Via an algorithm and a quick and easy questionnaire, the fit-focused start-up Clothes Horse makes it infinitely easier to determine one’s correct size, the first time around, from an online retailer.

The company’s fit widget can be embedded into any brand’s Web site to help shoppers figure out what size they are in a particular label.  On the product pages where it’s installed, a button prompt asks potential buyers to click “What size am I?”  After answering about thirty seconds worth of questions on their height, weight, and what sizes they wear in other brands, Clothes Horse will recommend the appropriate size in which to buy the item.

The men’s wear retailer Bonobos saw a 13% increase in sales on products whose pages had the widget installed.  (Unfortunately, there’s no data available yet on whether the return rate was improved, too.)  As it stands, between 15% and 40% of online clothing purchases are eventually returned, and the wrong fit is the number one culprit.  While custom sites proliferate and become more accessible, it’s all the more relevant for conventional retailers not to fall behind.  A widget like Clothes Horse, which at this point is in use on a number of men’s sites but is compatible with women’s wear, too, is a perfect solution to the oft-asked and not easily answered query “but what size am I?”