James Pringle

Given the males evolutionary predisposition to be hunter-gatherers it is somewhat of a mystery as to why men in general do not like to go shopping. All the elements are there (except maybe the rush of killing something, which might actually be the reason why we don’t bother), but yet some of us dread the almost seemingly pointless activity. It’s a necessity and we see it that way. We need shoes. We go buy a pair. Done. We need a shirt. We go buy one. Done. There’s no browsing, no coupon clipping, no hunting for the best deal. If we find what we’re looking for chances are we’re just going to buy it. Yes, that competing store across town might have it for $10 less, but to us our time and effort are worth that $10, so we pay and call it a day.

Well, that used to be the case. These days we have the internet and while we still aren’t going to compare a thousand stores we might actually check one or two places before we decide on which one to buy from. Usually, the deciding factor will boil down to the price.

For items such as electronics, appliances, books, media, etc. this is all well and good. These are things we can choose with a few photos and some basic product details. However, there is at least one category that still seems to haunt us and that is clothing. For a lot of guys (and girls) maybe the generic, over-generalized size charts and numbers do the trick, but for a lot of us we have several other, misc. factors that play into how we decide on what clothes to buy. This usually boils down to “I’ll just have to try it on”. So, we get off our lazy asses, go into the store, and do just that.

As any decent, late-night infomercial would say: “There’s got to be a better way”!

So, here is my suggestion: Body Scanning.

I know, you’re thinking, “what?!”, but hear me out. There are already ways to get your body in some 3-dimensional format, but the process has to either be done by hand by an expert modeler, or we do have the technology and hardware to do full body scanning. This is already in practice and it’s uses currently apply mostly to TV/Film production and game development. The obvious reason for this is that I’m sure it’s expensive. One quick visit to eyetronics.com, the company that provided it’s services for such films as Speed Racer, and games such as GTA IV, you’ll find that there’s nothing more then a simple contact form if you’re interested in their services. They’re also located in Belgium apparently, which doesn’t jive too well with the American market.

Point is, the technological achievements have already been met. We are there. We just need more companies doing this kind of thing and the inevitable price drop will follow. I could think of a day when you could walk into some place and have a private environment where you could get your body, or whatever part of it you wanted, scanned. It’s saved to a disc (or better yet available online for you when you return home). After that you can use “some software” to manipulate, save, and export your body to different formats. A quick visit to Amazon or Target and you could upload your body scan to your profile and try on all the different items right on your virtual body. You could change the environment, lighting, your physical position (standing, sitting, etc.) and see what you would look like in some clothing or other item. Click “Buy” and all is done.

Now, of course, this idea implies a whole bunch of technology and effort and that has yet to be applied by anyone, but all it would take would be for one large chain to offer the service and the rest would follow. (Good luck!)

The idea of having your own body scan model implies a whole bunch of other uses as well, not just shopping. With the advent of technologies such as Microsoft’s Natal, and the Nintendo Wii, the video game is evolving ever more personal. Now wouldn’t it be nice to have the person on the screen representing you actually look like you instead of a cartoony, Nintendo character? Of course it would, but again it’s just technological advancements that need to be made. Uploading your own body into “The Sims 6″ would seem like a natural progression, as well a host of many other games.

Medical reasons seem to spring to mind as well although having just a shell of your body that’s not “live” in any way doesn’t seem very practical for most purposes there, but you could definitely see what you would look like if you lost those 10 pounds, got that new haircut, or nose-job you’ve been saving up for.

I’m sure there are many more creative ways this one asset could be put to use and maybe in time we will see something of the sort. For now, I just don’t want to go shopping for clothes.