Store Offers Kinect Body Scanner To Help You Find Jeans That Fit

itwbennett writes "For those of you who can't count on a friend to tell you that a little more air should come between you and your Calvins, a Bloomingdales store in Palo Alto has just the solution: An Xbox Kinect-based body scanner that will help you find your best fit. While body measuring systems aren't new, using the Xbox Kinect is a much more affordable solution. Which means that soon we'll all have the opportunity for a computer to tell us that we should 'avoid wearing low to mid rise jeans.'"

Comments

where is my clothing synthesizer?

[warrenb10]

Just about every time I try to buy clothes I walk away thinking about how they used to predict that in the future (that is, by now) we'd stand in front of a big screen that projected an image of us, we'd be able to fiddle with some knobs to pick clothing, see how it would look on us, and it would get custom-made to not just fit perfectly but also in whatever fabric, color, style, etc. we wanted. Note to the folks who make 3D printers, make one that does fabric.

Re:where is my clothing synthesizer?

[jamesh]

Just about every time I try to buy clothes I walk away thinking about how they used to predict that in the future (that is, by now) we'd stand in front of a big screen that projected an image of us, we'd be able to fiddle with some knobs to pick clothing, see how it would look on us, and it would get custom-made to not just fit perfectly but also in whatever fabric, color, style, etc. we wanted. Note to the folks who make 3D printers, make one that does fabric.

Sweat shop slave labour is cheaper.

Re:where is my clothing synthesizer?

[hackertourist]

You rang?

I've seen 'cloth' printed to this design; it is somewhat flexible but more akin to chainmail than fabric.

it will work great*

[citizenr]

with 5cm (or worse) error rate from few meters.

*on fat people?

Re:it will work great*

[MightyYar]

We use both. I'm an engineer, so I'm biased, but there is plenty of metric going on in the US - a certain software program involved with the Mars exploration program notwithstanding :)

We mostly use imperial units for stuff that doesn't matter, like milk or the speed of cars down highways. It makes sense - why should I toss all of my grandmother's cookbooks, or even go through the effort of converting them? Even then, we have both metric and imperial units printed on all of the products, and even our speedometers... which is pretty handy when driving in Canada.

Re:it will work great*

[MightyYar]

How fast is 80km/h? Residential road, large road, highway, or what?

Wouldn't matter - all the signage in the US is in MPH. If you really needed the conversion, you'd look down at your speedometer since both units are printed there. This happens when you cross over to the Canadian side in your car and everything is in KPH.

"Max. capacity 1200kg" -- how many people?

It depends on what state you are in, but our elevators universally have the capacity in pounds. Some states require a kg label as well, and some require a maximum capacity defined in number of persons. If the ignorant American were traveling, then it probably wouldn't be an issue because chances are a capacity elevator in Europe would contain at least one non-American familiar with the metric system. That is, if the elevator didn't just beep at you until someone steps out.

"50C when operating" -- safe to touch?

I might be too optimistic, but I think most Americans know that 100C is boiling and 0C is freezing. It might take them a while to figure out 50C is very warm but not scalding hot, but I'd hope the label would have a big HOT label if it was a real hazard. Anyway, unless you were dealing with a weird specialty piece of equipment, the label would probably have F printed on it as well. The machines I work on use C, but they definitely qualify as "weird specialty equipment" :)

do you know conversions for all these?

No, not offhand. But they are all on my smartphone, and I'm not in an industry that uses those units so it quite literally never effects me. If I hauled freight for a living, I'd sure as hell know what the different kinds of tons were. If I were a farmer, I'd probably be familiar with bushels. A bushel of wheat is typically too much for my family :)

Besides, how many European countries can say that their construction workers are adept at fractions? :)

Re:it will work great*

[cayenne8]

"Honey, do these jeans make my ass look big?"

No, you ASS makes your ass look big....

[laughing to self, while moving on to next girlfriend]

I wear Swedish jeans and like them tight...

[acidfast7]

who needs a scanner to tell you if they fit AND what's with Americans and those super loose jeans :(

CowboyNeal

[EnsilZah]

Buffer overflow attack.

That is all.

Already know wha I want/need

[smooth wombat]

I already know what jeans fit me. Stores simply refuse to get them in my size since I'm not a hippo.

Re:TSA to Small Companies at the speed of "vote"!

[RaceProUK]

Backscatter x-ray(?) that can see through clothing vs. low-res IR camera where you have to choose to strip off first. I can see how you'd confuse the two.

Unless you're trying to be funny, in which case, try harder.

Re:If only there was a simpler solution

[bluefoxlucid]

I would hope not. Ladies shouldn't have extra equipment down there.

Re:If only there was a simpler solution

[Ironhandx]

I have a large ass inherited from my mother. I feel your pain.

I HAD one single bastion of decency with relaxed and baggy fit sizes and now that places has gone to the dogs ever since they introduced women's clothing into the store. Its like since they did that they make the fucking mens clothes in a similar style to the women's. There are only like 3 items left that are still the same.

DAMN YOU WHOEVER DOES THE DESIGNING AT MARKS WORK WAREHOUSE!

Which will then be defeated by ...

[damn_registrars]

... total lack of QC on the part of the manufacturers. A while ago I bought two (allegedly) identical pairs of jeans from the same manufacturer and found they were anything but identical. They were the same cut, same waist, same length. Only difference was the color.

Then I got home and found they were made on different continents. One pair fit pretty close to what the label said (though not exactly the same as the last pair of the same), the other fell right off me. The second pair wasn't even remotely close and I have to wear a belt any time I put them on.