TE||Suits you
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导读
体型检测紧身衣
「ZOZOSUIT」
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听力|精读|翻译|词组
Suits you
量体裁衣
英文部分选自经济学人Business版块
Suits you
量体裁衣
A Japanese firm is shaking up the business of selling clothes online
一家日本企业正在撼动线上服装零售业
Doubles as clubwear
比夜店礼服还要贴身
ONE problem plagues the business of selling clothes online—predicting how a garment will fit without trying it on. Behemoths such as ASOS, a British internet platform that sells its own and others’ apparel, try to overcome this by allowing people to buy several sizes to try on at home and return items free of charge—at huge cost to them. Enter the body-measurement suit from Start Today, a Japanese firm that runs the “Zozotown” platform in Japan on which clothing companies from around the world sell their wares, as well as its own private label, Zozo.
一直以来，线上服装销售都无法解决一个问题是：在无法试穿的情况下，如何预判服装是否合身。类似英国ASOS（该线上平台销售自主品牌及其他品牌的服饰）的行业巨擘尝试着去解决这一难题：允许顾客购买几个不同的尺寸回家试穿，然后可以免费退货—由此造成的巨额成本则由该平台承担。运营线上时装零售平台 “Zozotown”（该平台销售自主品牌Zozo及全球其他服装品牌）的日本公司Start Today则开始提供量身定制套装服务。
In the past three months Start Today has distributed to just over 1m Japanese customers, free of charge, its “Zozosuit”, a skin-tight, full-body suit covered in around 350 fiducial markers, small objects that can be used as a point of reference for measurements. Shoppers slip on the suit and slowly rotate as their smartphone takes photos.
过去三个月内，Start Today向一百多万名日本消费者免费派发了”Zozosuit”，一款从头到脚紧贴皮肤的测量服，上面覆盖了将近350个基准标记，这些小物件可以作为测量的基准点。顾客套上测量服，用智能手机拍照的同时慢慢转动身体（如导读部分视频所示）。
The firm uses the images to create a 3D scan of their body, which it can use to offer a range of customised services. Among these are made-to-measure business suits for men from its Zozo brand, which are selling strongly, and jeans and T-shirts that fit most snugly from tens of thousands of pre-cut patterns, also from Zozo. At the most basic level, when customers choose an item from one of the 6,400 brands listed on Zozotown—the core of Start Today’s business—the platform uses the Zozosuit data to recommend the right size.
该公司利用这些照片对顾客身体进行三维扫描，从而提供一系列定制服务。这其中就包括目前大卖的自有品牌Zozo的男士商务西服定制服务，以及Zozo旗下数以万计最为合身的成品牛仔裤和T恤衫。从最基本层面上讲，顾客从Start Today的核心业务Zozotown上的6400种品牌中选择一件产品时，该平台可利用Zozosuit数据向顾客推荐适合的尺码。
A first, more high-tech version of the suit proved too expensive (it had capacitors holding an electric charge that measured body shape by how much the suit stretched). But its latest version costs the company only ¥1,000 ($9) a piece. Masahiro Ito, a board member who oversees engineering at the firm, says the fashion industry has not yet adapted to meet the needs of a generation accustomed to buying everything online, to their specifications and at their convenience. “We offer exactly that,” he says. Other companies are watching closely. Fast Retailing, a giant which owns the UNIQLO brand, is one firm looking at ways to measure the body using smartphones.
事实证明，第一款测量服的电容器带有电荷，借助服装伸缩的不同程度来测量体型，科技含量太高，耗资不菲。但是最新的一款，一件成本仅为1,000 日元(9美元)。该公司工程部负责人，董事会成员伊藤正一郎（Masahiro Ito）称，时尚业至今还未适应习惯于网购的这代人的需求，偏好以及便利性，“但我们正好能供其所需”。其他公司目前也正在密切关注相关业务。而坐拥UNIQLO品牌的巨头Fast Retailing，正在寻求智能手机测量体型的方法。
How the suit fares is crucial for Start Today’s future. The Zozotown platform is the undisputed giant of online fashion retail in Japan. It created and dominates the market for online clothing sales; the second biggest platform, Marui Web Channel, makes only a tenth of its sales. It takes lucrative cuts of up to around 35% from brands it hosts; its founder and boss, Yusaku Maezawa, is now Japan’s 18th-richest person.
如何给测量服定价对Start Today的发展至关重要。Zozotown是日本线上时装零售业无可争议的巨擘。它开创并引领了日本线上服装零售市场。而日本排名第二的网购平台，Marui Web Channel的销售额仅占其总销售额的十分之一。Zozotown 自营品牌的利润率高达35%，其创始人兼老板前泽玉坂（Yusaku Maezawa），现在是日本排名第18位的富豪。
But analysts reckon it may be reaching saturation point. The company counts 6% of the country’s population as active users (meaning those who have bought something in the past 12 months). Its share price dipped sharply in July after growth slowed slightly. Bespoke services could attract more customers, especially men, who make up only around 30% of active users, reckons Osamu Yamada, an independent retail analyst.
但有分析专家猜测Zozotown 可能会达到饱和点。该公司拥有占日本人口6%的活跃用户（意味着这些人在过去12个月中在该平台买过东西）。经济增速略有放缓之后，7月份该公司股价急剧下跌。独立零售分析师山田治（Osamu Yamada）预测，私人定制服务或许能为该公司吸引更多的用户，尤其是仅占活跃用户30%的男性用户。
Observers are more circumspect about whether the suit can help Start Today on its other path to growth: expanding abroad. Since July customers in 72 countries have been able to request a body-measurement suit to help them buy clothes from the Zozo label. An attempt a few years ago to take the Zozotown platform into China, Hong Kong and South Korea (before it came up with the body-measurement suit) failed. Mr Ito notes that Zozotown could not compete then with existing companies offering more or less the same products; for now at least, the suit is a unique service. But the company will still have to work harder than it does at home to persuade people to squeeze into it.
测量服的海外市场拓展方案能否成为Start Today的另一条增长之路，对此，观察人士持更为谨慎的态度。从7月开始，72个国家的顾客都可以要求一套体型测量服来帮助他们购买Zozo品牌的服装。几年前，体型测量服还未上市时，Zozotown购物平台曾试图进军中国（包括香港）和韩国市场，但铩羽而归。伊藤指出，过去 Zozotown与其他提供相似商品的公司相比，缺乏竞争优势；但至少目前来看，体型测量服是一项独一无二的特色服务。但相比在本国市场上的付出，该公司需要更努力方能劝服海外用户挤进那套测量服中。
翻译组：
Lili, 女， 互联网民工， 榴莲爱好者
Yifei, 女，英专硕士，专八，catti二笔
Joe,男，阿拉伯语建筑民工，经济学人爱好者
校核组：
Li Xia, 女， HR, 经济学人发烧友
Ema, 女，外贸民工，经济学人粉丝
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观点|评论|思考
本次观点由Very独家奉献
VeRy，男，电气设计，经济学人爱好者
穿着大概是最能嗅出社会风向的了。幸好服装不能很清楚明白地表达穿着者的态度(除非你蠢到在显眼的地方印上你的主张)，所以管天管地管空气的老爷们也可能无暇去兼顾这些了。穿着从以前的千篇一律(网上随便搜一下六七十年代的照片)，到现在几乎没人愿意在街上和别人撞衫，其实还是能窥探出些味道的。中国社会，至少是(其实仅仅是)穿着方面，正朝着个性化差异化的方向发展。这说明了两个很重要的问题：1.人们的个体意识已经崛起，不再任由摆布；2.对于来说，这个现象不是一个好事，会采取行动来抹杀个性，老百姓只需要相信让你相信的东西，努力让你努力的方向，学习让你学习的知识，付出让你付出代价，别的都不该想，不该做，不该去争取。所以才有了所谓的各类的主流，对于非主流的打压恰恰说明了他们内心的恐惧。
大概无需再次重复个性对于人类社会进步和发展起到的决定性作用，没有本质上的个性(即基因突变)，也就没有进化，没有现在的一切。对于猪圈的养猪老板来说，大概最讨厌的就是那些有个性不服管理的猪，因为他们不肯每天按时吃喂食的饲料，在需要睡觉长胖的时候也在想东想西，如果某只猪想到了我为什么要被养胖了宰掉，为何不逃出去获得自己应有的生活，那大概率老板会很恼火，要杀掉这只有个性的猪。女儿看的《不一样的卡梅拉》里第一集就讲了卡梅拉是一只有个性的鸡，其实作者已经表达了一个很重要的观点：如果卡梅拉不是一只很有个性的鸡，那后面所有的故事都不会发生，她的生活也就如同寻常鸡舍里的鸡一样碌碌无为，没有讲述价值。所以对于管理者来说，是出于管理方便的需要抹杀所有个性，还是在最大限度内发挥每个人的个性，从而推动社会的进步呢？呵呵，这个可是一道很难的选择题呀。
但是假设人类社会总是在朝着进步发展的(当然会有曲折)，那么束缚人的个性始终是一件违背人性的行为。其实从最早的50，60后，到70，80后，再到现在的90，00后，总体上正朝着个性化，个人意识占主导的方向发展，当然从管理层面看也就会觉得年轻人更加难管，所以正在加大洗脑力度，其实这种行为用处是有限的。从广义角度来看，中国社会要立于世界强国之林，势必要与各国进行各方面的竞争，无论是经济，文化或者体育，最基础的就是人的竞争，倘若都是千篇一律的碌碌之辈，如何能竞争得过呢？古往今来，凡成大事者，无往不是个性鲜明之辈，因为成事需要莫大的精神意志力，若自身如同鹅软石般棱角皆无，内心便也已经左右逢源，没有锋利可言了。
幸好穿着还能在夹缝中生存，带给人们些许彰显个性之处，所以人们对于服饰个性化的追求也不足为奇了，虽然我已经隐约看见在别的更重要方面人们追求个性释放潜力之所在，但是仍然担心最大局域网的存在恰恰是掩埋，毁灭个性最有效的工具(具体不展开了，有机会再详说)，这不得不令人胆寒。
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愿景
小组
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