Designing an AR Fitting Platform to Reduce Retail Returns
Fashion retailers lose billions each year due to product returns driven by fit uncertainty. Customers often purchase multiple sizes or avoid trying new styles because they cannot confidently visualize how garments will fit their bodies.
TrueStyle explores how augmented reality (AR) technology could help retailers reduce returns, improve in-store efficiency, and give shoppers greater confidence before purchasing.
Scope of work
Conceptualization • User Research • Interface Design • Product Design • User Testing • Branding Video Production
Timeline
3 months
Platform
Mobile app + in-store AR mirror
Focus
Retail technology / B2B product concept
tools used
Figma • Photoshop • Premiere Pro • UserTesting
The Business Problem
Retailers face growing operational costs caused by product returns and inefficient in-store experiences. Fit uncertainty is one of the biggest drivers of these issues.
When shoppers are unsure how clothing will fit, they often:
purchase multiple sizes online
avoid trying new styles
rely heavily on fitting rooms before committing to purchases
This behavior creates several operational challenges for retailers:
High e-commerce return rates
Returns in fashion e-commerce can reach 30–40%, significantly increasing logistics and inventory costs.
Fitting room congestion in stores
Trying multiple outfits slows store traffic and limits the number of customers who can browse efficiently.
Low purchase confidence
Shoppers hesitate when they cannot visualize how garments will look on their bodies.
Together, these problems create lost revenue, wasted inventory movement, and a frustrating experience for both shoppers and retailers.
Opportunity
Could digital avatars and augmented reality help shoppers preview clothing before trying it on physically?
If customers could visualize fit and style earlier in the shopping process, retailers could:
reduce return rates
shorten fitting room wait times
increase purchase confidence
improve in-store conversion
The opportunity was to design a hybrid retail experience combining mobile and in-store AR technology.
Research
To better understand shopping behaviors and pain points around clothing fit, I conducted interviews with shoppers who regularly purchase clothing both online and in stores.
Participants ranged from ages 30–42 and represented a mix of online and in-store shopping habits.
Key insights
1. Fit uncertainty drives hesitation
Participants frequently purchased multiple sizes or avoided buying clothing online because they could not accurately predict fit.
“I’ll order two sizes
just in case and return one.”
This behavior increases return volume and shipping costs for retailers.
2. Trying on outfits takes time and effort
Participants described fitting rooms as inconvenient when trying multiple outfits.
“I won’t use a fitting room,
I’d rather take something home
and try it on and then come back later
and return it if it doesn’t work out.”
Shoppers often abandon potential purchases rather than repeatedly entering and exiting fitting rooms.
3. Shoppers want to see complete outfits
Users were less interested in visualizing individual garments and more interested in seeing how full outfits work together.
“It’s hard to experiment with
clothing when quality clothing costs
so much. I wish I could see how
pieces work together before buying them.”
This insight suggested an opportunity to support style exploration rather than just fit verification.
Product Direction
Based on these insights, I explored a solution that would allow shoppers to:
Create a personalized digital avatar
Preview clothing using augmented reality
Experiment with complete outfits
Transition seamlessly between mobile and in-store experiences
See what they have in their closet at home while they’re shopping
This led to the concept of TrueStyle, an AR fitting ecosystem designed to support both online and physical retail environments.
The TrueStyle System
TrueStyle is designed as a connected retail platform consisting of two primary components:
Mobile App
Avatar creation
Virtual try-on
Outfit saving and recommendations
Store scanning and checkout
In-Store AR Mirror
Full-body outfit visualization
Gesture-based outfit browsing
Mobile QR code handoff
Together, these tools create a unified shopping experience that allows customers to experiment with clothing before physically trying items on.
Designing the Mobile Try-On Experience
The mobile experience allows shoppers to experiment with clothing and build outfits at home. To enable this experience, users first generate a personalized digital avatar based on their body measurements and reference photos. These inputs are used to estimate body proportions and create a simplified 3D body model that represents the user’s shape.
This model allows the system to map garments onto the avatar, helping visualize approximate fit, silhouette, and proportions across different clothing items.
Once the avatar is created, shoppers can browse clothing items and preview how they will appear on their avatar. Rather than focusing on individual garments, the experience encourages users to experiment with complete outfits and explore new styles with less risk.
Key features of the mobile experience include:
virtual try-on at home
digital wardrobe organization
AI-generated style suggestions
outfit building and planning
fit visualization insights
By allowing shoppers to experiment visually before purchasing, the mobile experience helps reduce uncertainty around style and fit while making it easier to discover new clothing combinations.
In-Store AR Mirror
While mobile supports at-home browsing, the in-store mirror provides a faster way to visualize clothing during physical shopping trips.
The mirror uses motion sensing and augmented reality to overlay clothing onto the user’s body in real time.
Shoppers can:
swipe through outfit options
preview combinations
scan a QR code to send selected outfits to their mobile device
This allows customers to explore clothing quickly without repeatedly changing outfits in fitting rooms.
Seamless Mobile Handoff
A key design goal was ensuring the experience transitions smoothly between physical retail and digital interaction.
After previewing outfits in the mirror, shoppers can scan a QR code to:
save outfits to their mobile app
view product details
purchase items directly
This handoff reduces friction between discovery and purchase.
Potential Business Impact
TrueStyle was designed to create value for both shoppers and retailers by improving how customers evaluate clothing before purchasing.
Consumer Value
Reducing friction in the try-on experience
Shopping for clothing often involves uncertainty around fit and style, leading to time spent waiting for fitting rooms or ordering multiple sizes online.
TrueStyle streamlines this process by enabling shoppers to preview clothing through virtual try-ons both at home and in-store. By allowing users to quickly experiment with outfits and styles, the system helps shoppers make more confident purchasing decisions while exploring a wider range of products.
Retailer Value
Faster try-ons and improved store efficiency
Physical fitting rooms are a limited resource in retail stores and can create congestion during peak shopping hours.
By introducing virtual try-on capabilities through mobile devices and in-store AR mirrors, TrueStyle reduces reliance on traditional fitting rooms. Shoppers can preview outfits quickly, helping them move through the store more efficiently while interacting with more products.
This has the potential to:
reduce fitting-room congestion
increase product engagement
improve in-store conversion rates
Business Model
TrueStyle is designed as a B2B SaaS platform for apparel retailers.
Retailers lease smart mirror hardware for their stores and pay a recurring software subscription for access to the TrueStyle platform, which includes avatar technology, AR visualization, and content management tools.
Marketing Video
Produced & edited by Melissa Lisi
Feasibility
From In-Home Concept to In-Store Reality
My initial concept positioned the AR mirror as an in-home product.
However, after evaluating feasibility, I realized that the hardware requirements alone would make it inaccessible to the average consumer.
This insight prompted a pivotal design question: how could I preserve the core value of the experience while making it scalable and realistic? That shift led me to reframe the concept for in-store use, where the technology could be shared, costs distributed, and the experience integrated directly into the retail environment.
Hardware total = $2,500 - $8,000
My design process
I began by outlining my ideal end-to-end design process, mapping each phase from initial research through final user testing. This framework helped me stay intentional and structured throughout the project.
Mobile App User Flow
Mid-Fidelity Wireframes
User Testing
What worked and what didn’t?
Users were confused how to check out
Long lines may form if the experience depends too heavily on the mirror
Users wanted to add grand total, tax and other features that would further clutter the screen and extend the mirror experience (create long lines)
How to remove clothing was a challenge
Before
After
Designing the Design System
Interested in the process? View my process below
Next Steps…
as part of my Master’s Capstone I plan to…
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Refine User Flow
Map and refine the end-to-end user journey to ensure the try-on and check out experience is intuitive, fast, and frictionless.
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Rework Interface
Redesign the interface to clearly guide users through gesture-based interactions while remaining minimal and mirror-first.
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Build Prototype
Using a large-format display, Unity, and C#, I will build a working AR mirror prototype that overlays virtual clothing onto a live camera feed.
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User Test
Conduct moderated user testing sessions to evaluate usability, engagement, and perceived value of the AR try-on experience.
