At the beginning of my conjecture in eliminating the supply chain and all it’s waste, Levis was my first example that it was possible to have custom products. The icon started experimenting 17 years ago, whether if was for purely for data at the time, or to test the method, having a tour across of the major cities with their 3D body scanner was not a failure.
The body scanner, a fully clothed, in-store experience opened in Levi’s in 2005 in 5 cities across the US, starting on the East coast in SoHo, NYC and traversing through Dallas, LA and finally, in San Francisco.
The Intellifit, a 10 sec. body scanner matched the user with the perfect styles and size, based on the same technology used in pinpointing airbags, with 200,000 different points of measure. The user could then get in the store or order online.
The photo below: april, 2005 levi’s photos is by Tim Boyle, found on Getty.
Three things were gained - data on the customers, possible increase in sales, test if the shopper was open to the idea of the technology.
The Intellefit was also planned to launch in several other popular chain stores, the test provided the machine was 92% accurate. Would track the consumers weight gain and loss, would take into account retailer’s data, and also the subjectivity of the consumers style. Levis’s saw an increase in 60% sales in stores where it was installed. In the interviews with Intellefit’s companies, the focus was on consumers speaking of the ease it would create with more accurate online shopping.
Customer pictures, reviews, accounts are not the subject in the top articles. The main focus was all on the launch.
Was all of the data, pictures etc wiped off the internet by Levi for intellectual property? Why are there no customer accounts, photos, etc , even though it was pre-full scale social media, it seems to have disappeared like a ghost.
Also, it is interesting the engineer of the Intellefit contracted by Levi's, compared women getting custom jeans to build a bear... as much as I love teddy bears, I prefer my jean buying experience not to be compared to them. Stuffing and jeans leave a bad vibe.
Information has been collected my mind over the years. Specific faqs and data were analyzed for the post. These are the resources:
Hanlon, Mike : New machine scans the body and ensures a perfect fit for clothes in 10 seconds, https://newatlas.com/new-machine-scans-the-body-and-ensures-a-perfect-fit-for-clothes-in-10-seconds/3886/ ; MARCH 27th, 2005
Store Front: Body Scanner Creates Perfect Fit for Levi's
https://risnews.com/store-front-body-scanner-creates-perfect-fit-levis : 11/01/2005
https://www.joecotellese.com/blog/intellifit-3d-body-scanner/