Snap Fashion: digital business revolutionising the way we shop
A digital business is changing the way we shop for clothes in store and online and could revolutionise how we look for anything we want.
Jenny Griffiths, founder of Snap Fashion
Jenny Griffiths is changing how we use visual search - watch her video
A digital business supported by Innovate UK is revolutionising the way we shop for clothes both online and on the High Street.
that allows consumers to look for and buy fashion items from more than 16,000 brands using photos they have found online or taken on their smartphones.
The business is now developing Snap Fashion InStore with the help of a 拢1 million contract awarded under Innovate UK鈥檚 鈥榬e-imagining the High Street鈥� SBRI (Small Business Research Initiative) programme.
It will take the visual search concept into the changing rooms of High Street stores, turning the fitting room into another shop window for the retailer.
Founder and chief executive Jenny Griffiths said: 鈥淥nce you鈥檝e tried on an item, we鈥檒l ask you whether you liked it or not. If you didn鈥檛 like it, our software will try to help you out. We ask you a series of questions and, depending on your answers, we鈥檒l tap into different parts of our algorithm to show you visually similar things we think you might like.鈥�
Snap Fashion InStore is being trialled now and should start appearing in High Street changing rooms from August 2017.
Leading publisher invests in Snap Fasion
made a strategic investment in Snap Fashion last year.
Its partnership with Snap Fashion means the visual search engine has now been integrated with editorial content across their magazine portfolios.
Readers can click and search for things that are similar to those on the page, finding items in stock on UK high streets in real time.
Jenny had the idea for Snap Fashion when she was studying for a masters degree in computer science in 2008. It wasn鈥檛 until 2011 when she won the support of an Innovate UK grant that she was able to focus full time on developing and marketing it.
Since then, Snap Fashion has gone from strength to strength, winning hundreds of thousands of pounds in support from private investors and landing the prestigious $200,000 Cisco British Innovation Gateway (BIG) award.
The business now employs 12 people at its offices in Holborn, London.
Success leads to MBE for young founder
Jenny鈥檚 success was recognised last year when she was awarded an MBE for services to digital innovation in the fashion industry at the age of only 27.
Jenny said: 鈥淚nnovate UK has helped us a lot. They were the first to fund Snap Fashion, allowing me to give up my job and devote myself full time to the business.
鈥淪ince then, they have really helped us to grow the business and to put a real R&D focus on what we are doing.
鈥淲e鈥檒l be improving the fashion search algorithms and then moving into other areas. My dream is that anything you can see in the world around you, take a photo of it and we鈥檒l be able to find it for you online.鈥�