A body measurement app that needs no app

What it measures

One scan produces the sheet a tailor works from and the numbers every size chart asks for: bust or chest, underbust, upper chest, waist, hips, shoulder width, arm length, armhole, bicep, thigh, hip to ankle, and the remaining lengths and girths that decide how a garment hangs, 21 in all. Height and, for women, the bra band size are typed in, because a camera cannot see them, and they calibrate everything else.

The numbers arrive in centimetres, the unit every Silai measurement sheet uses, and the guides on this site show each one in inches too. If you are shopping online, compare them with the brand's size chart or use the size calculator. If you are ordering custom clothing, the sheet travels with your order to any tailor on Silai.

How it works, in three steps

1. Prop your phone. Against a wall or a stack of books, at about belly button height, in a room with light in front of you. Step back until all of you is in the frame, head to feet.
2. Turn around slowly, twice. Arms a little away from your sides, small steps all the way round. An open palm starts the recording; the phone counts you in.
3. Read your sheet. Processing takes about a minute. The scan frames are deleted the moment the measurements are ready; only the numbers remain, and in the free demo they are shown to you once and saved nowhere.

Wear something fitted, a t-shirt and leggings or gym wear. Tie hair back. Those two details decide most of the accuracy.

How accurate it is

On average each measurement lands within about 2 percent of a careful tape measurement, so a hip that really measures 100 cm usually comes back between 98 and 102 cm. That is inside the ease a tailor adds to any garment except a very fitted blouse, and it is more consistent than a tape held one-handed behind your own back, which is how most of us measure ourselves. For a critical piece a tailor may still ask you to confirm one number with a tape, and every guide on this site explains how.

Why a browser and not an app

Scanner apps ask you to install something, create an account, and often own a recent phone model. Silai runs in the browser you already have, on any phone with a camera, and asks for nothing before showing you your numbers. There is no app to update and no account to remember; if you want to keep the sheet for orders, a free account comes afterwards, not before.

It is also why a laptop cannot scan you: a webcam at desk height sees half a person. On a laptop the page shows a QR code, or you type silai.app/scan on your phone, and the phone does the measuring.

Who uses it

• Customers of tailors, especially anyone ordering a blouse, kurta, suit, sherwani, lehenga or gown from a tailor in another city or country, who would otherwise dictate numbers over the phone.
• Online shoppers who want to stop guessing between M and L, and buyers of pre-loved pieces, where every Silai listing shows a fit score against your own measurements.
• Men measuring for kurta pajama, sherwani, Nehru jackets, shirts and trousers; the scan reads chest, shoulders, sleeve, waist, hips, thigh and the lengths for anyone.
• People who sew, who need a full sheet before choosing a pattern size.

Privacy, plainly

The video frames exist only long enough to be measured and are deleted automatically. In the free demo the measurements are shown to you once and are not attached to any account. With an account, the measurements are stored so they can travel with your orders, and they are shown only to the tailor or seller you choose to contact for a specific order; nobody can browse them, and you can delete them at any time. The full details are in the privacy policy.

Questions