A "virtual fitting room" has meant three very different things over the past decade. Ralph Lauren's Oak Labs smart mirrors put RFID-powered touchscreens in physical changing rooms starting in 2016, hitting a 90% customer engagement rate — but only in flagship stores that could afford custom hardware. Walmart acquired virtual try-on startup Zeekit in 2021 and built it into its own app as "Be Your Own Model," letting shoppers see over 270,000 items on a body-matched model — but that technology stayed inside Walmart, not available to other retailers. What actually reached small and mid-size Shopify stores is the third version: software-only AI apps that render a garment onto a real customer photo, no hardware or proprietary retailer tech required.
The six-figure version came first
Polo Ralph Lauren's flagship store on Fifth Avenue installed Oak Labs' connected fitting-room mirrors in 2016. The mirrors used RFID to recognize which items a shopper brought into the room, then displayed other available sizes and colors on the glass, along with recommended add-ons and a button to call a sales associate. Engagement hit 90% — higher than Ralph Lauren expected. The catch: this required custom RFID tagging across inventory, in-store hardware installation, and a budget only a flagship location could justify. It never became something a typical retailer, let alone a Shopify store, could just sign up for.
Then a retail giant tried to make it work online
In 2021, Walmart acquired Zeekit, a startup that had built virtual try-on technology with retail partners including ASOS and Adidas, creating a digital body model from a customer's photos and measurements. Walmart rolled it into its own app and site as "Choose My Model" and later "Be Your Own Model," eventually letting shoppers try on hundreds of thousands of items on a model matched to their own body. It's a genuinely useful feature — but it's Walmart's own proprietary integration, not a product other stores can install.
The three versions of a "virtual fitting room," compared
1. In-store RFID smart mirrors
Pros: High engagement when done well (Ralph Lauren's 90%), a genuinely novel in-person experience, direct link to available inventory and staff.
Cons: Requires physical hardware, RFID-tagged inventory, and in-store installation — none of which apply to an online store, and none of which are remotely affordable at small-business scale.
Verdict: Irrelevant for a Shopify store unless you also run a large flagship physical location.
2. Big-retailer proprietary online tech
Pros: Can be genuinely sophisticated — body-matched models, huge catalogs, deep integration with the retailer's own app and data.
Cons: Built in-house or acquired outright by a single company (Walmart bought the entire team and technology behind Zeekit); not sold or licensed to other stores.
Verdict: Not an option to "buy" — it only exists as a feature of the specific retailer that built or acquired it.
3. Software-only AI try-on apps
Pros: No hardware, no RFID tagging, no proprietary retailer relationship needed — installs as a Shopify app in minutes and works from the customer's own uploaded photo using generative AI, the same underlying idea as Zeekit's body-matching but delivered as a product any store can use.
Cons: Quality varies significantly between vendors — the same way it does for any AI clothes changer (see our breakdown of how the underlying technology actually works).
Verdict: This is the only version of a "virtual fitting room" that's actually accessible to a small or mid-size Shopify store today.
What to look for if you're evaluating one
- Does it work from a real customer photo, not a generic model? That's what made Zeekit and Walmart's version genuinely useful — a fitting room that shows a stranger's body isn't a fitting room.
- How is the photo stored? A production-grade app shouldn't need to retain customer photos after generating the result.
- Does it cover your actual catalog categories? Some tools are built narrowly around one category (dresses, sneakers); check multi-category support if your store sells more than one type of product.
- Can you actually install it yourself? If it needs a custom integration project, it's closer to the second category above than the third.
A fitting room that also grows your list
Most virtual try-on apps stop at a nice visual. 1Match treats try-on as a growth engine: it captures leads natively, shows a full conversion funnel, and keeps zero stored photos — on top of best-in-class image quality and multi-category support. It's the try-on app that also does your marketing, and it installs the way a Shopify app should: in minutes, not a six-figure hardware project. See also our guide to the best Shopify app for a clothing store.
FAQ
What is a virtual fitting room, exactly?
Any technology that lets a shopper see how a garment looks on them before buying, without physically trying it on. That's ranged from RFID-powered in-store smart mirrors to proprietary retailer apps to software-only AI apps that any store can install.
Can a small Shopify store get a virtual fitting room like Walmart's?
Not Walmart's specific Zeekit-based technology — that's proprietary to Walmart. But the same core idea, an AI-generated preview of a garment on the customer's own photo, is available through Shopify apps that install directly, without needing to build or acquire the technology yourself.
Do virtual fitting rooms require special hardware?
Only the original in-store smart-mirror version does. Online, software-only AI try-on apps run entirely through a customer's browser or phone and need no hardware at all.
Is Zeekit still around?
Zeekit's technology was acquired by Walmart in 2021 and built into Walmart's own shopping app and site; it isn't available as a separate product or app for other retailers to install.
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