Japanese Tycoon Yusaku Maezawa Introduces New Foot-Scanning Tech for ZOZO
Following the footsteps of the ZOZOSUIT.
After hitting Twitter to announce an auction of his art collection because he had “no money,” Japanese fashion tycoon Yusuka Maezawa is back at it again, this time with a quirky invention: a 3D foot-scanning app.
Hitting up his favorite social media platform on Monday, the founder and CEO of Japanese online fashion retail giant ZOZO announced that the company would be releasing a new piece of tech that scans your foot in 3D in order to help you find the perfect fitting shoes. Titled ZOZOMAT, the new gadget allows users to place their foot on a mat, which features various dots and colored lines on its surface, and uses a dedicated app to scan a 3D rendering of your foot using those dots/lines as reference points. Once rendered, the app will provide you with a range of measurements and dimensions, letting you make a more informed choice the next time you buy a pair of shoes or sneakers. Of course, as a ZOZO app, it’ll also make recommendations as to which shoes on the retail site will fit you.
Followers of Maezawa or ZOZO will know that it’s not the first time the company has released something like this. Back in 2017, ZOZO released a ZOZOSUIT, which basically had the same idea, except for the sizing of clothes. The black suit is covered with white dots which act as reference points, supposedly allowing a scanning app to determine your body dimensions and make fashion recommendations off the data. However, if you’re familiar with this little piece of tech, you’d also remember that reception was very mixed, to a degree that Maezawa had to hit up Twitter again to say that “because of difficulty to put on and measure, it was used by fewer people than expected.” Hopefully learning its lesson, the new ZOZOMAT will catch on.
For more footwear-related news, here’s an on-foot look at the Off-White™ x Nike Zoom Vapor Street.
「ZOZOMAT」発表です。スマホで足が3D計測できます。今日から先行予約開始。もちろん無料。ご予約はこちらから→ https://t.co/MnX9xmZN8O #ZOZOMAT pic.twitter.com/GMiX56ob1U
— Yusaku Maezawa (MZ) 前澤友作 (@yousuck2020) June 24, 2019
靴の国内市場規模は約1.4兆円で、1人あたりの年間靴消費量は約5足とも言われています。例えば、その5足のうち1足でもZOZOTOWNで買っていただければその規模は約2800億円。現在のZOZOTOWNの靴の取扱高は約360億円。ZOZOMATをきっかけに、誰でも靴がECで買える時代にしていきます！ #ZOZOMAT
— Yusaku Maezawa (MZ) 前澤友作 (@yousuck2020) June 24, 2019
