[2023.03.31] "This is what it looks like when you wear this". Amazing idea
- SKKU National Program of Excellence in Software
- Hit2696
- 2023-04-06
Development of AI-based fashion clothing model cut production solution
Start-up companies pass through the Death Valley, which suffers from a lack of funds at least once, and suffers from great trial and error. If you can't stand this period, it's hard to survive no matter how good the technology and service you have. We can't let small and medium-sized enterprises that can get a good response from the market as long as they are well known fall into the valley of death. I support them to change the world.
Jung Ji-he, CEO of startup Cordyme, devised a solution that efficiently generates model cuts. / The B.B
As e-commerce has grown rapidly since COVID-19, fashion commerce businesses such as Musinsa, Queen It, and Zigzag are also gaining huge popularity. The key is to reduce the gap between offline and online. It eliminates the problem of buying clothes or fashion items only by looking at the product cut, but seeing a failure because it is different from the picture.
The "model cut" is a representative alternative that can show the silhouette and fitting of clothes. Literally, the model wearing the item is presented on the detailed page. The presence or absence of model cuts is closely related to sales. The problem is that it takes a considerable amount of time and money to take model cuts. It is bound to be a big threshold for businesses that do not have large capital. Jeong Ji-hye (25), CEO of startup Codimi, focused on this and developed a solution that creates model cuts most efficiently. I met with CEO Chung and asked why he paid attention to the model cut market.
◇A dream that Daechi Kids secretly chose instead of a doctor
The screen of the lug studio being developed by Cordyme. / Cordyme
Codimi is the developer of "Lug Studio," a solution that generates images of virtual models wearing clothing items. Lug Studios uses artificial intelligence (AI) to show the reality fit of certain clothes or accessories. It provides time-consuming and costly candidate selection automation. Using this, you can correct the body shape of the model in the picture in just a few seconds.
Usually, it costs 70,000 won to 90,000 won to produce a model cut. Cordyme plans to reduce the cost of making model cuts by less than half through Lug Studio. It is currently working on upgrading services with a fashion platform.
CEO Chung is a Daechi Kids who grew up in Daechi-dong, the No. 1 private education center. / The B.B
It is Daechi-dong Kids who grew up in Daechi-dong, Korea's No. 1 private education. I secretly dreamed of becoming a businessman in an atmosphere where I had to go to medical school to be recognized. "I've tried to go to medical school like everyone else. Then I suddenly realized that what I really wanted was to start a business. After reading the autobiography of Dyson founder James Dyson, the idea became firm. His life of solving people's inconveniences and enjoying great rewards with the innovative idea of a dustbin-free vacuum cleaner looked better than anyone else. I decided to become an entrepreneur who changes people's behavior with original ideas and entered the software department of Sungkyunkwan University in 2019. "
He started preparing to start a business when he was a freshman. I searched for a teacher who would help me start a business by inquiring about my senior. "I got to know a professor who was a former Samsung executive. I went to the professor and poured in the ideas I had in mind. The professor pointed out the reason why not. It was all necessary. I think it looked good to see him trying to start a business even though he was harshly attacked. He said he would help me if I got my team members together. So we recruited team members first."
The first idea came from Daechi-dong academy district. Daechi-dong is a neighborhood with a high academic enthusiasm. On days when there was a large lecture by a famous instructor, parents lined up from 3 a.m. and took good seats. In this day and age, it was sad and primitive to see a long procession even in the cold wave to take care of children. With this in mind, I was going to develop a reservation system for seats at famous academies in Daechi-dong.”
I ran to Daechi-dong academy district with my team members and did market research. While interviewing the director of a large academy, I learned the secret hidden in the long procession. "The long line was a marketing strategy to give the impression that it was a popular lecture. There was no incentive to participate in the reservation system because it was not a problem to be solved by the academy. It was a very conservative market. It was something I wanted to change, but I decided to give up."
◇ Reasons for switching to B2B after developing B2C service by starting a student
(From left) A single photo taken with the members of the early days of Coordination and participation in the Demo Day with Coordination items. / Coordination
Through the school start-up linkage program, we decided to challenge the start-up again. "I've decided to discover new items in areas that I'm interested in and that are close to my life. I usually like to shop on platforms like zigzag. So I decided to do an item related to fashion. Among the ideas I have, I decided to promote a platform that recommends coordinators based on the 'digital closet'. With this idea, it was selected as a preliminary start-up package for 2021. The team leader suddenly disappeared. When I asked him why he didn't commercialize it, he said, "I have to get a job, so let's finish it roughly and live separately." I couldn't understand. I couldn't change the representative, so I sent the team leader out and started gathering the team members again."
I managed to get four people together, but the server developer suddenly quit. After studying server development for three days, I started developing fashion platform 'Cody Me'. "I, the app developer, and the designer stayed up all night for a month. It was a platform where you can remove the background and register it in the closet when you post a picture of your clothes, and someone else can recommend a coordinate set with the registered clothes. We also developed an AI that analyzes the properties of clothes and creates a coordinate set on its own."
In May 2022, it registered as a business and entered the business in earnest. The service was improved by collecting user reviews. "The coordinator set made by AI was not attractive. It was a bit obvious and cliché, with clothes that matched statistically. It wasn't fun to be bouncy. What people really wanted was not a coordinate set, but to see how it felt when they actually wore it. It's a science fiction idea, but it's actually a technology that's being studied. So we started working on virtual trial technology. I set my goal as a platform where I can match and coordinate clothes I want to buy.”
Cordyme was a platform that combined the attributes of coordination stickers and SNS. / Coordination
In November 2022, it launched the MVP (minimum functional product) of virtual trial technology within the Cordyme app. "It was a similar feature to the coordination sticker. We looked at the indicators for a month after the release. There was no big reaction. Users responded by saying, "I want to see my own trial rather than the model," and investors asked back, "How will you design a business model with this item?" I myself have strong doubts."
There was no answer. To find the answer, I started meeting big fashion brands with virtual trial technology. "Brands have also received many requests from consumers that they want to have virtual trial services. I heard that the presence or absence of trial has a big impact on the return rate and the purchase conversion rate. At this point, I realized that virtual trial capabilities are more needed in the B2B (business-to-business) market than in the consumer market. It's because the B2B business has a high barrier to entry, but if you settle down well, you can grow a lot. However, the consumer trial function seems to be difficult to implement technically, so I started looking for something that can be done with a 'model trial'."
◇ The model cut on the detailed page was so expensive
CEO Chung decided to develop a solution that targets the fashion B2B market based on the fact that the existing model cut market is full of inefficiency. / The B.B
It was decided to carry out Fibotting (business model conversion). It has discovered a niche in the fashion B2B market. That's how the 'model cut' market was discovered. "For large SPA brands, where hundreds or thousands of clothes are poured out every season, there are many products without model cuts. I don't know the fit and the feeling of wearing it, so I'm reluctant to buy it. When I met with industry officials, I heard that the cost of model cuts is not high, so I only apply model cuts to the main products and give up the rest. The situation of small and medium-sized fashion brands and private shopping malls was worse. Among those who just started shopping malls, there were many cases where the CEO became a model or used mannequins due to a lack of capital. We've discovered the market's sharp needs."
The existing model cut market was full of inefficiencies. "It costs 70,000 won to 90,000 won to take a model cut. The price of the model is not cheap. For popular foreign models, you have to pay 1 million won for 3 hours. It takes more than two weeks to edit the photos. People who run their own malls or small shopping malls have to decide where to put their strength by posting various products at the beginning of the season and looking at market reactions. Even though the current structure cannot estimate the expected sales, we have to work on all the products. It's bound to be burdensome for a company. The correction was also a problem. Even ahead of promotions, there are situations where model cut correction is delayed and stamping your feet."
It has started developing AI virtual attire service 'Lug Studio'. It is a platform where a virtual model creates an image wearing a clothing item. "The trial model we developed earlier is based on 2D images, so we couldn't even implement the fit of the clothes. The focus was on narrowing the gap between these 2D and 3D. After dressing the mannequin, the distortion was minimized by replacing this image with a human model. Ultimately, we aim to be a platform where model cuts are created by selecting models and clothes and entering the desired pose."
Among the major inconveniences raised in relation to model cuts, a function to save 'time' was also introduced. "We've developed calibration automation. It is a function that can thinly adjust the waist and forearm in just one to two seconds through AI. This function was designed to reduce the time and cost of outsourcing correction. You can also adjust the degree of calibration."
In the case of virtual models, it is based on real people. "When recruiting virtual trial models, 30 people applied in two days. Currently, we are developing a platform with one model, but we aim to have 30 models in the first half of this year. First of all, we are planning to launch the service as a Korean model. When the service stabilizes, we plan to introduce a foreign model with a high ransom."
◇ Model cut for Internet shopping malls, cheap and quick
In January, it advanced to the finals of the Start-up Competition (D-Day) hosted by the Youth Startup Foundation (D-Camp) in the banking sector. At the start-up competition held at Sungkyunkwan University, including the artificial intelligence idea contest and AI ICT, it received the grand prize and the excellence award. "Our prospective customers are excited about the cheap, fast model cuts. When I ran an advertisement online that said, "You can make a model cut on the web with just a click," 411 people flocked to the advertisement page in an instantaneously. I felt a lot of interest and thought it was well targeted at the cost and inefficiency of the existing market."
It is currently conducting a POC (Proof of Concept) with a fashion platform. "After going through this phase, we plan to run a close beta service and collect feedback. After that, I would like to launch an official service in a completed form. We still need a lot of technical improvements. If the existing Codemi was a "good to have" service, Lug Studio is confident that it will be a service that will have great demand, targeting model cuts, a major factor in determining sales. It's a must have item. We will grow into a company that helps shopping mall owners secure model cuts more easily and comfortably."
Editor Jin Eun-hye
Source: [Next The Vivid] "This is how it feels when you actually wear this." Sungkyunkwan University student's amazing idea