UPcload: Berlin Start-Up Aims to Revolutionize Clothes Shopping

Nov. 20, 2011— -- Two young Berlin entrepreneurs have an ingeniously simple idea for helping the clothing industry break through on the Internet. Their UPcload service measures people with a webcam more accurately than any person could. It could revolutionize shopping for clothes online -- if the fashion industry cooperates.

The way to the UPcload headquarters goes through a dreary courtyard at the Humboldt University in Berlin, up on a rickety elevator to the sixth floor, down a yellow-painted hallway to a staircase up to the seventh floor, through a glass door and down a deserted corridor, at one end of which is a small ladder leading to the flat roof of the university building. At the other end of the corridor are Asaf Moses and Sebastian Schulze, who are busy tucking into hummus, chicken and salad.

But they don't have much time for a snack break. In the hall, high school and university students are jostling. They are waiting to take part in a study that is expected to show just how little they know about their own body size.

Moses and Schulze, both economics graduates, will soon launch their Internet service UPcload. It is a website that uses a webcam to measure people to within a centimeter, and then shares the information with online clothing shops. If all goes well, the two young entrepreneurs could help the fashion industry achieve a breakthrough on the Internet.

With the study they are conducting, the UPcload founders hope to gain evidence that they can use to convince fashion companies of the value of their product. They explain that they want to prove, with the help of 500 guinea pigs, that people don't know their own body measurements. For Moses and Schulze, that lack of knowledge is one of the principal reasons why people don't buy many clothes online.

As Good as a Tailor

UPcload functions surprisingly well, as SPIEGEL ONLINE discovered in its own test of the product. All you need to do is load the website, turn on your webcam, take eight photos -- done. The whole process takes only three minutes and works in any living room, and yet the results are accurate to within a centimeter.

Moses can hardly contain his pride. "Our goal was always to be as good as a tailor with a tape measure," Moses says. "But we are usually even better." Their experiment with 500 volunteers, a full-body scanner, and a real tailor backs Moses up.

UPcload's trick is surprisingly simple. The user places a compact disc in front of his or her stomach while standing in front of the webcam. The fact that the CD has a standard size allows the photo-recognition software, with the help of some statistical magic, to calculate the exact body size, and check it for plausibility.

"Technologically, UPcload is a complete success," says Moses. "Now all we need to do is get the online shops and clothing manufacturers on board." As a product, UPcload only makes sense if the online stores don't just import individual body measurements, but are also able to compare them with the production measurements used by the clothing manufacturers.