Tech support: A bra-fitting app
Alumnus David Spector and his wife, Heidi Zak, are co-founders of ThirdLove, an online lingerie boutique that offers a patented bra-fitting app. (Photo by Paula Burch-Celentano)
Searching for the perfect bra can turn into a torturous shopping trip of tugs, pulls and frustrated sighs in the mirror.
Hoping to alleviate the intimidating and often awkward experience of bra fittings, Tulane University alumnus David Spector and his wife, Heidi Zak, created ThirdLove, an online intimates boutique dedicated to helping clients find their correct bra size without entering a fitting room.
“Fit is huge.”—Heidi Zak, co-founder of ThirdLove
Launched in November 2013, ThirdLove promises to help clients find a perfect fit. Inspired by European lingerie and designed in-house, the line includes signature half-cups in addition to traditional sizes, rendered in luxurious fabrics.
“Fit is huge. The fit influences how you will look in your clothes,” Zak said.
The free ThirdLove app functions as a virtual measuring tape.
“The app allows you to size yourself from home,” said Zak. Able to calibrate a user"s measurements within a 10th of an inch, the innovative app currently has seven patents and an additional four pending, say the duo, who live and work in San Francisco.
Before sizing begins, the app walks users through an instructional checklist. Wearing a supportive underwire bra and tank top, clients take photos of their front and side, as the tool"s censors ensure the phone is being held at the proper angle to capture the image.
The app then analyzes the photos with image recognition algorithms to determine size. The photos are stored in a secured database to protect privacy, and the measurements are saved in your profile for future shopping.
Before establishing ThirdLove, Spector, a 2005 Tulane grad, worked with IBM and Google on the development of Google Checkout and Urchin WebAnalytics software. He later became partner at venture capital firm Sequoia Capital.
Spector"s extensive experience in e-commerce influenced ThirdLove"s mission to “elevate quality while setting affordable prices by selling directly to customers online,” Zak said.
