Renting clothing used to be restricted to a wedding suit or prom dress, but the options are growing and becoming more popular.

Today, you can rent clothes directly from other people through apps like By Rotation and Hurr, or go straight to high street brands such as John Lewis and Selfridges. Most clothing rental platforms are online only, so shoppers can’t test the fit, sizing or style before committing.

But in a recently published study, I examined, with colleagues, what people thought about renting everyday clothing, and how an AI chatbot with an integrated avatar could change how people choose rental clothing items.

The study used three focus groups and 28 interviews. People said they had a strong desire to use AI tools to see what clothing looked like on them, before paying for the rental.

The chatbot could be used by an online shop to engage with the consumer by asking about size, fit and what the customer wanted the outfit for. The AI chatbot could then save these conversations (if given consumer permission) for use in future sales.

Consumers could upload an image of........

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