A UK fashion technology company, spun out of Cambridge research, whose software lets online shoppers try clothes on a 3D avatar of themselves.
Metail makes software that helps people buy clothes online that fit. A shopper builds a virtual version of themselves, called a MeModel, using a few measurements and a photo, and then sees clothes on it before buying. The idea is to tackle one of the biggest problems in online fashion, which is that people cannot tell how something will fit, so many orders are sent back. According to a 2016 profile, the system used a training collection of 2,000 3D models of real human bodies to estimate each customer's shape, and the company said tests showed accuracy of 94 to 96 per cent. A later description adds a product called Composed Photography, which combines product pictures with model images so that retailers need fewer photo shoots.
Metail grew out of the Computer Vision Group at the University of Cambridge Department of Engineering, led by Professor Roberto Cipolla, whose work focused on building 3D models from ordinary photographs. It was founded by Tom Adeyoola, a Cambridge graduate who had the original idea after seeing Western visitors buy tailored clothes in Vietnam and later noticing how many online orders came back, together with Duncan Robertson, a researcher from the same group. We did not find a mission statement. The 2016 profile describes the aim as giving customers the tools to create an accurate image of themselves so that they can try before they buy, without punishing them for returns.
The 2016 profile describes Metail as London-based, while its roots are in Cambridge. We did not find any page that gives an office address, so we cannot say which towns its teams work in today. Its early customers were UK retailers: Tesco was the first, launching on its Facebook page in 2012 and then on its main website, followed by Warehouse, Shop Direct and a partnership with ITV. The profile also mentions clients in Germany, Asia and South America, and says more than 750,000 people had created a MeModel since February 2012.
The profile gave a headcount of 40 employees in early 2016, so this has been a small, specialist team. We found no description of its culture. What the sources do show is a company at the meeting point of university research and retail, which tends to mean people who enjoy solving hard technical problems with real shoppers in mind.
The roles at a fashion-technology company are mainly in computing and maths. These include computer vision and machine-learning engineers who work out body shapes from images, software developers who connect the product to retailers' websites, designers who make the experience easy to use, and sales and customer success staff who work with fashion brands. Students who study computer science, maths, engineering or design can see the use of their subjects. Because our latest source is from 2017, check Metail's own website to find out whether and how it trades today.
Website: www.metail.com
PURPOSE helps school and university students explore 62 sectors and over 1,000 entry-level careers in the UK, then connects them directly with employers.
Explore PURPOSE