Quick we’re flatlining. Grab the defibrillator. Clear! The beating heart of shopping as we know it is in dire need of a restart. Last year, 85,000 retail jobs disappeared from the UK in just the first nine months. Department store chain House of Frasier went into administration. Turnover was down by £113 million at retail group Arcadia (home to Topman and Burton). The places men buy their clothes from most often are in real trouble. It’s not looking good, doc.

Millennials are doing their shopping online now you see, or so says your Dad firmly planted in his armchair. This is true, to some extent. Online retail sales have increased six-fold since 2008. Back then online sales made up just 4.9 percent of all retail sales in the UK according to the ONS. In 2017, it made up 16.3 percent. And it is indeed the young leading the way, with 73 percent of 16 to 24-year-olds having purchased an item of clothing online in 2018, compared to 24 percent of those over 65.

In truth, however, online shopping is a long way from a majority share of the market and e-tailers aren’t immune from the same pressures bringing the high street to its knees. Even Asos issued a profit warning last year, which saw its shares plunge by 40 percent.

What does all this doom and gloom mean for the average guy just looking for a new pair of jeans? The future, that’s what. It’s coming. In response to changing consumer habits, retailers and technologists are creating exciting new ways to find clothes you love, that fit you perfectly and which replace the time and hassle of shopping with something cool and engaging. It might even be fun again.

Here are four big ideas that will change the way you buy clothes forever.

1. Virtual Fitting Rooms

Yes, we’re buying more clothes online than ever before, but problems persist. For one thing, you can’t try before you buy as you can in-store. Which is a problem for us, and the retail industry, creating a swell of ‘serial returners’. A BBC survey of online fashion shoppers found that 56 percent had returned an item of clothing in the past six months.