
Shopping for clothes online is convenient but often frustrating. You scroll through countless options, selecting a piece that looks perfect, and eagerly awaiting its arrival–only to discover it doesn’t fit or look as expected when you wear it. Disappointed, you click “return.” Unsuccessful purchases due to the limitations of online shopping where you can’t “try on” garments, diminishes trust in the brand and creates financial and logistical burdens for retailers due to return shipments.
According to Unicommerce’s India eCommerce Index Report 2023, clothing accounts for return rates as high as 25% to 40%, significantly higher than other categories. For fashion e-commerce businesses, this cycle is costly and unsustainable.
STYLEAPP, an experiential shopping platform co-founded by Ganesh Sundarraj and Mohan Kumar Sundar, is addressing this challenge head-on. The platform recreates the offline “trial room” shopping experiences in the online world through a photorealistic virtual try-on feature, allowing users to see exactly how an outfit will look on them before purchasing.
By bridging the trust gap, STYLEAPP makes the shopping experience more personalized and reliable for the users and boosts order fulfillment success rates for the sellers.
Ganesh and Mohan, in a conversation with Team ProdWrks, highlighted the major challenges in modern fashion e-commerce: product discoverability issues, cart abandonment issues, and the return culture. They explained how STYLEAPP leverages Generative AI (GenAI) and innovative product strategies to overcome these hurdles to running a successful online D2C fashion brand.
The struggles of buying apparel online: Finding the perfect fit
The idea for STYLEAPP was born from the founders’ personal frustrations with online shopping. Ganesh shared, “In physical stores, I can try on an outfit, see how it fits, and decide if it looks good. Online stores lack that crucial experience.”
Another significant issue is product discoverability. With countless options available online, shoppers often feel overwhelmed with choices.
“In stores, you have dedicated shopping assistants to guide and help you select. However, for the everyday “online” shopper, this is often a guessing game. More often than not, finding something you like, that fits, and looks good often comes down to luck.” Mohan added.
To better understand the challenges and expectations of online shoppers and design a user-centric solution, the STYLEAPP team surveyed over 800 shoppers from India and the US via Instagram.
Their findings revealed four major pain points:
- Overwhelming Choices: An endless array of styles, sizes, and brands available online, often causes decision fatigue for users, leading to hesitation and abandoned carts.
- Irrelevant Options: Generic recommendations in e-commerce portals make it harder for shoppers to find what resonates with their preferences.
- No “Try-On” Experience: Without the ability to try on clothes, shoppers are unsure about fit and style, reducing purchase confidence.
- Absence of Feedback: Online shopping lacks instant feedback that you get from friends, family, and even store attendants in physical stores. The absence of trusted input often leads to hesitation and returns.
These challenges result in low conversion rates and high returns for merchants. Mohan highlights, “For every 100 visitors of e-commerce portals, only 2-3% make a purchase. We discovered that the major reason is the inability to try on clothes before buying.”
Hashtags, Validation & Age Shape User Choices in Fashion

Mohan notes, “Fast fashion today is driven by how celebrities and influencers shape trends. People extensively post their style on Instagram, and a lot of this has become a trend. Any buying experience has to be tied with a social element.”
STYLEAPP research also revealed interesting age-based variations in shopping behavior:
- Younger Shoppers (18-25): More experimental and trend-driven.
- Older Shoppers (50+): Often shop for gifts or stick to classic styles.
STYLEAPP’s founders have incorporated these insights on social media validation and trends to ensure personalized experiences in every aspect of the business. For example, STYLEAPP’s gradient orange ‘hashtag’ logo symbolizes the integration of social trends into shopping, reflecting the community-driven approach at the heart of its design.
How STYLEAPP Uses GenAI to Reimagine Online Shopping

- Virtual Try-On: Users can virtually try on clothes with photorealistic accuracy, eliminating guesswork and boosting purchase confidence. This reduces return rates for sellers.
- Social Aspect for Feedback: The app integrates social elements that enable users to share their “try-on” images with friends and family for instant feedback. This feature recreates the personal, trusted feedback dynamic of in-store shopping, helping users make confident decisions.
- Personalized Recommendations: AI-driven suggestions based on past purchases, preferences, and trends help users find relevant options quickly. This reduces decision fatigue for the user – a major reason for abandoned carts.
- Smart Retailer Solutions: With GenAI, STYLEAPP simplifies catalog management for retailers by eliminating the need for manual digital catalog creation. Instead, STYLEAPP’s AI engine automatically generates virtual try-on assets, enabling retailers to scale catalogs quickly without manual effort.
Scaling Catalogs with GenAI-enabled Smart Retailer Solutions
Mohan explains, "When I say scale, if you look at the catalog of Amazon garments alone, it will run into billions. If you had to generate digital design assets for every garment using traditional AR, you wouldn't even be able to cross 1000. With GenAI, we can now solve this problem at scale."

“With STYLEAPP, users can pose naturally, and the AI adjusts the clothing to fit, providing a smoother and more personalized experience,” Mohan adds.
What's Next for the Future of Personalized Fashion?
"AI's ability to generate photorealistic images is advancing rapidly, and we’re leveraging this technology to offer users the ability to explore fashion in a way that’s never been possible before. Imagine trying on ten different styles in a minute—something that would take hours in a physical store," Ganesh says.
"Just like Instagram democratized influence, STYLEAPP aims to be the platform for fashion influencers, both established and everyday users. We want people to interact, share, and build a following based on their unique style," adds Ganesh.
Ganesh also hints at one of the most exciting features on the horizon: Try-on videos. "Soon, users will not only see themselves in a new outfit but also watch how they move and walk in it, making the experience much more immersive and real."