01
Private moment
The interaction had to respect the vulnerability and focus of trying on clothes.
Store of the Future · Random Studio
PVH: Smart Fitting Rooms
I helped design and test connected fitting-room experiences across multiple countries, learning how culture, store context, staff service, and technology shape adoption.
PVH18-month platform engagementProduct design leadTommy Hilfiger · Calvin Klein
My role in the platform
Experience design
Mapped journeys and designed interfaces across mirrors, public screens, staff tools, and phones.
Research
Observed customers and employees in stores across multiple countries and turned behavior into design decisions.
Prototyping
Tested new technology through digital prototypes, physical setups, and live in-store pilots.
Delivery
Worked with creative, technical, retail, and brand teams through iteration, installation, and validation.
The design challenge
A fitting room is not a website with a mirror behind it.
The customer is standing, changing clothes, holding products, and deciding whether to ask for help. The interface had to fit that physical and emotional context. Its job was to reduce friction, not demand attention.
02
Shared service
Customers, employees, inventory, and checkout all influenced whether the experience worked.
03
Physical reality
Screen height, lighting, reflections, curtains, product placement, and store traffic mattered as much as the UI.
The experience
One journey moving between space, screen, staff, and phone.
We treated the fitting room as part of a wider service. Customers could identify an item, explore options, request support, build a shopping bag, and carry the session onto their own device.
Recognize the context
Connect the item in the room to useful choices without forcing a new search.
Support the decision
Make size, color, availability, and assistance clear at the moment of need.
Continue on a phone
Transfer the shopping bag through a QR code instead of trapping progress on a public screen.
Research across markets
The interface stayed the same. The context never did.
I tested and observed the experience in stores across multiple countries. The goal was not to reduce cultural differences to stereotypes. It was to see how each store, team, and customer group changed the conditions for adoption.
Placement
Could customers notice and reach the interface without interrupting the fitting-room flow?
Assistance
When did people want privacy, and when did they expect support from store staff?
Adoption
What encouraged someone to touch a public screen, request another item, or continue on a phone?
Language
Which labels and instructions remained clear across markets, brands, and levels of digital confidence?
Handoffs
Where could a screen remove friction between the fitting room, staff, inventory, and checkout?
Restraint
Which moments benefited from technology, and which were better left physical or human?
How research became action
ObserveWatch real tasks and speak with customers and store employees.
MeasureTrack task completion, drop-off, assistance requests, and structured feedback alongside observed behavior.
DecideTurn patterns into prioritized changes for the interface, service flow, and physical installation.
Prototype to pilot
We tested the technology and the space together.
The work moved through journey mapping, interface design, digital and physical prototypes, user testing, iteration, and installation. A Milan pilot was installed and tested overnight so the full experience could be evaluated in its intended environment.
The wider platform
The smart mirror was one part of a much broader relationship.
Across the 18-month Store of the Future engagement, I worked on connected experiences for Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein. Shared technology needed to flex for different brands, customers, store formats, and service needs.
Endless aisle
Help customers discover sizes and products beyond the inventory visible in one store.
Calvin Klein bra fit guide
Support a sensitive, highly personal fitting decision with clear guidance and brand-appropriate language.
Personalization
Connect item context with relevant alternatives while protecting the focus of the in-store moment.
Employee workflows
Design customer experiences alongside the tools and handoffs store teams needed to support them.
Reflection
Every screen should earn its place.
This work deepened my service-design practice. A digital touchpoint belongs where it removes friction, clarifies a decision, or connects a handoff. Commerce connects physical spaces, public screens, personal devices, staff interactions, and different countries. The experience has to remain coherent while the context keeps changing.
What I would bring to bol
I want to bring this approach to bol: test new technology in context, examine the quality of the interaction, and help teams decide what deserves wider adoption.
Relevance to bol
✦Design for journeys that move across mobile, public interfaces, physical spaces, and human service.
✦Test emerging technology in the environment where customers and employees will use it.
✦Use qualitative observation and structured feedback to create clear, actionable product decisions.
✦Prototype, learn, and earn the right to scale before adding another screen to a complex service.
Shared project materials courtesy of the Random Studio project team. View the supporting project archive.