Could Having To Try On Jeans Become A Thing Of The Past?

Weekday’s organic cotton jeans were the best-selling denim of 2019 and the ninth most-coveted product, according to global fashion search platform Lyst, which tracks consumer data. The latest innovation from the Swedish high-street retailer is rooted in the same sustainable business practices and has the potential to change the way we shop jeans entirely.

Working with the start-up Unspun in H&M’s innovation hub, The Laboratory, Weekday has developed size-free jeans using digital software. An algorithm uses a customer’s 3D body scan to create a paper pattern and list of measurements. The jeans are then produced in partner factories within 10 days of the initial blueprint – complete with any bonus trim, stitching or pocket personalisation required. The rigmarole of wriggling into pair after pair of ill-fitting jeans in clinically lit changing rooms could be no more.

Out of the 100 guinea pigs who trialled the service – including Laura Coppen, H&M sustainable and circular business developer, who said she was “sceptical on how all the pieces of the puzzle of this model would fit together” – 80 per cent of consumers said they were satisfied with the end product. (The retailer had predicted that 65 per cent would respond positively).

There are issues that need to be resolved before the first scanner is installed in the first (as yet undisclosed) Weekday store. Namely, returns. If custom pieces are returned due to customer dissatisfaction, the denim will become deadstock, which negates the direct-to-consumer strategy of reducing excess fashion. Over the last 18 months, The Laboratory has been road-testing the technology on various Weekday products to ensure it becomes increasingly accurate over time. The biggest challenge is adapting the algorithm to ensure that each pair of jeans, which will roughly retail for $93 (£72), resembles the original Weekday style after resizing. This development process comes at a huge cost, and H&M is still looking for suppliers that will be able to produce more than one style at a time. Scaling up to supply demand will then be on the agenda.

“This has the potential to be very disruptive. It’s about redefining the entire system,” Coppen told WWD. “This disrupts every stage of the production cycle, from design to supply chains to how we offer the experience to the customer. On-demand production is a great opportunity to be both sustainable and profitable.” If successful, Weekday jeans will have “better emotional durability” than competitor models, and service the buy-less, wear-more mentality fashion is moving towards – one step at a time.