Editor's note:

Innovation has continued to scale new heights in the Pearl River Delta region as young budding entrepreneurs make their mark in the high-tech industry. Our innovation series this week takes us to the garments sector with a touch of the 3D technology.

It is his second entrepreneurial drive. Having groped in the traditional garment industry for 15 years, Dong Bo, 44, is now moving into a new field, determined to change the industry with his 3D Virtual Fitting Room.

For most people, "3D" is not an unknown term these days. The technology has been widely adopted in the film industry, providing movie lovers with a string of 3D blockbusters.

At the China Hi-Tech Fair 2014, held in Shenzhen from Nov 16 to 21, the 3D printer made a big splash with its magical function of "printing" potato cakes. The 3D Virtual Fitting Room, developed by Cloudream Technology Co Ltd, is another field of application of the technology.

The device, though merely taking up a fraction of a standard fitting room by space, is, in essence, a virtual cloakroom with unlimited capacity. Shoppers stand in front of the device and their 3D models are established and projected within five seconds. The virtual fitting room then conducts a match between 3D models of human bodies and garments automatically, presenting a fitting effect on the screen of the device. With unlimited clothes storage, the special fitting room enables attire buyers to try on 60 suits in one minute.

"The 3D Virtual Fitting Room connects people with commodities effectively through data. This is where our value lies," said Dong, founder and chief executive officer of the Shenzhen-based company.

The 3D Virtual Fitting Room is born at a time when people's consumption habits are undergoing a significant change. Fed up with the nuisance of walking round and round the shopping mall, taking on and off countless dresses in dozens of brand stores, more and more customers are moving online to finish the process.

According to the China e-Business Research Center, costume was the biggest sector of Chinese online shopping last year. The online costume market hit 434.9 billion yuan ($70.2 billion) last year - a 42.8-percent year-on-year increase. The China National Garment Association predicts that its sales will further expand to 615.3 billion yuan this year, taking up 22.1 percent of the whole national online market.

Despite robust growth, Dong said the increasingly sought-after shopping mode has a fatal weakness - poor shopping experience. "As online shopping is unable to satisfy customers' needs for costume fitting, they seek to get the experience offline. The 3D Virtual Fitting Room offers the possibility of combining the two, allowing shoppers to try on an unlimited number of clothes and conduct payment both online. In this sense, we are like an O2O (online to offline) connector," Dong said.

Dong's idea of developing the 3D Virtual Fitting Room did not emerge overnight. It evolved from his 15 years of exploration in the traditional garment industry. He had worked throughout the whole industry chain, from manufacturing to retail, and also did foreign trade, exporting garments to overseas markets. In his words, that was his first entrepreneurial drive.

The situation began to change when the exports trade was severely hit by the appreciating renminbi in the wake of the 2008 global economic crisis. At the same time, the rise of e-commerce was posing a serious threat to the retail business. "The consumption concept and habits of customers have been changing and we have to adapt to it," said Dong, who looks sophisticated and imperturbable.

With only several team members originally, Dong started his second entrepreneurial attempt two years ago. He was his own angel investor for research and development (R&D) of the 3D Virtual Fitting Room, putting the capital he earned in his early years into his latest project.

"My first entrepreneurial drive provided me with decent economic condition and the money to invest in my second trial," the entrepreneur said.

In January next year, Cloudream will launch a fund-raising exercise for more than 10 million yuan before introducing the first batch of the 3D Virtual Fitting Room to the market by the Spring Festival. Dong said the capital raised will be used in R&D, absorbing internationally top talents and market promotion. Currently, Dong's team has more than 20 members, half of whom are involved in R&D.

Although Cloudream's product is the first of its kind globally, Dong said market competition remains fierce. "As I know, there are about 10 companies working on 3D virtual fitting room in China and many others are coming in." At present, Dong's company is not profiting, but he's confident in his product's prospects and the whole 3D industry. "We expect to start making a profit next year," he said.

Dong also said the device has a wide range of applications. "It can be used in places where there is a heavy flow of people, like shopping malls and airports. Its price of less than 10,000 yuan also ensures affordability," he said.

With the aim of turning his company into a "benchmarking enterprise" in R&D and the application of 3D technology, Dong aims to expand the use of his core technology - 3D modeling - into other areas.

"The costume industry is only an aspect of 3D application. In future, usage of our technology will be expanded to other fields. For example, it may be used in the car industry for precise measuring or in the interior decoration industry (for customers to have a look at their future homes)," he said.

sally@chinadailyhk.com