At a recent fashion trade show in London, the buzz amongst exhibitors was all about how shoppers are flocking to stores to get refitted, again and again, thanks to the Ozempic effect. Now, this happened to be a lingerie show, and as any woman will know, you can only tighten the strap so many times before the garment is no longer able to do what it should be doing, comfortably. The same can be said for workwear, especially protective clothing.
In October last year, the NY Times ran a case study of a Staten Island mum who said she couldn’t keep up and was spending a fortune on clothes due to the regular changes. In the article, she reports how it was hard to know what size to get next as her body went through dramatic changes during the 12-month treatment programme. Buying clothing online, she had to bracket to find the right size. Imagine that with your workwear. Simply not knowing what size to order next. It may be safe to assume that most people would simply have to order several sizes of the same item to try on, and for businesses, that means that return rates are likely to soar.
Currently, in the UK, over 500,000 people are prescribed weight loss injections, Wegovy or Mounjaro, but the number is rising fast. In the US, 6% of the population has used weight loss injections and again, the number is going up as the treatment becomes more accessible. With that in mind, given that the standard treatment takes 12 to 18 months and people lose weight gradually during this period, imagine the impact on businesses and the environment when we think about the constant returns. This is where a good, non-intrusive sizing system can be extremely helpful to both the business and the end wearer.
In the uniform industry, where margins are already tight, efficiently managing size changes is essential. Now, imagine the logistical and financial strain of having to swap uniforms two or three times for even 6% of the workforce due to uncertain sizing as employees experience body changes. With weight loss treatments alone, this could lead to an additional 12% to 20% in uniform returns from incorrect sizing. The impact on stock levels, lead times, and overall programme costs can be significant, making accurate size recommendations more crucial than ever.
With Bodi.Me’s Size-Me, uniform providers can eliminate the guesswork and reduce unnecessary uniform swaps, ensuring that employees receive a well-fitted garment the first time. By leveraging AI-driven fit recommendations based on real body data, businesses can cut returns, optimise stock, and lower costs, all while improving wearer satisfaction. For uniform programmes that already operate on tight budgets, Size-Me is not just a convenience—it’s a game-changer.
Many people avoid using sizing tools as they find them intrusive and are concerned about privacy, especially those who are body-conscious. With Bodi.Me’s award-winning Size-Me tool, the wearer simply needs to answer a few non-intrusive questions to get their perfect fit and all data is entirely private as the recommendation is linked to an anonymous code with no link to the purchaser at all. Using the wearer’s responses to the questions posed, the software utilises high-quality data from more than 350,000 3D body models, seamlessly incorporating cutting-edge AI, and the latest machine learning (ML) integrated with its proprietary algorithms to extrapolate a complete size and fit recommendation.
Especially designed for the uniform industry, the granular tool considers a large number of variables in the garment style, to provide the fit indicators where it matters for that particular style. And importantly, the technology is focused on providing a fit recommendation, rather than simply suggesting the right size, which is essential for those who are going through a change – be it people on weight loss treatment, life stage changes, pregnancy or anything else that leads to body shape changes. With the obesity epidemic growing globally, it looks like drastic treatments and certainly, obesity-targeting medication, are here to stay. Bodi-Me’s Size-Me system is perfect to support end wearers and uniform businesses to reduce return rates, both for the consideration of planet and profit.