IZOTTI is a Canadian Menswear Startup specializing in bespoke men’s suits and shirts. This Startup has come up with a Proprietary Algorithm for Accurate Customer Measurement via smartphones and Webcam. We recently Interviewed Sean Jacobs to know more about IZOTTI and its much talked about algorithm.
Sean, Thank you for talking with us. Kindly describe your journey as an Entrepreneur so far
Thank you for having me. It’s been a very interesting journey. A great learning experience, but not something that can be replicated. IZOTTI as a brand started at the beginning of 2017. It all started after a good friend of ours was completing his MBA program abroad. As childhood friends, we always had a reputation for wearing very stylish clothing. At that time I was working in a corporate environment, but wearing suits was something we like to do even on weekends. He introduced me to some local tailors. Initially, IZOTTI was making clothing for myself and a small circle of friends and coworkers. But the goal was to provide a simple way for young men to buy finely tailored clothing for a reasonable price.
I’ve always been a man interested in business and sales, so naturally, I had a very extensive network of friends and clients throughout my city and abroad. Although we were very successful in selling locally, on the east coast, I felt that we could do more.
The fashion business was never my forte, but I think it helped me in that being an outsider, I was able to see areas of the business that would benefit from innovation. Tailoring is a business that has been around for hundreds of years, but because it was so labor-intensive and suiting is a very personal purchase, it was hard to scale.
I had the idea to develop some type of application that could measure clients from their phone or webcam but it was difficult to attain consistent results because the sample sizes had to be so large and there were so many variables when capturing measurements; camera quality, distance from the camera, privacy concerns, not to mention our customer’s confidence in using a web-based measurement system to purchase $500 suits.
So I went on a tear, reading everything I could about html5 webcam access, APIs, Machine Learning, etc. It took a lot of trial and error but we got it to work and then we implemented it on our website. We’ve been rolling ever since.
When did you come up with the idea of izotti. What were the initial challenges that you faced in your endeavor as menswear is a highly competitive segment?
The idea of IZOTTI as we know it today is something that came to fruition in late 2016. Initially, it started as a traditional menswear company where we set up shop and used measuring tapes to record our customers’ measurements, and then we manually sent them out to our partner factories for them to construct a suit.
However in 2016 we started to look at the landscape of menswear and thought what would be the new improved way to get more accurate measurements more quickly and have them delivered more efficiently.
So when we came up with this idea to utilize people smart phone or WebCam for them to measure themselves the biggest challenge was accuracy and privacy. We had to train our algorithm to account for a lot of factors a lot of the factors that people might overlook goes into a well tailored garment.
In terms of competition, I think you’re right, menswear is one of the most competitive businesses in the world. I think what separates us is that we are more than just a traditional ‘menswear fashion’ company, we are a nexus of design, advanced manufacturing, and technology.
Most traditional suit makers are retail-based and have brick and mortar setups. At IZOTTI, we are based purely online and we are using a proprietary technology that our competitors don’t have. I have seen some beautiful sites but the measurement profiles are not really based on individual customers, they are more of an estimation. No one in the suit business has any tech that can measure as accurately as us. Bespoke tailoring requires precision and that’s why we focused on building a solid API rather than use gimmicky software.
We have heard a lot about your Proprietary Algorithm which helps your clients in getting accurate measurements. Tell us more about this algorithm.
Well, something that was conceptualized couple years ago and since then we have built a model, trained it, deployed it, and then refined it. Put it simply we are using landmark technology because it allows us to find specific points for specific bodies and then using some math we are able to get very accurate results, calculating circumference.
We’ve tested hundreds of post estimations and trained our algorithm on over 10,000 participants.
All you need to do is take a front and side profile stance and measurements are calculated instantaneously. From there, a 3d model is created and an encrypted key is attached to the profile for reference. We don’t store any photos because our commitment to consumer privacy is our top priority.
Coronavirus has impacted many businesses so far. Clothing Industry has also suffered a lot with many brick and mortar businesses shutting down. How has your organization adapted to the current pandemic?
Yes, you’re right. Coronavirus has impacted the traditional retail industry, IZOTTI included. But on the bright side, the impact of coronavirus has also effectively highlighted the advantage IZOTTI has. When we started this business, it was with the future in mind. From the beginning, we wanted to make a buying experience that could be done remotely and easily, so permanent stores were never in the plan.
We have hired and trained more customer service staff to help our new customers understand and navigate. As well, we created a “work from home” collection. Its a variety of 4 tracks all made of our “athletico” cotton blend. Its a “stay-at-home-but-still-look-put-together” track suit that will help you maintain professionalism on your zoom calls.
We are always improving the buying experience for our customers, and we have been expanding our sales channels with Instagram and Facebook shops, as well as exploring the idea of a fully virtual shop with unique AR features. Very cool stuff.
IZOTTI is regarded as a specialist in crafting bespoke men’s suits. Are you considering diversification in the near future?
Diversification in terms of products of course. Right now we are developing our accessory line of executive travel bags and luggage. We had initially put together a plan to roll out our wedding service but that was delayed because of the pandemic. We have set a target to release our wedding service for groomsmen in Q2, 2021.
We have also been contacted by many manufacturers and larger corporations interested in using our API to collaborate on creating PPE for worker safety.
What are your plans for 2020 keeping in mind the ongoing pandemic? Also, what suggestions would you give to businesses who are going through a rough patch?
Part of our brand identity is perseverance and confidence and so we always hope for the best. For the remainder of 2020 you can expect to see us continue to grow and raise brand awareness. We have a fantastic marketing team and we are in talks with some great ambassadors to help deliver an experience and show our customers we mean business.
My advice to any business is going to a rough patch would be to maintain optimism and keep customers first — we’re all in this together. Talk to your team, and always look for ways to improve the experience and maintain optimal efficiency.
