Have you ever seen someone’s outfit and loved it so much that you just wanted to know where they got it, but didn’t want to have to ask them?  I know I have.

Well, now it’s possible to do just that.

Companies from the U.K., Ireland and Canada are using new technology that allows shoppers to take pictures of clothing with their smartphones and then be linked to a store where they can buy that piece of clothing or something similar.

Image-recognition software, which uses algorithms to identify and match one image with another, has been used in security and marketing for a number of years. Now, it’s finally making its move into the fashion industry.

This will be one of its first steps in the widespread commercialization of the technology — and a very popular one, at that.

In an April 20 article in The Guardian, Iain McCready, chief executive of Cortexica, a fashion image-recognition company, said the rapid development of technology will enable clothes to be identified from video within two generations of iPhones.

The software at Cortexica is constantly being updated, which will hopefully lead to more advanced and reliable technology.

Can companies develop these apps in the United States a little bit faster? I know I want them on my phone immediately, and I would use them literally all the time.

The first image-recognition fashion app, Snap Fashion, was made by Jenny Griffiths during her time at the University of Bristol. It launched during London fashion week in 2012, gaining 250,000 users in its first year.  With that many users, I’m surprised I had never heard of this type of software before.

This technology sounds too good to be true, but the software works. When a picture is taken of a shoe, a dress or any other item of clothing, the software analyzes it by looking at the color, pattern and shape of the garment.

It then tries to find a match for the item on an existing database of products that come from 170 retailers, including New Look and Harrods. Another app, called ColourPop, matches products solely by color.

If the item that you scanned is completely out of your price range, you don’t have to worry.  The app Style-Eyes, based out of Dublin, will keep you looking fashionable while under budget.  It shows a variety of results that are similar to the item in your photo, and you have the ability to filter all the results by stating what your intended spending range is.

It may not be Gucci, but it looks just as good. And no one will be able to tell the difference.

So far, these fashion-recognition apps have been aimed mostly at women’s fashion.  While women’s fashion does make up the largest portion of the fashion market, it is expected that men’s fashion will soon be added to the software.

Personally, I am very excited by this new technology.  I see people on campus all the time wearing things that I would love to have in my closet, but I never get the chance to ask them where they got the item.

Being able to have this app on my phone would make it so much easier to find clothes that I like, and it would definitely make my closet more diverse.

It’s a shame that this type of app hasn’t been developed yet in the U.S. However, Style-Eyes hopes to expand to the U.S. in the summer and Cortexica is already setting up shop stateside.

As soon as either app officially launches in the U.S., it will be on my phone.  And I will definitely be taking pictures of people’s outfits.

Alexis McDonell is a sophomore magazine journalism major. Her column appears every week in Pulp. E-mail her at admcdone@syr.edu and follow her on Twitter at @AlexisMickD.

Published on April 21, 2014 at 12:13 am