Oak Labs introduces the world’s first augmented reality dressing room

Oak Labs, a technology startup, raised $4.1 million in seed capital funded by venture capital firm, Wing Venture Capital to design a smart mirror that will be placed in fitting rooms of clothing stores and boutiques. The software will begin testing with Ralph Lauren in its Polo NYC flagship store on Fifth Avenue.

When a customer brings an article of clothing into the fitting room, the smart mirror detects which item is in-hand through RFID (radio-frequency identification) tags and that piece is displayed on the device. It shows detail about the item, as well as the ability to request different colors or size in the article of clothing.

But the smart mirror goes even further: it comes with its own style recommendations, suggesting other items in the store in hopes that you’ll purchase more when you’re virtually in control of your shopping experience. You’ll also be able to control the lighting of the room, ranging from bright natural illumination to sunset to a club setting.

As smart devices cannot do everything, Oak Labs has also set up the option to request an associate. The employees have a version of the app on an iPad and can view incoming requests for different sizes, colors, or detailed questions. The company also offers language support for Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese, and Italian, and presents users the option to send themselves a summary of fitting room items as a text message.

“Building new form factors – in retail nonetheless – is very challenging. We are making modular hardware, software that’s living and breathing, and working in brick-and-mortar, which presents a new host of challenges – from associate adoption to infrastructural dependency,” said cofounder and CEO Healey Cypher. 

While Oak Labs is enhancing the experience for the consumer, the company is also helping retailers use the technology to receive new data on their customers including specific information around fitting room sessions – volume, duration, and conversion. They will also be able to see which SKUs are most popular.

Oak Labs charges a one-time fee for the installment of the hardware, with recurring monthly licensing fees for the software.

Via TechCrunch