Interview: Karine Martirosyan, Wearify. Personalizing E-commerce with Virtual Try-On

The interview with Karine Martirosyan, Founder and CEO at Wearify, a startup from Armenia, creating 3D virtual fitting rooms powered by AI and AR for enhanced online shopping experiences.

You can listen to the episode with Karine Martirosyan on EmpoWomen Podcast:

Or read the interview.

Elevator Pitch

Wearify is a virtual try-on experience for brands, specifically in the luxury sector. We create a small “Try-On” button on their product page. With that button, users can upload their full-body image or open their camera to see how clothes, accessories, and shoes will look on them before purchasing. This is the technology we integrate with our partner brands.

What problem are you solving, and what inspired you?

Luxury and custom fashion brands lose millions every year on online shopping returns. These high costs come mostly from sizing uncertainty or poor visualization. Customers struggle to understand what size to choose and whether the product will fit. By applying engineering and new technology, we help customers understand the size and fit before purchasing, making their decision much more accurate and significantly reducing returns.

My personal story started because I studied engineering but always had a deep passion for fashion and design. I wondered how I could apply my technical skills to this industry. When I started shopping online, I saw the problems firsthand. Growing up in Yerevan, Armenia, it was expensive and difficult to return items, often forcing me to keep products I didn’t like. I realized I could use my engineering knowledge to solve this problem, and that’s how the Wearify journey began.

How does the technology work?

What looks like a simple button to a customer is a complex technical solution behind the scenes. The first core technology is 3D garment simulation and visualization. We analyze the product and understand all the parameters of the user’s full body to combine them for the most accurate fitting possible.

For body measurements, we use image processing. A user needs to upload just one full-body image, and we extract all the necessary parameters from it. We then analyze the product’s sizing and fit details so we can combine them for an accurate fitting.

We also have a separate AR (Augmented Reality) camera feature. This works like a filter, allowing users to open their camera to try on accessories like eyewear or pouches in real-time. This helps them confirm the size, color, and how a product looks with their face shape before they buy.

What is Wearify’s competitive advantage?

Fashion is a huge market, and tech is evolving, which is good. We see that competitors help grow the market for everyone. While many companies focus on AR try-on for accessories, it still doesn’t make sense for clothing. We have concentrated all our engineering knowledge on the clothing try-on path because accurate clothing simulation remains the biggest challenge to solve.

We put all our effort into that part, and we believe our accuracy gives us a strong starting point. The market is so vast that there is enough room for competitors, but we aim to win through the precision of our core technology and a strong sales process.

What is your business strategy and customer base?

At this point, we work with small and medium luxury brands. While larger brands develop this type of technology in-house, SMEs often lack the technical and financial resources to do so. These brands make up around 70% of the European luxury market. For the next two years, we are concentrated on covering these SMEs, especially in markets like France, where many high-end brands are not yet present online. Helping them boost sales and reduce returns is the most enjoyable part of my job.

How do you approach customer development?

We started by leveraging our warm connections—we have a strong network of Armenians who own brands in France and Italy. We approached them to test and provide feedback on our initial technology. Some of those initial partners became our first paying customers.

After refining the product, we built case studies showing how much our solution boosts conversion and reduces returns. We now use these case studies to approach other brands in the same category. Our B2B approach involves direct sales through trade shows and industry events, where we can meet brand representatives face-to-face and show them the technology.

What are your biggest challenges?

The main challenge now is scaling sales. We know how to onboard a small number of brands, but we need a different approach and team setup to reach a much higher volume.

Technically, the biggest challenge is keeping pace with major players like Google and OpenAI in the generative AI space. They have enormous resources and talent, and we must stay aware of their developments and try to match their innovation with our own lean solutions.

Tell us about your team and experience as a female founder.

We are a team of six, mostly technical people, including software engineers, AR researchers, and 3D modelers. Attracting talent was surprisingly easy because I lead with my passion and my story, which inspires people to join our journey.

I grew up and studied in a male-dominated environment (physics, engineering). Sometimes it’s challenging to explain products that stem from typically “female” interests, like fashion, in that environment. However, it is important to be passionate and stay true to your vision. Finding mentors and building a community is also key. Being part of the Women at Dior mentorship program and sharing experiences with other female founders has been incredibly empowering.

What was your experience with EmpoWomen?

I heard about the program from a founder who had participated previously. The program was very well-designed and covered exactly what we needed at this stage, particularly around sales, mentorship, fundraising, and investor knowledge. Since we plan to raise our first pre-seed round soon, getting to know the process and connecting with investors was crucial.

The most outstanding aspect was the community and the peer-to-peer sessions. Sharing experiences about leadership and time management with other female founders and realizing you’re not the only one struggling is truly empowering. The power of that exchange helps you believe in what you can achieve.

What are your next steps, and what is your final advice?

In the next six months, we are focused on acquiring new clients and, most importantly, closing our first funding round. We need that money to scale up to a much higher number of brands and reach our break-even point.

My final advice to other founders, especially women, is this: Don’t wait for perfect timing, and don’t wait for the universe to push you. Just start with whatever resources you have. Don’t listen to the doubts or inside voices that say you are not enough. Believe in the power of just doing, and you will see the results very soon.

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