The real-world uses for AR continue and one of the latest is sure to please those individuals who want to find the right sneaker fit. A new Nike Fit AR tool will be implemented into the Nike app this coming summer to help find that perfect fit.
According to CNET’s report, the new AR tool will utilized a smartphone’s camera to help scan people’s feet. From there, it uses 13 data points it collects to map out the “foot morphology” of each feet. That scan becomes stored in each individual’s NikePlus member profile.
A detailed view of the tool on Nike’s website explains further details. After the scan is collected, users can choose a “best fit for you” recommendation. The Nike Fit is likely to offer customers different sizes based on different shoes too. Examples given included the Nike Cortez or Nike Air Zoom Pegasus.
The site states that “different shoes are made with different performance intent.” So a running shoe could generally need a snugger fit for performance, while a sportswear shoe may have a more “everyday comfort” type of fit.
Nike indicates in their website report that approximately 60 percent of people are wearing the wrong shoe size. So the new Nike Fit AR tool will help ensure that more people are getting the correct fit. It will also allow the company to design, manufacture, and sell shoes better. Their technology is an approach to the “antiquated” methods of determining shoe sizing.
According to Nike global corporate communications director Sandra Carrion-John (via email to CNET), “Nike Fit is a new scanning solution that uses a proprietary combination of computer vision, data science, machine learning, artificial intelligence and recommendation algorithms to find your right fit in every Nike style.”
Nike also indicated their desired outcome for the new Fit AR tool. “The ultimate goal is, eventually, totally personalized product. No number, no gender, just your name and a custom-made pair of shoes,” Nike said in their May 9 release.
Reportedly, the new Nike Fit AR technology will start “rolling out in July” during a Nike app update. Nike app users in Europe will get the update a bit later this summer.
Dil Bole Oberoi
