Augment Your Wardrobe with Wanna Kicks
Adhering to social distancing guidelines and limiting my time outside has pushed me to do more shopping online. I have always avoided buying clothes and accessories through online marketplaces because I want to be sure that what I’m paying for looks good on me and fits properly. It’s hard for me to imagine how something looks on me when I’ve only seen it worn by a model in a professional photo. Thankfully, LLC Wannaby has created an augmented reality app that helps you visualize how shoes will look on your own feet. Wanna Kicks uses the camera on your phone to track your feet and overlay 3D models of sneakers onto them to see what you look like laced up in those brand new Nikes.
What’s the App-Heel?
Sneaker-heads will be the ones getting the most out of Wanna Kicks. Many of the shoes featured are expensive on-brand footwear that enthusiasts will enjoy adding to their collection. That’s not to say it isn’t helpful for casual shoppers. Seeing different shoes on yourself in real-time can help you make the hard decision on that one pair you want to splurge on. When I tried it out for myself I found that some shoes that I thought looked pretty cool did not fit my style or shape. Using this app spared me the disappointment of buying a pair of shoes that weren’t what I was expecting. The great thing about all this is that all you need to try it out is an Android or IOS device with a camera
The Good
The great thing about Wanna Kicks is that all you need to try it out is an Android or IOS device with a camera, I happened to be using a Samsung Galaxy S9 for this review. I was hesitant to believe that the app would work as advertised but upon opening it up I was surprised. It did a good job tracking my feet from any angle and following where I moved them. The 3D models look good and accurately represent the shoe they are supposed to look like. When you are accessing the camera you can swipe up to bring up a card with information about the shoe like the name, color and company that made it. You can also see a short description of the shoe and what its’ story is as well as a link to where you can buy them online.
The Not So Good
Although the tracking is generally accurate, there are some minor hiccups that happen. Sometimes the model appears larger or smaller than it should and doesn’t correctly wrap around your ankle. The pool of available shoes to try out is fairly small and features primarily Nike and Adidas, I wish there was more variety in brands and maybe including some affordable shoes to draw in the average consumer. Something that stood out to me also was that the app lacked search and filtering functions. I had to scroll down a list of shoes to see which ones were available. Being able to filter by brand or color would be a better way to find the shoes you are looking for rather than scrolling for what seems like forever.
S.L.A.M. Implementation
The app treats the user’s feet as targets that trigger the AR effect to overlay the models of each shoe. The phone’s gyro sensor is then used in conjunction with the camera to have the shoes appear to stay on your feet when the camera is moving as well as keeping the target tracked for when the user moves their feet.
Conclusion
Overall, Wanna Kicks surprised me with how it used augmented reality in the realm of fashion. It does have some minor shortcomings but they weren’t significant enough to soil my experience as a whole. It begins to solve an issue that has plagued me ever since online clothes shopping gained traction. I am excited to see if big retailers will begin to use this technology to allow people to try on clothes or maybe even entire outfits in the future.
