The Future of Fashion & Sustainability | 9 From Clueless to Chic: ThredX’s Virtual Try-On Fashion Closet

Among a crowded field of emerging innovators in Virtual Try-On Technology, ThredX aims to declutter the everyday struggles of selecting the perfect fit. Drawing inspiration from the 90s pop culture film Clueless, ThredX is an early-stage start-up developing a digital platform that makes getting ready as easy as a swipe. In my conversation with Co-founder and CEO Sean Sinko, we dove into the early inspirations behind ThredX, where the company is headed, and how she wants to impact the conversation around circular fashion. As a company leveraging advancements in virtual try-on technology, ThredX is a company to keep a close eye on.

Getting ready for a night out or deciding what to wear for a date is nerve-wracking, but going through your entire closet can be even more frustrating. Virtual closets help take stock of people’s available apparel, so users can carefully curate their perfect outfits. These digital lookbooks exist in many forms, from popular fashion reseller platform Depop to virtual closet applications like StyleBook. People take images of their clothes and upload them to the application to create outfits, organize clothing, and plan their attire with calendars. However, present-day virtual closets do not allow users to try on their digital clothes.

While many companies offer virtual closets, ThredX will be among the first to integrate Virtual Try-On technology (VTO) for clothing into a virtual closet platform. Sean and her co-founder Nicole Belans want to develop a digital platform that people can use to curate their virtual closets, draw inspiration from other users, and leverage ThredX’s Virtual Try-On technology to see how clothes look on their bodies. As discussed in my former article, A Case for Virtual Try-On and Brand Adoption, I outline how fashion brands and retailers want to capitalize on the potential benefits to their bottom line, but ThredX puts the everyday consumer and fashionista at the center of its services.

Long before ThredX, Sean started mixing and matching clothes to efficiently plan out her outfits and used social media to curate her virtual closet. Sean’s virtual closets grew in popularity, as she expanded her services to family, friends, and a growing digital community. Rather than continue to use Photoshop to overlay outfits onto people’s images, Sean realized she needed to automate the process to scale the service. The platform is still under development, but Sean outlined a few features people should be excited to see. She sells the usability and ease by which users can expect to virtually try on clothing. Based on a user-scanned or uploaded photo, the platform will create a photorealistic digital avatar, and ThredX’s smart-fit technology models and fits digitally uploaded clothing on their avatar. Users can then mix and match uploaded apparel. In addition, users can leverage the platform to understand what they own, how they can wear it, and what they’re not wearing often.

Another area of our conversation focused on how platforms like ThredX can evolve in the future. With the ability to create one’s digital closet and potentially see another’s, creating a digital community for reselling apparel is possible. Advancements in VTO may even allow users to view another user’s clothing catalog and see how those clothes would look or fit on their bodies. Understanding what clothes users enjoy pairing, ThredX could use machine learning to generate personalized outfit recommendations. There are endless possibilities, but the nascent technology is still developing, and users will drive many of the early features.

We spoke last about the term Circular Fashion - an approach to fashion that aims to create a closed-loop system by minimizing waste, maximizing the lifespan of clothing, and promoting recycling and reusing of garments. Circular fashion is the hottest word in sustainable fashion, but many brands have yet to show a commitment to shift their business practices in adherence to the principles of circular fashion. Sean noted that the fashion industry cannot talk about circular fashion without considering the digitalization of the wardrobe. Clothes and wardrobes are the centers of fashion, but consumers are missing tools to help address the problem of overconsumption. Sean noted that consumers only utilize 20% of their wardrobes 80% of the time. As consumers of fashion, we are drawn to the next hottest item, but sometimes we lack the imagination of what we can create with our existing wardrobes. ThredX’s platform is a tool for consumers to better understand what they already have and unlock new clothing combinations. The platform can encourage users to make the most of their existing wardrobe, potentially reducing the demand for new clothing and promoting a circular economy.

I’m of the mindset that digitalization can unlock the ability of consumers to be a part of the circular economy and promote responsible consumption. VTO is no silver bullet, but it allows consumers to take more ownership in the conversation around fashion waste and consumerism. ThredX is developing a solution to a problem we face every day, and the platform will put users’ needs at the forefront of their mission. Admittedly, Sean and ThredX are still carving their way and will undoubtedly continue to develop and change. With a one-of-its-kind platform, ThredX offers a product that puts the power of fashion back in the hands of the user.