The Cutting Edge of Footwear Sizing Technology
There are many ways people have attempted to solve sizing. Here, we compare two of the main ways you will find out in the market.
The In-Store vs Online Experience
In-Store Shopping
When you're shopping for shoes in a store, what do you do when you want to know if something fits? You try it on. In fact, you try a few of them on, just to make sure.
Online Shopping Reality
Now, when you're shopping for shoes online. What do you do? Right now, you do one of two things:
1. Guess and Hope
Get what you normally get, and hope that it fits you when it arrives. If it doesn't fit? Try return it if it's easy, maybe try to sell it on Facebook, or it just collects dust at the back of your wardrobe.
2. Spray and Pray
Get a few different sizes in what you want. Try them all on, and pray that one fits. Return the rest.
Neither of these seem optimal, right? Surely there's a better way to do so. There's size charts- but no-one actually knows the length of their feet. Think about it, do you? 99% of the retailers I asked don't, and they sell footwear! Some people might measure their feet manually, but they typically measure it incorrectly due to the inaccuracies involved.
The Approximation Method
10 Years Ago: The Approximation Solution
10 years ago, some companies thought they found an answer: an approximation method.
"Tell us something that fits you, and we'll tell you what to wear in this brand."
This is a good place to start, and perhaps where StrutFit would've started if we did so 10 years ago.
Approximation Method Example
With the approximation method, if you're a 9 in Converse, you're the following in these brands:
New Balance
50% chance I'm an 8, 50% I'm a 9
Adidas
25% chance I'm an 8, 75% chance I'm an 8.5
Birkenstock
50% chance I'm a 7-7.5, 50% chance I'm at 8 - 8.5
Reebok
25% chance I'm an 8, 75% chance I'm an 8.5
Plenty of uncertainty.
The StrutFit Precision Method
But that's not how you do it in a store right?
You don't take off your shoe, give it to the staff, and get them to give you something which might fit. Why compare with something you wear, when you can try it on and remove all doubt?
This method of getting a personalized measurement for your actual foot fits in with what people expect in store, and would trust more if they got the same experience online. So why didn't it exist before StrutFit?
The Technology Challenge
Well, firstly, this is not easy to do, since it requires years of R&D and an expertise in deep learning (the same technology Tesla uses for self-driving cars). Up until a few years ago, it wasn't even possible to do what we're doing.
StrutFit's Solution
Fortunately for the footwear industry, StrutFit is at the cutting edge of what technology can offer! We let your customers scan their feet on your website, get their exact measurements, and serve them their true size.
Precision vs Approximation Results
With StrutFit's Precision Method
With our precision method, you scan your feet and get the length of your foot to be 261mm (10.3"), you're the following sizes in these brands:
New Balance
9
Adidas
8.5
Birkenstock
8 - 8.5
Reebok
8.5
No doubt remaining. Styles within a brand fit differently? We take care of that too. Easy.
The Bottom Line
StrutFit's precision scanning method is the best way to suggest sizing for footwear. It provides suggestions with certainty and gives customers an online sizing experience similar to their existing in-store experiences.
To learn more about how we can help you solve sizing Contact us.
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Ang Nayyar
CEO
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