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UK:Online shoppers can get the ''feel'' of clothes |
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2004-9-13
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Dissuading online shoppers will now be implored to buy clothes. All due to a revolutionary software, which will help online Internet shoppers roll the mouse to ‘feel’ the textures of different fabrics through their computer screens.
Devised by Nicola Davison, a student at Nottingham Trent University, the program uses a series of interactive virtual-reality animations to mimic the movement of various fabrics.
Davison armed with MA in fashion and textiles, is convinced it will help slash the number of online shopping returns, which currently stands at almost 40 per cent.
The software provides realistic sensations for 10 feelings - softness, fullness, smoothness, hairiness, prickliness, drape, thickness, elasticity, rigidity and warmth. Different 3D animations are used to convey each sensation.
For hairiness, a close-up image of the garment''s surface is shown. By moving the mouse up and down shoppers can "stroke" the fibres and watch them ripple in a realistic way.
To develop the software, Click 2 Touch, Miss Davison watched people shopping to see how they felt clothes.
She hopes to make the software available for shoppers within a year after she was awarded a research development grant from the Department of Trade and Industry.
"The number of people buying online is growing, but when it comes to fashion the inability to feel garments is deterring potential customers," she said. |
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