by Claudia Bruemmer

GazoPa is a similar image search service in open beta by Hitachi that can be very useful for clothing manufacturers and buyers, as well. People can search images from the web based on their own photos, drawings, web images and keywords. GazoPa enables users to search for a similar image from characteristics such as a color or a shape extracted from the image itself.

While there are so many illustrations on the web, images cannot always be described by keywords. Since GazoPa uses image features to search for other similar images, a vast range of images can be retrieved from the web. This next generation similar image search engine also allows users to search for stock photos, to upload an image, or even to draw an image in order to search for similar items.

With the large number of fashion products available on the Internet, it isn’t easy to quickly browse and compare fashion products, especially when you’re a retail fashion buyer. Therefore, GazoPa integrated its similar image search technology into GazoPa Style Visual Fashion Search, which allows users to look for similar fashion products by using color and shape.

GazoPa Style Visual Fashion Search gives fashion buyers and other users a visual product search engine that enables them to easily browse and search for similar fashion items. Here, clothing manufacturers and retail buyers alike can search a multitude of different fashion product categories and filter their searches by stores, brands, main colors, sizes and prices. Currently, the women’s clothing sold on web stores such as eBay, Amazon, Etsy and ShopStyle are searchable at GazoPa Style Visual Fashion Search, and it plans to add more stores in the future.

In addition to using images on the site, GazoPa Style Visual Fashion Search allows users to upload images from their own personal computers or use images from other sites found by a plug-in tool for searching similar products. Clothing manufacturers and designers can use GazoPa Style to look for new styles or to add their own product line to the database.

GazoPa recently added stock photo search to its search results pages which allows users to search by keywords for stock photos. Currently, the stock photos are from Shutterstock, but the company promises to add new sources to its database soon.

Another recently added feature is GazoPa Answers, an application that answers questions about images. The Q&A site enables users to ask questions by visually displaying photos and drawings. Users can upload several photos at a time and ask multiple-choice questions like, “Which handbag is best with this outfit?” Other users will answer to help them decide. The application can help users find answers to questions easily on a daily basis by soliciting input from an active online community.

This innovative, similar image search service is not only useful; it’s fun and exciting, as well. It is useful not only in the fashion industry, but is valuable for a wide range of users, including students. With so many questions in the world that are best answered through the use of images, GazoPa provides a great resource for a practical need.