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Comment by avdempsey | Hacker News Reader

"Does this fit me" has been a dream of mine for awhile. Imagine a world where everybody's clothes fit. Where clothing can be spontaneously gifted, and you'll be sure it fits like a glove.

I think he sells himself short here. Women aren't the only people that have to hunt for a fit. I'm a tall, lanky guy. Most medium shirts are too short, and my shoulders swim in a large. Like any good scientist, I've trialled and erred my way to brands that fit (thank you American Apparel medium 50/50s), but this discovery process is a pain in the ass. Here's the upside, browse through clothes online, and everything fits, see how it looks on someone with your shape.

There are some big challenges of course. A brand's sizing will vary from design to design. I bought a pair of Nike 11s that fit, after trying another Nike 11 that didn't. Then, how consistent is the sizing after manufacturing, after washing?

Sigh, somebody start this, and I'd love to help.

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A couple of guys I went to school with are doing this for shoes: http://www.shoefitr.com

Yea CMU! Their tech is sick. I expect Amazon to snatch them up.

Another one is Clothes Horse. They're trying to solve this problem using machine learning: http://www.clotheshor.se/

+! for Clothes Horse. They've been hosting fit parties for a while now to collect a ton of data on what fits who and are turning that into shortcuts for sizing.

Fit parties! Excellent, sounds like they're on the right track :) I bet you could lure a pretty good seed of testers by offering free beer. Even more testers by making it coed. Actually, how do you go to these parties ;)

I thought of another use for this article. It would make a good interview question: which of these products would you be most proud to be a part of?

I love this idea - which is why I co-founded Clothes Horse ;) thanks rw and gsiener for the comments! Hopefully you'll see us everywhere soon. Hit me up if you wanna get involved - @dwhittemore on twitter

was trying to sign up using the form on the website, but cant seem to submit the form :-(

I have been wanting to build this for 5+ years as well, exactly as described: find clothing-item overlaps between what I say fits and what others say fits -- the items we don't share can be thus recommended. Who cares about the actual numbers? If I love 32-32 in Levis STF 501s, and 33-32 in Banana Republic Gavins... and you are likewise 33-32 in BR Gavins, chances are great that 32-32 in Levis STF 501s will be a win.

But major problems: clothing even within brand-lines changes regularly. Annual or semi-annual updates. Manufacturer changes. I have found size changes within colors even (BR boot cut chinos in khaki versus brown; major differences). And then identifying the clothes in the first place. We going to be scanning bar codes?

Also getting support from the retailers -- both on sharing data and collecting it (they have much better chance of getting data from customers -- attach the web address to the clothes tag). But this will compel more online purchases and reduce return-churn, so they have an incentive to participate and monetize this.

Have you considered just getting clothes that will fit? Both http://www.modasuite.com/ or http://www.indochino.com/ offer custom-tailored clothing at reasonable prices.

I have considered that, though I haven't seen these two sites before; thanks for the links. One that I've seen like this is http://www.blanklabel.com -- they even have an iPad app Dress Shirt Designer (though the springboard shortens the app name to "Dress...Designer", embarrassing).

Here's the obvious drawback: you're pretty much limited to running shoes and suits. But then, these are some of the more risky expenditures, and it's even more crucial for these items to fit than it is for your sweatshirt to fit.

Still, I can imagine a lot more money being spent on clothes if all it takes is an image and an impulse. When the clothes arrive and they fit...then you don't feel like an jerk.

Not a new idea: http://www.myshape.com/ Website is having serious issues right now but they've raised a boatload of cash over the past 4 years.

No not new, but I haven't heard of myshape.com. I wouldn't call them a definitive test.

TechCrunch says they've raised $28 million since 2006. That is a boatload of money. They should split into at least two companies: one to represent and engage the users that will pay with their personal information, and another to integrate retailers with a suitably featured API.

If it becomes popular for people to store the entire laundry list of their personal information online (even something mundane like an inseam), then there is plenty of work to be done to upgrade the universe of e-commerce out there into such a store. It's a natural place for Amazon, eBay/PayPal, Facebook, or Google to be.

Love the idea as well, even commented on the blog (something I rarely do these days). My partner and I might be interested in hacking on it too. Now if we can get tansey to do our ML~

I honestly think there's room for more than one company to make money in solving clothing pain points :) I'm glad others picked up on this idea too.

See http://fits.me

Clothing seems to be a big pain point for a lot of people. I've pondered going so far as to start a clothing company that makes clothes that fit certain criteria, including doing mass customization for knits. I'm not currently in a position to seriously pursue such an idea. For now, I am just adding info to a blog and wondering where to go with this. And gather links/notes.

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