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Feb 2019
17m 27s

The Future of Fashion Retail

Bbc World Service
About this episode

Will online shopping and AI combine to kill the high street clothing store?

Ed Butler gets himself digitally measured up in order to try on outfits in cyberspace, with the help of Tom Adeyoola, founder of virtual browsing business Metail. Meanwhile Julia Boesch - who runs Outfittery, one of Europe's biggest online fashion retailers, out of her office in Berlin - explains how artificial intelligence is enabling her company to provide customers with the kind of individualised style advice they would normally find in a bespoke tailors.

So is the roll-out of AI-enhanced phone-based services going to revolutionise the way we buy our attire? Yes, says Achim Berg of consultants McKinsey - but not quite yet.

(Picture: Body scan to provide exact measurements at custom tailoring shop Alton Lane in Washington DC; Credit: Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

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