Whoa. Customized virtual mannequins allow you try on clothing online

Online shopping is perhaps the greatest retail invention of recent years. You can browse shoe styles for hours while sitting on your couch in PJs, buy a new dress while sitting at your desk at work (shh!), and even create a wish list to revisit or send to loved ones to buy for you. But there's one major drawback to ordering clothing online: you can't try them on! We hate that feeling of defeat when you rip open the package and discover that the garment doesn't fit. No matter how many specific measurements or user reviews websites include, everyone has a unique body that looks differently in clothes. Well, a new piece of technology keeps this very thought in mind.

FITS.ME has created a virtual dressing room for online retailers by using customized robot models to try on garments in various sizes. Co-founders Heikki Haldre and Paul Pällin made eight robot mannequins that morph into a variety of body shapes per the stats you input, so you'll know exactly how each garment will look on. "Our algorithm takes four minutes to work out each shape," Haldre told Wired magazine. "Until recently, we had 500 computers taking a week to calculate one body-shape. It would have taken us 130 years. Fashion might have moved on by then."

Did you just have one of those, 'whoa the future is totally here' moments? Yeah. Crazy. So far menswear sites like hawesandcurtis.com have already made use of this technology, and with any luck this technology will spread across online retailers soon.

Would you be more inclined to buy clothing online if you could try garments on a virtual model with your measurements?

Related links:
3 Sites That Make Shopping Online Easier
How to Find Clothes to Flatter Your Body
How to shop online to find the best deals