Product strategy

Fit Passport. Exploring a universal fit profile for ecommerce and evaluating its viability as an MVP

Project
Fit Passport

Role
Product Designer

Project type
Exploration

Year
2026

1. Overview

Context

Fashion e-commerce returns represent one of the highest operational costs in the industry and a significant environmental issue due to reverse logistics. In most cases, returns are not caused by defective products, but by users’ uncertainty around sizing, fit, and how garments actually feel before purchasing.

This project explores a potential solution to that problem and documents the decision-making process that ultimately led to discarding the idea.

The problem

Buying clothing and footwear online remains a high-risk experience for users:

  • Sizing is inconsistent across brands.

  • Size guides are often insufficient or misleading.

  • Existing fit recommendations lack clear explanations.

  • Past purchasing experience cannot be reused across different stores.

As a result, the system generates a large number of avoidable returns, impacting both businesses and the environment.

2. The idea

A universal fit profile

The concept explored was a personal fit profile that users would build progressively over time, based on their real purchase history.

Each purchased item would enrich the profile with data such as:

  • selected size.

  • sensations, looseness or tightness..

  • garment type and materials.

  • final satisfaction or reason for return.

When shopping again, the system would use this history to explain how a new product might fit, by comparing it to items the user already knows, for example:

“This pair of trousers behaves similarly to one you previously kept, but fits tighter at the waist.”

Usable for any single brand or store

The long-term vision was for this profile to be portable and reusable across multiple online stores, acting as a universal fit history independent of any single brand.

3. Feasibility analysis

Critical Evaluation

During the feasibility analysis, the idea was discarded due to several structural limitations that directly affect its suitability as an MVP:

  1. Initial adoption problem
    The real value of the system only emerges once the profile is widely used across multiple stores. In early stages, without data volume or interoperability, the user benefit is limited.

  2. Dependence on multiple stakeholders
    The solution requires collaboration between many e-commerce platforms, shared data standards, and integration agreements: all difficult to achieve for an early-stage product.

  3. Functional overlap with existing solutions
    Many retailers already provide internal sizing and fit recommendation tools. Reproducing similar value in isolation does not create a strong competitive advantage.

  4. Universality as the main barrier
    The core differentiator of the product is also its biggest challenge: universality cannot be built as a first step and is not within the control of a small startup.

4. Decision

Discarding the idea

The idea was discarded not due to lack of conceptual value, but because its primary benefit emerges too late to be compatible with an MVP or early-stage startup approach.

The project remains documented as a strategic exploration that helped clarify the boundaries between a strong product vision and a viable first iteration.

5. Final thoughts

Key learning

This case reinforced a core product design principle:

A well-framed idea can be conceptually strong and still be the wrong choice for a first product.

Recognizing this point and deciding to discard an idea at the right time is a critical part of effective product design.