Amazon wants to solve a problem that plagues pretty much everyone: finding jeans that fit right.
For the past few months, Amazon has been secretly building a team that helps customers find clothes that fit perfectly, according to a LinkedIn profile spotted by CNBC.
The profile belongs to Sam Dwarakanath, an engineer who most recently worked on the Amazon Go convenience store project.
“I am building and leading a technical team that is focused on making it easy for customers to discover apparel and shoes that appeal to them, including finding the perfect fit,” Dwarakanath’s LinkedIn profile says. “Our problems span hardware/robotics, applied research (statistical learning/machine learning, information retrieval, optimization, and image processing), usability (UI design and UX research), software engineering (broad array of design, implementation, and algorithm problems), and quality assurance.”
The project is part of Amazon Grand Challenges, the company’s innovation incubator. If it takes off, it would give Amazon yet another advantage in its quest for apparel dominance. Already, Amazon is estimated to be the biggest clothing retailer in the U.S.
Amazon has been making a lot of bold bets in apparel lately. In March, the company launched “Outfit Picker,” a tool that allows Prime Members to get feedback on what to wear. The company’s new Echo Look device is also geared toward the fashion-minded, with a similar fashion advice feature. Last month, Amazon won a patent for “on-demand apparel manufacturing” and earlier this year it added a lingerie line to its collection of private-label apparel brands.
According to Dwarakanath’s LinkedIn, Amazon is actively hiring for its now not-so-secret apparel team.
“Here is your chance to get in on the project as an early engineer, influence our thinking and architect whole new systems from scratch,” he writes. “Currently looking for senior engineers and computer vision experts.”
