Built to Fit: An AI Sizing Engine for Dogs

AI Quick Summary

The pet industry has borrowed almost everything from human fashion - except the fit. About half of all apparel returned online is returned because it doesn't fit - and no one has solved it for dogs. Large sighthounds carry almost no body fat and suffer badly from cold, yet no coat is cut for their anatomy: deep chest, narrow waist, long neck, tucked-up belly. Several interviews with DACH owners confirm it: buyers distrust online sizing and resort to makeshift layering. UANO is building the first anatomically engineered winter coat for large sighthounds, co-created with Modefachschule Sigmaringen. Our radical addition: an AI-based 3D scanning tool that closes the fit gap - owners measure their dog via smartphone and get an optimal size before ordering, cutting returns. UANO is built by operators, not hobbyists, with a decade of operations and process leadership in regulated industries. The fitting tool is still missing - we want to explore building it with an AI/computer-vision partner during the workshop. UANO began with one dog. Co-founder Annemarie Müller's rescue Galgo, Blanco, struggles every winter with a cold his breed was never built to handle - and there was nothing on the market cut for a sighthound's anatomy. What started as a personal fix turned into a validated gap: several in-depth interviews with fellow DACH sighthound owners confirmed the same frustration and the same workaround, makeshift, leaky layering. Dogs increasingly live the same active life as their owners: hiking, mountains, winter walks, wherever the human goes. As pets are treated more as family and lifestyle companions than accessories left at home, the global pet apparel market is projected to grow from around USD 6 billion today to over USD 9 billion within a decade, led by the premium and performance segments. UANO sits deliberately in that premium tier - not entry-level, not ultra-luxury - because everything built around a dog today is already a discretionary, considered purchase. The coat gives the dog the same purpose-built, weather-ready protection the owner already expects for themselves, so the outdoors stays a shared experience, not a limitation. The winter coat is UANO's flagship, targeted for market in Q2/Q3 2027, but the real innovation is built as a platform: an AI-based 3D scanning tool lets owners measure their dog via smartphone and receive an optimal size before ordering, closing the physical-to-digital fit gap that most online apparel still gets wrong. Industry analysts already name AI-powered sizing as one of the sector's next major shifts. UANO is built by experienced operators, not hobbyists: the team brings ten years of operational leadership and process management in regulated industries, complemented by specialized training in tech innovation. The sizing tool itself is still at concept stage - during the workshop, we want to collaborate with an AI/computer-vision partner to assess technical feasibility and define the next development steps. Fit accuracy isn't just a customer-experience feature, it's an environmental one: the majority of apparel returns are driven by fit and sizing issues, and every return carries a real carbon and waste cost through extra shipping, repackaging, and landfill. A better first-time fit directly reduces that footprint. As the product range grows, UANO's material strategy follows two commitments: vegan, cruelty-free materials as a matter of brand integrity, and repurposed or deadstock textiles wherever possible - extending material value beyond first use instead of producing virgin waste. Fabric given a second life, echoing the second chance the dogs it protects have received. We plan direct partnerships with sighthound rescue organizations to make that cause visible as UANO scales. Grab it. Wear it. Go.

Project Idea Metadata

• Project Idea Name: Built to Fit: An AI Sizing Engine for Dogs
• Date: 8/18/2026 3:23:45 PM
• Administrators:
  • Annemarie Müller

Project Idea Description

UANO began with one dog. Co-founder Annemarie Müller's rescue Galgo, Blanco, struggles every winter with a cold his breed was never built to handle - and there was nothing on the market cut for a sighthound's anatomy. What started as a personal fix turned into a validated gap: several in-depth interviews with fellow DACH sighthound owners confirmed the same frustration and the same workaround, makeshift, leaky layering.

Dogs increasingly live the same active life as their owners: hiking, mountains, winter walks, wherever the human goes. As pets are treated more as family and lifestyle companions than accessories left at home, the global pet apparel market is projected to grow from around USD 6 billion today to over USD 9 billion within a decade, led by the premium and performance segments. UANO sits deliberately in that premium tier - not entry-level, not ultra-luxury - because everything built around a dog today is already a discretionary, considered purchase. The coat gives the dog the same purpose-built, weather-ready protection the owner already expects for themselves, so the outdoors stays a shared experience, not a limitation.

The winter coat is UANO's flagship, targeted for market in Q2/Q3 2027, but the real innovation is built as a platform: an AI-based 3D scanning tool lets owners measure their dog via smartphone and receive an optimal size before ordering, closing the physical-to-digital fit gap that most online apparel still gets wrong. Industry analysts already name AI-powered sizing as one of the sector's next major shifts. UANO is built by experienced operators, not hobbyists: the team brings ten years of operational leadership and process management in regulated industries, complemented by specialized training in tech innovation. The sizing tool itself is still at concept stage - during the workshop, we want to collaborate with an AI/computer-vision partner to assess technical feasibility and define the next development steps.

Fit accuracy isn't just a customer-experience feature, it's an environmental one: the majority of apparel returns are driven by fit and sizing issues, and every return carries a real carbon and waste cost through extra shipping, repackaging, and landfill. A better first-time fit directly reduces that footprint. As the product range grows, UANO's material strategy follows two commitments: vegan, cruelty-free materials as a matter of brand integrity, and repurposed or deadstock textiles wherever possible - extending material value beyond first use instead of producing virgin waste. Fabric given a second life, echoing the second chance the dogs it protects have received. We plan direct partnerships with sighthound rescue organizations to make that cause visible as UANO scales.

Grab it. Wear it. Go.

The pet industry has borrowed almost everything from human fashion - except the fit. About half of all apparel returned online is returned because it doesn't fit - and no one has solved it for dogs. Large sighthounds carry almost no body fat and suffer badly from cold, yet no coat is cut for their anatomy: deep chest, narrow waist, long neck, tucked-up belly. Several interviews with DACH owners confirm it: buyers distrust online sizing and resort to makeshift layering.

UANO is building the first anatomically engineered winter coat for large sighthounds, co-created with Modefachschule Sigmaringen. Our radical addition: an AI-based 3D scanning tool that closes the fit gap - owners measure their dog via smartphone and get an optimal size before ordering, cutting returns.

UANO is built by operators, not hobbyists, with a decade of operations and process leadership in regulated industries. The fitting tool is still missing - we want to explore building it with an AI/computer-vision partner during the workshop.