California Apparel News

Zafu.com (www.zafu.com), the online jeans-finder service that Chief Executive Officer and President Robert Holloway dubbed a “Match.com for clothing,” has helped nearly 2 million women find jeans that fit their body type. On July 16, Emeryville, Calif.–based Zafu.com launched another tricky category to fit for women: bras.

Zafu.com determines what products will fit each Web site visitor based on a series of 12 multiple-choice questions about the woman’s body shape and needs. At the end of the questionnaire, Zafu lists a selection of bras that should fit based on her answers and links to Web sites where the bra is available for purchase. The Web site currently has more than 50 brands and 200 bras in a range of prices and styles in its database.There is no charge for apparel companies to have their products listed on the site, and the service is complimentary to the consumer.Zafu generates revenue from advertising and a cost-per-click fee each time a consumer clicks from Zafu to a retailer.

“Our goal was to develop something that was unique and personalized that would enable you to go on and search for something that was exactly right for you,” said Holloway, who has worked as the vice president of global marketing and president of Levi Strauss & Co. in the United States.

“The whole [Zafu.com] team has been working to understand differences between women—because not everyone looks the same—and then really doing objective analysis of each individual product so we can match you to your product,” Holloway said.

Blair Newel, vice president of product development and fit expert at Zafu.com, ushered more than 500 women through bra test drives. Newel continued that focused groups of women with “specifically targeted [body] shapes” helped refine the fit formula to answer the question “Is this garment going to solve [fit issues for] people with this problem?”

The Zafu.com team is composed of statisticians, software developers and experts from different walks of the apparel industry. Newel was previously director of technical services for Old Navy, where she was head of a technical team responsible for fit, patterns and production.

The combined efforts have given the jeans-finder ser vice a nearly 94 percent success rate, and the bra finder has reached an 89 percent success rate with its fit test models. Retailers have taken notice. Holloway said he has been approached by retailers who have inquired about creating a Zafu.com type of program for their stores or sending the products sold at their stores for review.