AI virtual fitting service 'VTON'

Fashion tech company UsungSoft (CEO Eun-hee Ahn) is expanding its new business in earnest by introducing the AI ​​virtual fitting service 'VTON (Virtual Try-ON)' and the RFID mobile self-payment system 'SCAN&GO'. UsungSoft plans to launch the VTON beta service this January, and the two services will consist of one front and two backends and will be proposed as an integrated service in the future. 

UsungSoft's Viton is Korea's first 'photorealistic AI virtual fitting service' that implements an AI algorithm based on patented technology developed by KAIST Auto ID Lab (Director Kim Dae-young). Consumers can check the fitting results within 3 seconds with just one selfie photo. 

In the case of existing virtual fitting systems, only clothes that were already made for 3D avatars could be tried on. The disadvantages are that each piece of clothing is made through 3D modeling, which requires high initial investment costs and a long preparation period of 6 to 12 weeks. Despite investing time and money, it was difficult to confirm an accurate fit because the clothes were different from the original shape or were not implemented well during fitting. On the other hand, in the case of Byton, the burden of initial investment costs was reduced by applying generative AI technology, and the preparation period was shortened to 2 to 5 days.

In September 2024, Eunhee Ahn, CEO of UsungSoft, and Daeyoung Kim, Director of KAIST Auto ID Lab Center, sign an industry-academia cooperation (MOU) agreement for the development of real-time virtual tryon technology.

AI Virtual Fitting 'VTON' 20 times faster than before

It is approximately 20 times faster than the latest version (SOTA) of the virtual tryon algorithm announced so far, and its biggest advantage is that it accurately reproduces the texture and shape of clothes, such as wrinkles and patterns, while maintaining the customer's physical characteristics, such as skin tone, tattoos, and accessories worn.

Using AI algorithms, the existing clothing parts and hidden body parts are masked to designate the area, and the new product image and the existing masked image are combined to create a fitting image. This allows customers to quickly and easily try on various products and compare fitting images of multiple products at the same time, thereby increasing shopping convenience.

UsungSoft is developing with KAIST an experiential app that allows users to experience Byton on mobile devices, as well as a table-top kiosk to be placed in stores. In the future, they plan to develop technology that allows customers to dress up short videos (short-form) of their bodies. 

Scan & Go, the world's first RFID mobile self-payment service with an anti-theft unlocking system

'Scan & Go' Mobile Self-Payment and Theft Prevention Unlock at Once

Along with the Byton service, the world's first anti-theft unlocking system, the mobile self-payment 'SCAN&GO', will also be introduced. These two services will consist of one front and two backends, allowing customers who are about to pay for a product to do a virtual fitting right away, or allowing customers to proceed to payment right after a virtual fitting.

What differentiates Scan & Go from existing technologies is that when you make a mobile self-payment at the store, theft prevention is automatically disabled. By assigning a ‘unique ID’, which is an individual RFID code assigned to each garment, to the right of the product tag, self-payment and theft prevention can be disabled at once. Scan & Go can reduce labor costs for store operation, and from the customer’s perspective, it can provide a positive experience with the brand through a quick customer experience. 

Currently, SPAO Lotte Konkuk Star City branch is using the mobile self-payment service, and it is showing high utilization with a payment ratio of 50%. Also, the computer museum called Nexon Space in Jeju Island is operating the technology. UsungSoft plans to further expand its business by utilizing this technology this year. Another unique feature of Scan & Go is that it is the first in the fashion industry to provide mobile VAN payment. While existing PG payment has all payment details bundled together, VAN payment has the advantage of being able to manage sales separately for each store. 

Sales target of 15 billion by 2025 

Meanwhile, YUsungSoft, established in 2012, is carrying out various businesses ranging from fashion company ERP to solutions using RFID. It provides software, hardware, and operating devices to enable systematic management from planning and production to store management and logistics. Since it operates everything in-house from solution development to operation and CS, the satisfaction of fashion companies is also high and it has many customers. 

It has about 100 clients including K2, E-Land, F&F, Samsung C&T, The Nature Holdings, Concrete Works, Layer, and Nepa, and recently signed a contract with Musinsa. It is a positive signal that major fashion companies, platforms, and trendy brands that are currently doing well online are looking for UsungSoft. In addition, as the number of new clients seeking to integrate RFID and ERP is increasing, it is expected that the number of clients will increase in 2025. 

Nam Jun, head of strategy planning at Yoo Sung Soft, said, "Yoo Sung Soft's sales in 2023 will be 10.5 billion won, and in 2024, approximately 11 billion won. Considering that the industry average is 2 to 3 billion won in sales, this is a high number, and this year, we are expecting sales of 15 billion won due to the impact of new businesses."

UsungSoft headquarters located in Seocho-gu, Seoul