Makip’s Unisize — the AI-based sizing tech offer from Japan — has adapted to the increasing number of people seeking gender-neutral fashion and the growing number of men trying on fashion targeted at women.

The company said it’s “helping UK shoppers to enjoy their favourite fashion, regardless of their gender with subtle alterations to the specifications of its size recommendation engine”.

It comes as the company said the global market for genderless fashion is set to grow by 4.5% annually and should reach $3.2 billion by 2028.

Unisize Genderless was developed following customer demand in Japan and comes with some interesting statistics. Unisize user data from when the feature was released in that country shows that during a 10-day period in June 2023 the number of online male shoppers virtually trying on women’s clothing was 8,242. By June this year, the number was up 179% at 21,381.

Last year, 3.9% of Japanese men who used the Unisize virtual try-on tech used it to virtually try on women’s clothing. In 2024 this increased to 6.9% of men.

Shingo Tsukamoto, President of Makip, said the company wants “to ensure fashion is always accessible and inclusive” and it has made adjustments to its algorithm for the new offer.

Unisize, which claims to be the most advanced virtual try-on sizing tech, launched in the UK last year and is currently used by Komodo fashion and Batch LDN. It also claims that it can reduce online clothing returns by 20% and drive a 2.5 times increase in purchase rates.