High-Level Overview
Avametric is a software company that revolutionizes how consumers and brands interact with fashion through virtual clothing try-on technology.[1] The platform enables accurate 3D renderings of apparel and accessories on customizable digital body models, allowing customers to experience a real-world fitting room online across web, mobile, and augmented reality environments.[1] By solving the critical e-commerce problem of fit uncertainty—a leading cause of fashion returns—Avametric serves both enterprise clients (brands, retailers, and designers) and end consumers seeking a more personalized shopping experience.
Founded in 2012 and backed by prominent venture investors including Khosla Ventures, the company demonstrated strong early traction, raising $10.5 million and achieving an estimated enterprise valuation of $42-63 million by 2016.[5][6] The company was acquired by Gerber Technology in 2018 through a leveraged buyout facilitated by American Industrial Partners, marking a successful exit for the founding team and validating the commercial viability of virtual fitting room technology in the fashion industry.[1]
Origin Story
Avametric emerged from cutting-edge academic research at UC Berkeley, where computer graphics professor James F. O'Brien had developed ARCSims (adaptive refining and coarsening simulator) technology in his Computer Animation and Modeling Group.[1] O'Brien, an Academy Award-winning computer scientist with deep expertise in physically based animation and 3D modeling, partnered with Dave Jackson to commercialize this breakthrough technology.[5][6] Jackson, serving as Founder and CTO, brought entrepreneurial vision to translate O'Brien's research into a practical business solution.
The founding team recognized a fundamental gap in e-commerce: the inability for customers to visualize how garments would actually fit their bodies before purchase. This insight proved prescient, as online fashion retail was accelerating and return rates due to fit issues were becoming a significant cost center for retailers. The company launched during the early wave of augmented reality adoption, positioning itself at the intersection of computer graphics innovation, fashion technology, and consumer e-commerce—a combination that attracted early backing from Khosla Ventures and demonstrated immediate market relevance.[3]
Core Differentiators
Academic-Grade Technology Foundation
Avametric's competitive moat rests on proprietary physics-based simulation technology derived from peer-reviewed computer graphics research.[1] The ARCSims engine enables realistic garment deformation and fit simulation that competitors struggled to replicate, giving the company a technical advantage that was difficult to commoditize.
Dual-Sided Platform Architecture
Unlike point solutions, Avametric built both enterprise-facing tools for design and development workflows and consumer-facing virtual fitting room experiences.[3] This dual approach created network effects—brands investing in the platform for design efficiency also gained consumer engagement tools, while consumers using the fitting room drove adoption among retailers.
Multi-Channel Deployment
The platform's ability to function across web, mobile, and augmented reality environments provided flexibility that matched the fragmented nature of modern retail channels, allowing brands to deploy consistent experiences across touchpoints.[1]
Founder Credibility and Talent
The partnership between an Academy Award-winning computer scientist and an experienced entrepreneur provided both technical credibility with enterprise clients and operational competence in building a scalable business—a rare combination in deep-tech fashion startups.
Role in the Broader Tech Landscape
Avametric rode several converging trends that created favorable market conditions. The rise of e-commerce was fundamentally reshaping retail, but the industry faced a persistent problem: online fashion had significantly higher return rates than in-store shopping due to fit uncertainty. Simultaneously, augmented reality was transitioning from speculative technology to practical commercial application, and computational power had reached a point where realistic 3D garment simulation was feasible on consumer devices.
The company positioned itself at the intersection of three powerful forces: the digitization of retail, the maturation of AR/VR technology, and the growing sophistication of computer graphics. By 2014-2016, when Avametric was raising capital and gaining traction, major fashion and retail companies were actively seeking solutions to reduce returns and improve customer satisfaction. The company's acquisition by Gerber Technology—a major player in apparel design and manufacturing software—validated that virtual fitting room technology had become strategically important to the fashion industry's digital transformation.
Avametric's success also influenced the broader startup ecosystem by demonstrating that deep academic research could be successfully commercialized in fashion technology, encouraging other computer science researchers to explore applications in retail and e-commerce.
Quick Take & Future Outlook
Avametric's 2018 acquisition by Gerber Technology represented a successful outcome for a deep-tech startup that solved a real, measurable problem in a massive industry. The company proved that physics-based simulation technology could move beyond academic papers and game engines into practical commercial applications that directly impacted business metrics like return rates and customer satisfaction.
Looking forward, the trajectory Avametric established continues to shape fashion technology. Virtual try-on capabilities have become increasingly expected by consumers, and the underlying technology—3D body modeling, garment simulation, and AR visualization—remains central to how forward-thinking retailers compete. The company's integration into Gerber Technology's ecosystem likely accelerated adoption across the apparel supply chain, from design through retail.
The broader lesson Avametric exemplifies is that the most defensible fashion technology solutions combine deep technical innovation with genuine business problems. As e-commerce continues to mature and consumer expectations for personalization rise, the virtual fitting room paradigm that Avametric pioneered has evolved from novelty to necessity—a testament to the founders' insight and execution in recognizing that the future of fashion retail would be fundamentally digital.
