Rocket’s ecommerce giants are a huge part of virtual fitting startup Metail’s strategy

Star power is always good for business, especially if you have a model on your frontpage. UK- and Singapore-based virtual fitting room Metail went one better when it got Brazilian supermodel Alessandra Ambrosio onboard as part of a contract with Dafiti, one of the largest ecommerce businesses in Brazil. Its next step: replicating this method in Asia.

This deal with the Rocket Internet-backed company comes on the back of a trial that saw customers spending 3.5 times longer on the site when they used Metail, leading to a 30 percent increase in sales. Metail’s technology is now being used for 7,000 garments in the former’s inventory. This selection includes the “Dafiti Collection,” a new line fronted by Ambrosio. In essence, users will be able to virtually try on a selection of the garments worn by the model.

Kelvin Au, managing director of Metail, thinks that he can ink similar partnerships from Singapore, where the startup has recently set up its regional headquarters.

“Southeast Asia, and more specifically Singapore as a regional hub, boasts some of the most exciting and fastest-growing fashion ecommerce sites in the world,” he says. “We firmly believe that the integration of our technology could help propel these businesses even further on the global stage.”

Au declined to confirm which companies he was aiming to land deals with in this part of the world, though he points out that “Dafiti is the (much) bigger sister of Zalora and Lazada here in Southeast Asia,” and that it is also in the same Global Fashion Group as Zalora – and “they’re looking to harmonize best tech and practices across the group.” If these hints came to fruition, it would be a huge win for Metail in this region – these giants are arguably the two biggest (and most well-funded) ecommerce firms in this part of the world, and a launch in either one of them would give Metail access to the entire region at a go.

“Separately, we are also in discussion with a bunch of other ecommerce and media players – big names – in India, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, and South Korea […] Some of these collaborations will be launched later this year,” he reveals. In fact, at the time of publishing, Au tells Tech in Asia that he is enroute to “meet the three largest telecom/mobile players who run the major fashion portals in Korea.

Will there be any supermodel star power coming out of Asia? Au says that there are no plans to bring in any regional celebrities just yet, but he is “looking at the various fashion weeks in the region to see if there is any collaboration potential, which might include high profile fashion designers, brand owners, and celebs.”