Exclusive: Eileen Fisher’s Virtual Try-On Partner Scores $7.5M
Another startup has convinced investors that brands want to give consumers the digital window shopping experience.
Veesual, the Paris-based AI image generation company, has secured a $7.5 million seed round, led by AXA Venture Partners (AVP) and TechStars, it revealed Wednesday.
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Max Patte, the company’s co-founder and CEO, said the company will use the funds to double the size of its team, currently standing at 11 people. Veesual will look to hire senior employees for its technology, R&D, customer success and sales teams in the coming months.
Part of Patte’s plans for the company include a full-fledged expansion into the U.S. market, officially launching Wednesday. To keep up with its U.S.-based clients, it will open a New York City office, he said.
Veesual’s first U.S. brand partnership has already launched: women’s label Eileen Fisher recently began touting the tool as a virtual try-on solution for its consumers.
Patte said Eileen Fisher first reached out to Veesual in August, and after meeting with the team, “the deal was closed in a few weeks.”
Blair Silverman, Eileen Fisher’s vice president of e-commerce, said the collaboration felt natural because Veesual had a strong understanding of what the B Corp needed.
“It’s not about buying more—it’s really about finding what works for you so you can shop…in a conscious and smart way. They really appreciated that and wanted to help us tell that story, so it was an amazing partnership right from the beginning,” she said.
Veesual’s AI-powered tool allows users to select from eight models on the Eileen Fisher site; some of the models “usually wear” size XS, while others’ average size would be 2X. Silverman said because the brand prides itself on being size inclusive, it wanted to ensure shoppers of all sizes and body types felt represented while using the tool.
“The tools that [Veesual is] offering really do meet that need that we were looking for: being able to showcase different body shapes and different [body] types and being able to play with shapes and proportions on various models,” Silverman told Sourcing Journal.
Patte said he feels lucky to have an early partner in Eileen Fisher, a brand that other potential clients trust.
“Something that works very well in fashion is a benchmark. Everybody is looking, clearly, at what the other does, so when you have the chance to unlock partnerships with brands that are studied and benchmarked by others, it helps to [form] new deals,” he said.
Patte noted that in addition to the Eileen Fisher partnership, the company has already secured two other apparel deals in the States. He could not share the names of the companies, but said one is in the lingerie space and the other focuses on sportswear.
He expects to see solid growth for the company in the U.S. market, he said, noting that, compared with European brands, many U.S. names the company will target are further along in their brand strategies.
“American brands are digitally mature and very aware of the [importance of] inclusivity and diversity,” he told Sourcing Journal. “Also, they’re just bigger brands with more revenue. More revenue also means more budget to launch and try new solutions. Also, in the U.S., we feel that brands are data driven.”
When a brand onboards with Veesual, it only has to provide 2D images of the garments it wants to include in the virtual try-on function. Other companies require a more expensive, time-consuming 3D rendering of every garment it wants to add to an experience like this. Patte said that capability makes the solution scalable and cost efficient.
Silverman said that Eileen Fisher has launched the tool with some of its core silhouettes, but the hope is to enable consumers to create mix-and-match looks with its entire catalogue.
The brand may even consider setting up the tool for its robust resale catalogue, Silverman said, noting, “In the future, I think everything is open for opportunity.”
Because Eileen Fisher only recently launched the tool, it doesn’t yet have concrete metrics to show its impact. Silverman said the company has already seen an increase in conversion and time spent on the site.
Patte said that, in its work with brands in the EU, Veesual has helped shepherd along a 22 percent increase in average order value and a 77 percent average surge in conversion.
The company hopes to double both its revenue and the number of brands it works with in 2024. Patte said he’ll also be looking to secure a Series A round in the next 24 months as a follow-on cash infusion to the seed round.
As a growing number of brands look to AI to help improve personalization and customer experience, Patte said the company has plans to improve its technology in the latter half of the year.
It will focus on allowing consumers to see how different sizes look on one of its models, so they can achieve their desired look. Simultaneously, it will work to allow consumers to submit photos of themselves so they can become the models.
In the longer term, ahead of its Series A raise, Veesual may look to use its other image generation abilities to help brands with personalized marketing.
“It’s an occasion for brands to rethink their customer relationships. Let’s say you buy a shirt on their website today, then maybe in three months you receive an email from the brand saying, ‘Oh, look how good the shirt you bought three months ago looks with the new pants or the new jacket from the new collection,’” he said. “Wherever there is an image displayed by fashion brands today, tomorrow this image can be much more personal to the person looking at it.”