Dressing Room Lighting Guide: Finding the Perfect Fit

The right fitting room lights are shown to help improve sales in retail clothing stores

Published on July 17, 2019

Last updated on June 17, 2024 10:05 am

More flattering fitting room lighting is possible and it’s one of the most important factors for a retail clothing store’s success. Consumer research shows that once a customer enters a dressing room, the likelihood of a sale increases by ten to 67 percent.^[1]

Lighting can transform the way people and clothing look. Color, shadows and overall illumination can alter the appearance of garments. The comfort and mood of dressing room lighting also affect consumers directly.

Challenges in dressing room lighting
The effects of bad fitting room lights
Seven dressing room lighting rules

Challenges in dressing room lighting

First, it’s important to consider the relationship between lighting and mirrors.

A fitting room area with may reflective surfaces can be disorienting, reflecting light at customers from too many directions — *Fitting rooms with many mirrors and reflective surfaces can be disorienting when light is experienced from many directions*. *© Yun Xia of HEYSHOP*

Retail dressing rooms can also be cramped, and achieving an acceptable 360° view confined to a two-by-two box can be difficult.

However, the main problem with most dressing rooms is harsh, glaring lighting that’s reminiscent of being in a dentist’s chair or a police interrogation room.

The effects of bad fitting room lights

What is it about dressing room lighting that’s so lacking?

Buzzfeed’s Kristin Chirico investigated fitting room lighting, visiting 20 stores to understand the good, bad and ugly of lighting.

Reporter Kristen Chirico pictured in three dressing rooms in the same white shirt, showing the difference lighting makes in creating shadows

Screenshot of reporter Kristin Chirico in three fitting rooms trying on the same white shirt — *Reporter Kristin Chirico for BuzzFeed took pictures in the same shirt in different fitting rooms to understand how lighting affects the shopping experience.*

Seven dressing room lighting rules

Rule 1: Overhead lighting is ineffective

Many stores use a few surface-mounted or suspended ceiling fixtures to light the fitting room. However, ceiling lights create unflattering shadows on the face and the body, highlighting one’s worst flaws. Using a single overhead lighting point source magnifies unwanted shadows.

Rule 2: Fluorescent lighting is jarring and unflattering

Fluorescent dressing room lighting leads to flickering light on the face and poor color rendering, which can make the face look green.

Rule 3: Fluorescent overhead lighting is jarring, ineffective and unflattering

This combination leads to the most unsatisfying experience for customers, creating glare and insufficiently illuminating a person vertically.

Fluorescent overhead lights in a retail environment can wash out colors and great glare, particularly in a space with reflective surfaces — *Fluorescent overhead lighting creates glare and can wash out a retail environment, particularly with reflective surfaces. © Dirk Weiblen Photography*

Rule 4: Opt for lighting that’s true-to-color with improved color rendering and a hint of warmth

Ideal dressing room lighting color temperature (CCT) should be not too cool, not too warm. When selecting a static CCT for your fitting room light source, 3000-3500K is the ideal range. However, LEDs with tunable white options also enable consumers to select from a range of warmer to cooler color temperatures, in order to see how garments may look in different settings (IES RP-2-20, page 30).^[2]

Avoid poor color rendering lighting. Please refer to our TM30 guide for an explanation of color-rendering theory and practice. Lights with improved color rendering “will bring vibrancy to colors, enhance textures, add sheen to hair, and help create modeling effects” (IES RP-2-20, page 30).^[2] As discussed in our retail lighting guide, choosing a light source with a high (50+) R9 value (Red color from TM-30) renders the warmer colors in skin tones. Select, high-quality LED lighting products can offer a high R9 value while meeting commercial code requirements.

Rule 5: Linear LED fixtures mounted beside the mirror highlight the face

A modern dressing room with privacy fitting rooms featuring vertically mount linear lights next to the mirror — *Vertically mounting linear LED lights beside the mirror in a fitting room minimizes shadows.*

LED linear fixtures mounted at the sides of the dressing room mirror fill in any unflattering shadows and offer soft, even lighting for occupants.

Rule 6: Provide the right amount of light

Make sure you provide enough light in dressing rooms. Dressing room circulation should have at least 15 footcandles (fc) of illumination, interior rooms fitting rooms need 30-50 fc at task level (3 feet high), and 30-75 fc vertically on walls (IES RP-2-20, page 51).^[2] Sufficient illumination makes dressing room spaces comfortable and easy to use.

Infographic showing the difference between downlighting that creates shadows on horizontal places versus wall-mounted front lighting that illuminates vertical places — *Downlighting mounted directly above a subject can create unflattering shadows, while wall-mounted lighting offers soft, even lighting.*

Rule 7: Properly place downlights

The combination of downlighting with vertical wall-mounted lighting provides both general illumination as well as dressing-focused lighting. Place downlighting in front of a person’s face for illumination, or behind the person entirely, to avoid creating shadows. For recessed downlights, consider using an adjustable fixture oriented so the light bounces off of the mirror and onto the person’s face. Directing an adjustable downlight in this manner creates less shadows and glare while providing direct illumination.