Macy’s has installed Florida-based digital-twin specialist Fit:Match’s bra fitting experience in select stores.

The technology gives shoppers the opportunity to get scanned and then, within seconds, matched to their best-fitting bras based on their exact body shape.

Shoppers will be able to experience Fit:Match this holiday season in the intimates department in the following stores: Boca Raton (Florida), Century City (California), Dadeland (Florida), Herald Square (New York), Kings Plaza (New York), Queens Center (New York), Roosevelt Field (New York), South Portland (Maine), South Shore Plaza (Massachusetts) and Willowbrook (New Jersey).

While Macy’s offers a wide assortment of bra styles from many brands, Fit:Match will feature the Bali and Maidenform brands from the Hanesbrands portfolio.

“We are proud to launch with Macy’s, the iconic omnichannel retailer, just in time for the holiday selling season,” said Haniff Brown, CEO of Fit:Match. “Fit:Match is enabling a new immersive shopping experience for shoppers seeking an accurate and digitally enabled way to find their best fitting bra. We believe the traditional fitting process is archaic and needs to evolve, and technology is the answer. The issue we are solving for starts with bras – the hardest to fit category with the highest barrier to purchase – but is versatile to apply to other apparel categories as well.”

Research shows that 80 per cent of women are wearing the wrong size bra. The Fit:Match technology gives the power back to the shopper to shop only what fits. The technology also gives data analytics and insights to brands to serve their shoppers in more meaningful ways.

The in-market fit technology is based on real body shapes instead of measurements. Inside this shape-based methodology is a patented algorithm matching a new customer to their digital twin – someone with a similar body shape within the database of real people who have already tried on the product – to create a personalised shopping experience.

“As part of our Polaris strategy, Macy’s is enhancing the store experience with personalisation and innovation to better meet the needs of our customers” said PJ Singh, Macy’s vice president. “Fit:Match supports our commitment to a tech-enabled, connected omni-ecosystem and touches the four pillars of the stores strategy: convenience, service, discovery and engagement.”

To experience Fit:Match, a shopper completes a body scan with the help of a sales assistant using a device equipped with lidar technology. The process to create the shopper’s scan is private and the avatar is completely anonymised. The algorithm then analyses the shopper’s body shape data to match them with their digital twin from a database. The customer is presented with their product matches in recommended sizes and styles that have proven to fit their digital twin. Shoppers will be able to scan a QR code to save and shop their matches on their own device.

Developed at Cornell University over many years, Fit:Match’s technology is available under licence to apparel brands.