New machine scans the body and ensures a perfect fit for clothes in 10 seconds

The Intellifit System is an ingenious new invention that could revolutionise the global clothing market. Intellifit is a body scanning solution that uses radio waves to safely and accurately capture consumer measurements directly through clothing within ten seconds and gives the consumer a print-out of their exact body measurements. The Levi's brand is currently testing the Intellifit electronic body scanner in five of its major US stores. When a fully-clothed person steps into the cylindrical glass booth, the system scans the person and prints out recommended sizes and styles of Levi's jeans cross referenced with his or her measurements.

With the increased number of denim brands in the market today, the proliferation of choices often makes it confusing and frustrating for consumers to find a great fit in a pair of jeans. In fact, in a recent survey conducted by the Levi's brand, women said that jeans are the second-most difficult item to fit after bathing suits and men rated "fit" as their No. 1 reason to buy a pair of jeans.

Whilst Levi's brand is an obvious choice to trial the Intellifit system given the importance of jeans in the western wardrobe, we see myriad opportunities for the Intellifit system to revolutionise the apparel shopping experience and to improve fit and customer satisfaction levels.

Indeed, the Intellifit system might even offer an opportunity to electronically compare your sizes with those of the entire store - we could foresee a scenario at some future point, where a customer walks into a store, walks up to a touch screen and keys in what they're shopping for and the customer's handheld device beams their Intellifit measurements to the system - the system then compares the store's inventory and can instantly inform what's available that fits, what styles can be seen and ordered in, and dsave everybody a lot of time.

Whilst the system won't suit those who enjoy the serendipitous discovery aspects of clothes shopping, we foresee the system having many benefits for those who don't enjoy the shopping experience of being measured, doing the changing room shuffle and the fashion parade of ill-fitting garments.

We also see the possibility at some point in the future of Intellifit facilitating remote shopping, dispensing with the "first fitting" for a new suit at a tailor across town and all manner of custom clothing opportunities.

With its mission to help consumers "find what fits," and help apparel brands and retailers improve profitability in the process, Intellifit Corporation has created a potentially disruptive technology. The System was recently awarded the Editor's Choice Award from R&D Magazine as the most technologically significant product of 2004 and we can see why.

"The Intellifit System addresses key sources of frustration for consumers such as time spent shopping and feeling confused by too many options," said Intellifit CEO Albert Charpentier.

The Levi's stores testing the scanner through May 2005 are: * New York City: The Levi's Store, SoHo; March 15-21 (sorry folks - we're * Chicago: The Levi's Store, Michigan Avenue; April 5-11 * Dallas: The Levi's Store, Dallas Galleria; April 19-25 * Los Angeles: The Levi's Store, Santa Monica; May 3-6 * San Francisco: The Levi's Store, Union Square; May 17-23