BOSTON (June 15, 2023) – NetVirta, the world’s leading fit technology provider for medical, retail and sports equipment brands, is targeting the $862 billion outdoor industry with a planet-friendly solution that can dramatically minimize returns. Verifyt®, NetVirta’s mobile 3D scanning app, takes a customer’s complete and unique body shape into account to recommend size in apparel and footwear with the highest degree of accuracy. By implementing Verifyt, outdoor brands can help customers get their size right on the first purchase, thereby minimizing carbon emissions and waste associated with returns.
Consumers simply scan themselves from the comfort of home using their own mobile device, a quick and easy process that takes less than 3 minutes from start to finish. Predicated upon NetVirta’s proprietary 3D body scanning app for medical professionals, the Verifyt app is the only smartphone solution capable of precision 3D scanning the body, feet, and head without special IR/LIDAR cameras, making it compatible with nearly all smartphones.
“With outdoor industry trade shows Outdoor Retailer Summer and OutDoor by Ispo taking place this month, sustainability is top of mind,” said Jeff Chen, founder of NetVirta. “Consumer returns continue to be a challenge in every retail product category, with about 72% of fashion returns being due to poor fit. And these returns do more harm to the planet than you might think – it’s estimated that only 50% of returned items make it back to brands’ physical or digital shelves to be resold, while the rest is either discarded or destroyed.”
Verifyt has been proven to recommend apparel and footwear sizing with accuracy greater than 88%. On average, NetVirta’s brand partners see an 80% decrease in fit-related returns for shoppers using Verifyt, and a 56% decrease in overall return rate. That means less landfill waste and fewer carbon emissions, making a significant positive impact on the planet.
Not only do returns harm the planet and impact a brand’s bottom line, but they also inconvenience the customer.
“The last thing an outdoor enthusiast wants to deal with is an ill-fitting jacket or pair of hiking boots right before they head out on their outdoor adventure. Verifyt technology addresses this issue by eliminating size uncertainty at checkout and improving the overall customer experience,” Chen continued.
Today, NetVirta is working with IMOTANA (custom soccer cleats) and has significantly impacted their return rate. While the industry standard return rate for online footwear brands is around 25%, IMOTANA maintains a return rate of just 5%.
Most recently, NetVirta launched a partnership with Victoria’s Secret, the number one intimates retailer in the United States, to help solve for one of the hardest to fit categories in apparel retail. Through this partnership, Victoria’s Secret enhances its bra fitting experience, giving customers personalized and accurate size recommendations for optimum fit and comfort.
About NetVirta:
NetVirta is the world’s leading fit technology provider for medical, retail and sports equipment brands, helping customers order the right size with precision 3D body scanning. Since its origins at MIT in 2008, NetVirta has opened offices in Boston and Singapore and has created the world’s only FDA-cleared scanning app, helping clinicians scan medical patients to create custom-fit orthotics and prosthetics. In 2019, NetVirta released Verifyt® to help apparel and footwear brands reduce returns and improve customer satisfaction and loyalty with personalized size recommendations. NetVirta works with some of the biggest names in retail, sporting equipment, and medical including Victoria’s Secret, Riddell, Orthomerica, IMOTANA and Tecnica, among others. For more information, please visit www.netvirta.com.
