
ShoeFitr: The company Amazon must buy immediately - g0atbutt
http://thestartupfoundry.com/2011/03/01/shoefitr-the-company-amazon-must-buy-immediately/
======
oniTony
Considering that Amazon is currently looking to hire people for the sole
purpose of trying on shoes... Yes, they need this tech.

[http://www.amazon.com/Careers-University-
Recruiting/b/ref=gw...](http://www.amazon.com/Careers-University-
Recruiting/b/ref=gw_m_b_careers?ie=UTF8&node=203348011)

Search for: 133938 (reference code)

> "Amazon.com is looking for a Women's Shoe Fit Model to try on our shoe
> selection and provide fit feedback to help our customers make the best
> purchasing decisions. The perfect Cinderella must have the perfect Size
> 8..."

~~~
kmfrk
> for the sole purpose of trying on shoes

I see what you did there.

------
edw519
If this works as advertised, it's a killer app for the on-line apparel
industry.

I've had customers with consistent 60-70% return rates on footwear. It got so
bad that customers would buy 3 sizes of the same shoe, planning to keep the
best fitting pair and returning the other 2. They'd rather eat double shipping
than go back and forth 2 or 3 times. The overhead from processing and
restocking the returns consumed all their profit, but they had to keep the
footwear to complete their product lines. This would have been great.

------
gfunk911
I was initially confused by the demo.

Potential use cases

1\. I have a perfect fitting shoe, I'd like to buy another perfect fitting
shoe of a different brand.

2\. I haven't found the perfect fitting shoe. I'd like to find one.

I assumed this would be solving problem #2, but it solves problem #1.

I thought I would tell it "I'm currently in shoe X, and it's the right length
but chafes on the right side" or something of that nature, and it would tell
me a better shoe.

~~~
r00fus
This is actually pretty useful to a small but loyal group: runners. I know
folks who run marathons and such, they are fanatical about the right fit and
buy 3+ pairs when they find a good fit, because of rapid shoe model
obsolescence/changes.

Perhaps with this small but profitable niche they can expand their technology
into the mainstream for the likes of you and me.

I'm definitely going to suggest this site to my runner-friends and see what
they think.

~~~
steveklabnik
The founders are runners. Breck did the Boston Marathon in 2:29:36 this
year... 73rd place overall.

Oh, and your running friends can already use this over at Running Warehouse,
for example: <http://www.runningwarehouse.com/descpageMRS-ASKNS3M.html>

------
ffumarola
This pain point is one of the reasons I do not buy pants or shoes online.

This is amazing execution of the idea, and I hope they get bought out for the
millions they deserve! Or, if they'd prefer to grow it organically, that too!

~~~
g0atbutt
They have a fantastic product. I was extremely impressed with how well it
worked. To top it off, Matt seemed like a really great guy when I interviewed
him.

~~~
gohnjanotis
You're right g0atbutt. I know the team personally all three of them are great
guys who have been working REALLY hard to make this a reality for the past few
years. I'm glad to see they are finally being recognized for their awesome
product & technology.

------
endtime
I would consider buying a new pair of shoes _today_ through these guys if they
supported more than running shoes.

That said, what stops someone getting the size recommendation through ShoeFitr
and then comparison shopping for the actual shoes? I don't think this stops
them being valuable to Amazon, but it does seem like a weakness if they're
independent.

------
qeorge
Yes! I've been wanting someone to make this product for a long time.[1] So
glad y'all did it.

The execution looks amazing. I can't wait for this to be ubiquitous.

[1] <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1673722>

------
frisco
Why is this dropping off the frontpage so fast? It's way uncharacteristically
down. Is there some kind of hidden penalty at play? It's not spam, and has 50
points in 53 minutes, losing to posts with way less than that...

~~~
g0atbutt
I'm not sure. Perhaps an HN admin thinks it's spam?

~~~
auston
nope, they think it's a voting ring

~~~
g0atbutt
That's a bummer (and not true). These guys deserve a ton of attention. It was
presented at Launch and SuperConf so maybe they're getting some false positive
from people that were there?

------
smackfu
"Buying shoes online sucks. Sizing between brands (and sometimes even within
brands) is different."

Zappos (who Amazon owns) does show whether shoes fit true to size or whether
to size up. Is this really that much better?

~~~
jrockway
This data seems to be based on reviews, and reviewers are typically morons
that know nothing about shoes. I order by size, ignoring the reviews, and I've
only had one pair of shoes from Zappos not fit well.

------
bwb
I saw these guys present at SuperConf.net and what a fantastic idea backed by
"patent pending" 3d imaging. Amazing stuff and someone is going to grab them
quick for an easy 30 to 50 million.

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steveklabnik
I'm good friends with the ShoeFitr dudes, they're good guys. They have some
serious tech, high reliability web stuff, and they even put up with it being
in .NET!

------
latj
The problem is that the different dimensions to the products dont actually
exist. Getting those measurements would come at a great cost. The question is
would it be cheaper than shipping returns? Another question- China has
industrialized- the next step is dealing in information. When will the
suppliers realize they are losing out on a lot of money by not doing the
photography and measurement at the factory?

------
zmitri
Cool idea to go along side would be an iPad app, which allows you to compare
your actual foot to inside of the shoe. From the bottom, from the side, etc.
Would also work for gloves.

EDIT: Hell, you even show it on a regular LCD screen. Or allow the user to
print it out to compare.

~~~
r00fus
I imagine the problem is that shoes are real things with 3 dimensions, and
feet change shape when they're compressed... neither of which are addressed by
a printout (sure a printout is better than nothing, but if it's not predictive
enough it's not worth the trouble).

If a device could model what kind of shoe you should wear based on an
interactive iPad foot print, that would be amazing tech.

------
cschwarm
Cool! A German retail site offers something in the same direction:

<http://www.mirapodo.de/groessen-kompass>

I've been working on a similar concept for dress shoes.

<http://sizeadvisors.com/>

~~~
JeremyHerrman
Wow the German site asks you to measure your foot with a paper, pencil and a
ruler. Although ShoeFitr must already have your shoe in their database, the
huge win is there's nothing asked of the user besides what shoe they already
like and you can find it from brand name and colors.

~~~
cschwarm
Correct. I didn't say it's better.

But it's possible to solve the other use case. 3D-foot-scanners are already
out there for shoemakers, so taking measurements could become easier in the
future.

------
gohnjanotis
You can check out their pitch at the Launch conference last Thursday here:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRRSdvlWd4E&feature=playe...](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRRSdvlWd4E&feature=player_detailpage#t=2736s)

------
baddox
Amazon acquired Zappos and created endless. This would certainly fit that part
of their business strategy.

------
gChinkin
Genius idea! I always take a stab at sizing online (I think men's foot sizes
are more flexible than women's), but I still don't know if I'm a 10, a 10.5,
or an 11!

------
Mankhool
This reminds me of boo.com. The bubble must be about to burst. Again.

~~~
brianbreslin
how is this like boo.com ? boo raised 200Million in capital if i recall
correctly. shoefitr raised $125k + the $25k in prizes they won at superconf.

~~~
g0atbutt
And they are actually making money on a scalable business.

------
jrockway
Honestly, I would just like to get 3 sizes with each shipment, try them all
on, and pick the best... but without having to advance them 3x the cost of a
pair of shoes.

I don't find returning to be a big deal. You put the shoes back in the box
they came in, print a label, and drop it off at the post office. Still easier
than going to a store, and once you know your size for a given brand, you
don't have to do this anymore.

I've also found that shoe sizes don't really vary all that much, in my
experience. I wear size 11EE boots, 11EE running shoes, 11EE sneakers, and
11EE dress shoes. I think the problem that a lot of people have is that they
order standard-width shoes even though they don't have standard-width feet.
Then the fit comes down to how tight the laces are, etc.

But I digress. Zappos will probably not go out of business if they don't buy
this company.

~~~
jordanmessina
Brands don't have consistent sizes at all. You should watch their pitch from
the Launch Conference because they explain this problem.

~~~
jrockway
Good brands tell you which last they use for the specific pair of shoes, so
you'll know how they'll fit in advance. New Balance does this, anyway.

------
JSig
A year ago I wrote up some notes for an idea that has elements of this. Funny
enough, I sent it to Google and Amazon. I don't know why I bothered. I just
wanted to tell someone, I suppose. I did not have a blog then... well I barely
have one now. Also, The plan was not exactly something I could do on my own.

The idea was called Travel Packs. You're going to travel? Send your itinerary
to Google and it will decide what you need/want to go into your luggage.
Google will do all of this by using your itinerary, profile, body dimensions,
weather, etc... The Travel Pack will then magically appear at your
destination. When your done with your trip, just leave it behind.

Great things about this:

1) You no longer have to pack or bring luggage with you when traveling. 2)
Companies have a new way to target consumers. Imagine all of the companies who
will compete to have their products placed in these packs. 3) Consumers get to
try out new things without having to buy them. How about letting consumers
purchase items from the Travel Pack at discounts.

To make this work, the clothes will have to fit. To do that we probably need
3D scans, although that may not be necessary for first iterations. Google has
shown the initiative to map the world, why not drive around and start mapping
the people. Just think of what you could do with these data! Of course many
people would be uncomfortable with these scans and discussion probably needs
to happen about who would own these data.

Anyway, I was once pretty stoked about this. Now I don't really care. But I
think it's something that someone will do. Actually, I think there is already
a company trying to make a go at pre-packaged luggage though I don't know how
intelligent it is.

~~~
dotBen
Lesson to learn here: an idea is just an idea. It's all about execution.

I also had the idea, I'm sure Jeff Bezos has had the idea, Tony Hsieh, Nike
execs...

Point is these guys delivered. The single greatest lesson any entrepreneur can
learn.

