well. The issue is it just doesn’t scale well abd is limited by types of garments on offer, no standardized way to share measurements with other manufacturers, and requires we redo the process or for me to ‘guess’ at adjustments if my body changes in any material ways - they only come to major cities once a quarter or so.

mc32 5y ago

As exemplified by the old threadbase post: https://web.archive.org/web/20160318074519/threadbase.com/unravelled https://web.archive.org/web/20160318074519/threadbase.com/un... The sizes vary within brands themselves. Traditionally the solution was to get a tailor take your measurements and make a pattern for you and cut from cloth to make you a garment. Obviously, in today's day and age, that gets a bit expensive for most people.

bluGill 5y ago
I'm waiting the day when I go into a store and the fitting room scans my body (naked or just underwear) and then it creates an outfit just for my body. We could probably pull it off already, but it can't compete with third world produced on price, and those are good enough.
- mc32 5y ago
  I think there have been failed attempts at this over the past 20 years or so. If you're willing to wait, they could do this somewhat affordably --just won't be off the rack fast (week or two?) That said, a tailor will make you pose properly and not slouch or droop your shoulder, so they would take better measurements. Presumably, SW could correct for bad posture as well.
  - ethbr0 5y ago
    Measurement is easy. Even the elastic deformation (i.e. multiple poses). Manufacturing at scale is currently impossible. Tailoring is basically robotics' worst nightmare: input material with varying characteristics from batch to batch, delicate materials, multiple different motions and tasks, a non-reducible movement and orientation space (e.g. sew a hem along a curve), and a complex mapping between physical tasks and end result (different stitch on seam = different motion). We'll get there (and if it weren't for low cost labor, would already be there for t-shirts). But it's really hard.
mikepurvis 5y ago
There are companies working on scaling this kind of thing, though: https://www.indochino.com/suits/fit https://www.indochino.com/suits/fit That one is a "measure at home" affair, but I've also heard tell of ones where there's a pop up at a co-working space or whatever, and you go get measured, pick your fabrics, and get the shirts in the mail a few weeks later. Cost-wise, it's definitely more than getting them at a department store, but it's not ridiculously more. Think like 2-3x rather than 10x.

mbesto 5y ago

> Body types vary widely though. The GP is more referring to companies who deliberately don't conform to standards. Best example of this is women's clothing that alter sizes so they are more appealing to women who don't traditionally fit that size number. TL;DR - "Omg I finally fit in a size 2 dress" is a huge selling point, even if its not categorically true.

brandall10 5y ago
Understood, that’s an issue in itself. But as someone who is on the shorter side with an athletic body type, almost no clothing produced today (aside from high end made in US brands) fits me at all. Vintage stuff does. No amount of standardization will get around that. I have to pay more for tailoring, getting custom made, or spending tons of time searching out boutique brands that work for my body type. What I’m suggesting fixes it all.

ch4s3 5y ago

I can't imagine 3D printing clothing working for most kinds of garments any time soon. Just mechanically stitching straight seams with a robot has proven to be nearly impossible. It might be economically feasible to laser cut some fabrics and drive down MTM costs, but you can already do that fairly cheaply with existing tech.