In the textile industry, the big chains such as Inditex or H&M have become the big players in fast fashion, managing to make collections that adapt to global tastes, are distributed around the globe and have managed to lower costs by producing in a chain. But, precisely this means that sometimes the clothes do not sit well.

Now a small German startup called Zyseme is looking to revolutionize the world of fashion by using artificial intelligence to create bespoke garments. From an app and without having to go to a tailor to take your measurements, which makes the process cheaper and faster.

To achieve this, it already has agreements with some large clothing chains, such as H&M. Zyseme has launched a pilot project with the Swedish chain, for now only in Germany, to create tailored white shirts for its customers.

"We completed our first series of tests with H&M Lab Germany at the end of spring. The results were positive and we are now working to be able to take it across the country," explains Bobby Östeberg, founder and CEO of the company, in an interview with Business Insider.

"This is obviously a big deal for us. H&M is one of the biggest companies in the fashion world. Overproduction and waste is a huge problem for them, but they are committed to changing this and have been investing heavily in solutions." Add .

"Ideally, we would like to work with brands of all sizes, but working with a company like H&M gives us exposure and legitimacy on a global scale. It is a great opportunity to show the fashion industry our solution to their difficulties: that production on demand it works, it's scalable and now is the time to change", explains the entrepreneur.

How does the technology that this company launched in 2018 work? The idea is that the client, for now they are only manufacturing men's shirts, enter a series of parameters so that the application calculates how the garment should be through an algorithm.

"Essentially, our algorithm relies on large data sets to calculate a customer's body measurements from their age, height, weight, and shoe size. We also ask for basic information about their body shape and physical activity levels." ", explains Östeberg, who adds that the survey usually takes around a minute to answer.

A technique that has a fairly low margin of error. "Measurements are calculated within 2% error for most users, and up to 3.5% for extreme outliers. It's not 100% perfect, but even professional tailors require at least a second adjustment to make more adjustments", adds the entrepreneur.

A margin of error that is also reduced as the user places orders because he can save the characteristics of the shirts in his profile. "For example, if the sleeves of the shirts on the first order are a centimeter too long, you can easily change it in your profile for the next time," says Östeberg.

Automate processes to reduce costs

By simplifying the way of taking measurements and automating the process of creating a pattern, the technology allows personalized production to be scalable, explains the manager. "It's known as mass customization and it allows you to personalize garments for considerably less than a traditional tailor," he says.

Even so, compared to the prices of ready-to-wear fashion, the costs are still higher. "However, standard sizes have some hidden costs. Producing in advance not only means having large inventories, but also a large number of garments that are not sold," explains Östeberg.

"The amount of waste that the fast fashion industry creates is unsustainable, not only ecologically but also economically. Tailored clothing can eliminate these costs which makes it not more expensive in general," he adds when asked about the cost. of your garments.

In this way, the company wants to be configured as an alternative so that customers can have more personalized clothing but not only that, but they also want to be an option so that fashion chains can reduce returns, which they estimate are some 140,000 million euros in the world. Of these, they point out that 76% are due to the fact that the measures do not correspond to the needs of the clients.

He also points out to the entrepreneur that the possibility of making custom-made clothes at an affordable price adapts to the environment by reducing the waste of garments made but not sold.

At the moment, in addition to H&M, they have signed an agreement with the Bavarian firm Hirmer to offer tailored shirts for their premium brands. Östeberg points out that they are in negotiations with other brands.

Technology in the world of fashion will make it more "sustainable"

"Technology must make fashion more sustainable. And that's not just about the environment, we're also talking about financial sustainability. The two are intrinsically linked," says Östeberg.

In this regard, the businessman explains that the fashion industry has been having problems for some time now and despite this, a large part of it continues with the same strategy: to do more and cheaper things. Although, he explains, that instead of investing in more efficient technologies, it has simply moved its production around the world in search of cheaper labor costs.

"This is short-term thinking," he notes,

However, the founder of the company points out that fashion on demand can indeed be a solution to these problems by reducing the costs of returns and promoting production close to the point of sale, which means that transport costs are cut. , emissions and even distribution.

At the moment, they only make men's shirts. But five years from now they hope to work with both men's and women's clothing becoming "an integral part of the shopping experience".