Letting Computers Pick Your Jean Size

SEATTLE - Imagine walking into your favorite clothing store, and instead of trying on outfit after outfit, a computer tells you exactly what size you need.

A popular clothing store in Seattle is offering just that all this week.

Intellifit is a body scanner. Levis, the jean company, is testing the machine at a few locations across the country. This week, it's in Seattle.

The computer-assisted sales tool sounded pretty cool, so we decided to "try it on for size."

Between boot cut, tapered leg, high rise, low rise, light or dark wash, there are plenty of jeans to choose from. But when you're shopping, you don't want to spend hours trying on pair after pair.

That's where Intellifit comes in.

Here's how it works: First you fill out a questionnaire, telling the computer your age, gender, ethnicity and your jean preferences.

Then you step into the machine, which is like an oversized phone booth. Using harmless radio waves, Intellifit scans you, taking measurements from 200 points on your body.

It even measures the amount of water in your skin.

Then, in about 10 seconds, it prints a list of different styles of Levis and the correct size for you.

Customers we saw trying it today seemed to like it.

"Yeah, they told me exactly what I wanted -- relaxed and low rise and 32- 30," said customer Ju Hwan Kim.

So does it really work? KOMO 4 News' morning news anchor Denise Whitaker was nice enough to put it to the test for me. She took the survey. Then got scanned. And got her print out. ("That is definitely the size I would recommend for you," the sales representative then noted.)

Then she tried on some of the jeans that Intellifit recommended.

As Denise found out, the technology is not perfect.

"Well, my receipt says I should try the Nouveau Boot cut 515 in a size 4 medium," she said. "I tried those, they were too short. I had to go up to the size 6 to get the longer length. Now they're long enough, but for my personal style, they might be a little too much on the tight side."

The fit specialists at Levis say even if Intellifit doesn't find the perfect size, it can still narrow your search. Sales representatives say typically a woman will take 15 pairs of jeans into the dressing room.

By the way, the technology that makes Intellifit work was born here in Washington state. Researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland developed the technology for the Federal Aviation Administration to screen passengers for non-metallic weapons.

As for privacy -- if you have concerns about everyone in the store knowing what size jeans you wear, Intellifit just gives out a receipt with a list of jean styles and size suggestions.

The Intellifit is at the Levis store in Downtown Seattle until Sunday, June 19. But if it's successful, I imagine Levis will permanently install them in most of their stores.