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Comment by steveklabnik | Hacker News Reader

My friends' startup is tackling this issue for shoes, using lasers: http://shoefitr.com/

The interface is really, really well done, check out their sample page: http://shoefitr.com/mock_checkout.php and click 'let Shoefitr help you choose the right size.'

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Interesting... this would be really helpful if it also took into account pronation (see http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-240-319-327-77...).

I will send that to them, thanks.

The only problem is, that shoes that try to target different pronation types actually cause more injuries.

(http://www.sportsci.org/jour/0103/mw.htm#_Toc535425250 cites some studies beginning with "Wearers of expensive running shoes that were promoted as correcting pronation or providing more cushioning experienced a greater prevalence of these running-related injuries than wearers of less expensive shoes [...]")

I've been waiting for something like this for shoes. Looks excellent, though I'd recommend against the shrinking between operations when finding a size (primarily in the first step). Just takes longer and looks clunky.

I'll pass the feedback along.

Oh, and if you actually want to try it on a real site with real shoes, RunningWarehouse.com has them up, like this, for example:

http://www.runningwarehouse.com/descpageMRS-NVM5SBG.html

That's an amazing interface but it needs more brands and models in there, everything I tried came up 'sorry, we don't have that model scanned' or something to that effect.

But it's one of the nicer 'live' (ajax) interfaces that I've seen.

Out of curiosity, were you inputting running shoes? I think they've decided to focus on just running shoes first, and while they've been hard at it, it physically takes time and effort to get the raw data.

Yep.

> it physically takes time and effort to get the raw data.

I can see that... btw, the Reebok brand is one of the more popular ones and completely missing.

Again, kudos on the interface to your friend, I love it when people use new tech in non-fluffy ways (as in useful rather than eye candy). (and it looks great too!)

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