When you wear underwires, you tend to avoid anything that looks like airport security whenever possible. But what about the Me-Ality Body Scanner? I’ve been wanting to try one since I heard about it earlier this year, but at the time it only made jeans recommendations. Since then, it’s expanded to include tops, so I was thrilled when reader Jame’s guest post about her Me-Ality experience showed up in my inbox on Sunday.
Me-Ality Body Scanning Station: what a joke!
Over the weekend, I went to Sun Valley Mall to do a little shopping. I was instantly attracted to the “body scan machine.â€
I wanted to see if it would work.
The process was simple: remove your belt, shoes, and metal bracelets. Hop in the scanner. Stand still for a few minutes. And out pops a clothing and size recommendations based on what is in stock at the mall. This sounds like the best thing ever. Unfortunately, it didn’t work as expected.
So first up, here is a quick rundown on my stats:
Height: 5’4.5
Bust: 41.5 (34H-HH)
Waist: 33
Hips: 43
Other notes: short torso, longer legs, thicker thighs, not-flat tummy
Typical Clothing Sizes:
Dresses: 14
Pants: 14-16
Skirts: 14-16
Knit tops: L-XL
Blouses: XL/16
Blazers: 16 or more depending on the amount of stretch
So I’ll admit, I am not the easiest shape to shop for. I have a tummy. I have a short torso. I am full-busted. But generally speaking, I can find plenty of dresses that fit. Skirts are pretty easy. Knits are easy. Pants and jeans are tricky. Blazers are tricky. Blouses are hit or miss. I can find stuff in stores catering to “missy.†Dresses and tops at H&M. And I looks for pants at the low end of plus and the high end of missy.
So after I did my scan, I waited a few minutes for my results. The woman working the booth was printing the results from a touch screen computer by category. The categories were jeans, skirts, tops, sweaters, dresses (new category) and lingerie was coming soon.
So I got all of the pages back. And the results were:
2 jeans from Lane Bryant in 14/16
2 Elastic waist maxi skirts in 14/16 from Lane Bryant
1 logo hoodie from Gap in XXL
3 t-shirt type tops from Torrid in size 3
And that was it. No dresses. No non elastic waist skirts. No skirts shorter than full length. No other pants. Tops in a size that was several sizes too big. No sweaters.
I was a little surprised. It seemed like the scanner misjudged my bust measurements by around 9 inches.
It was a little depressing. In fact, if I didn’t know my clothing size in many stores I would have been depressed. I would have left the mall thinking that there were less than 10 items that would fit me. And if I had tried on those Torrid tops, they would have been significantly too big.
I don’t know what went wrong with the scanner, but all I know is it didn’t work for me at all. Especially on the top. Maybe it works better if you aren’t in limbo land at the top of Missy’s and the bottom of plus-sizes.
Maybe one of you will have better luck. Have you tried Me-ality or similar scanners?
I tried the bodymetrics scanner. It is only for jeans. I was very disappointed in the results. The jeans recommended by it were way too tight and non flattering (for example skinny jeans on my hourglass shape (thighs, JLo butt) – that’s exactly what Clinton and Stacy say NOT to wear) and the scanner appeared to not take rise into account because the jeans were very low rise on my 5’8″ frame. None of the jeans fit me. I am normally size 10 or size 12 in jeans.
For biometric scanner to work one should have very thorough measurements (and not only bust-waist-hips!) of all the garments it could recommend and some pretty complicated software to evaluate fit on the particular body (and define programically if there will be unwanted folds or if it will be unflattering is quite a task!). But the main problem is accurate garments’ measurements (because it should be about 20-30 measurements for each size of each model and different measurements from different factories for the same size (Levi’s is severe case there, e. g.) couldn’t be tolerated then). I’m more then sure that not all manufactures in the mall provided that.
As one of the developers of the Me-ality (formerly the Intellifit (similar to L3)) scanner, I was scanned frequently. I have similar body measurements as Darlene. We would make patterns and samples using the measurements from the scanner to design clothing – men’s and women’s, and have them sewn by professional samplemakers. The jackets and pants fit all of us remarkably well. I was a patternmaker and the measurement consultant for the company. One of our clients, Lane Bryant, created lines of clothing that fit based on patterns developed for the different body shapes. When I went into the store a couple of years ago, I chose a pair of pants in my body shape and they fit perfectly.
It could be that, rather than the scanner being inaccurate, some manufacturers are giving information to Unique Solutions (Me-ality) that does not match the measurements of their own clothing products.
Believe me, there are marketing reasons that clothing manufacturers misrepresent their sizes. Why is a size 2 now equal to a size 4 or 6 twenty years ago?