Retail giant Walmart will be acquiring Zeekit, an Israeli startup that provides online clothing shoppers with a virtual fitting room where they can see what they would look like wearing an item before buying it.
The deal, of which the details were not disclosed, was announced by Walmart on May 13.
“I’m thrilled to announce Walmart’s plan to acquire Zeekit, a female-founded Israeli-based company that combines fashion and technology through its dynamic virtual fitting room platform to create a significantly enhanced customer and social experience,” Denise Incandela, Walmart executive vice president of Apparel and Private Brands, said in press release.
She said Zeekit’s virtual try-on technology is a “game-changer” set to solve what has historically been one of the most difficult things to replicate online: understanding how an item will actually look on you.
Zeekit’s real-time image processing technology maps a shopper’s image into thousands of tiny segments. Various items of clothing are then processed in a similar manner and the two mappings are combined into a simulation incorporating factors such as body dimensions, fit, size and fabric.
Prior to the acquisition, Zeekit was already working with big-name brands such as Macy’s, Tommy Hilfiger, Asos and Adidas.
Walmart said that using Zeekit’s technology, customers will soon be able to try on items from its growing assortment of national brands, including Free People, Champion and Levi’s Strauss, as well as of exclusive brands such as Time and Tru, Terra & Sky, Wonder Nation and George.
Zeekit was founded in 2013 by CEO Yael Vizel, CTO Nir Appleboim and VP-R&D Alon Kristal. All three will continue to run Zeekit’s operations under Walmart.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Zeekit’s experienced team and three visionary founders … who bring extensive experience and impressive technology capabilities,” Incandela said in Walmart’s statement.
“We’re confident that with the team’s expertise in bringing real-time image technologies, computer vision and artificial intelligence to the world of fashion, we’ll identify even more ways to innovate for our customers in our continued effort to be the first-choice destination for fashion,” she said.
Walmart To Acquire Israeli AI Sizing Tech Firm originally appeared on Israel21C.
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