Ralph Lauren Is Taking Retail Into the Future With a Smart Mirror
Polo Ralph Lauren is rolling out a new smart mirror in the fitting rooms of its flagship New York store Wednesday, in the latest evidence of the fashion world embracing new technology.
The interactive mirror will allow customers at the store to tap for assistance, or request different items to try on, WWD reports. It has been designed by the tech startup Oak Labs.
Each item of clothing brought into the fitting room is automatically detected by the mirror via RFID chips, bringing up a display showing details about the garment. Customers can use the mirror to choose their preferred lighting setting, and the languages available include Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Mandarin and Japanese.
The move is part of a drive by Polo Ralph Lauren to move to a more digital way of shopping, and the brand is planning to roll out 16 of the mirror units across its high-profile stores over the coming month.
“From the day the Polo flagship opened on Fifth Avenue, we wanted it to connect with the customer and that meant emotionally and digitally. Fully wired fitting rooms and the digital displays for PoloTech blend in seamlessly with the fireplaces and Ralph’s Coffee shop,” David Lauren, executive vice president of global advertising, marketing and corporate communications at Ralph Lauren, told WWD.
The smart mirror is just one of many fashionable innovations aimed at evolving the concept of the fitting room to have come to light recently. Earlier this week John Legend’s fashion website Bungalow Clothing fully launched its online personal styling service for women, allowing shoppers to effectively use a stylist to choose a wardrobe for them and send items to their home for them to try on and purchase or reject. This summer saw the launch of the website Try.com, letting users to order items from the high street, try them on at home and purchase or return them as necessary.
