Where is fashion going

In Drest, users dress their avatar in branded apparel with the option to buy a physical version directly from the brand. Digital fashion is more than D2A. The recent Helsinki Fashion Week below was all-digital, allowing designers to experiment with fantastical and physically-infeasible runway environments with digital outfits modelled by 3D avatars.

Fashion forecasting has long been an artform, but with the growth of data analytics, it now becomes more of a science. That data extends to algorithms. Google is testing user-driven AI fashion design that uses algorithms to create new pieces and styles. Data of all kinds will soon be sewn into every aspect of fashion.

Fashion has long been one of the biggest contributors to waste and climate change, largely because of its unsustainable and non-eco-friendly production methods. But the tides are changing, and brands are moving towards more sustainable fabrics and manufacturing methods. Fast fashion, which was popular for its ability to quickly and inexpensively reproduce runway looks, is in decline in favor of slow fashion—pieces that are more eco-friendly and designed to be longer lasting.

Even with its strides, fashion has a long way to go. A number of sustainable fashion brands are growing, and their innovative practices are becoming more commonplace among retailers.

It also features clothing items made from recycled paint containers. Shopping for pre-owned items is also on the rise. Even as other forms of fashion shopping hit a Covid slump, online secondhand shopping continues to see strong growth.

With more consumers looking to purchase previously worn items, fashion brands must create pieces with longevity and that can last beyond a single owner. Even those online retailers that have benefited from a lockdown-induced sales bump are struggling to cope with new problems exposed by the virus. And what about glamour? What, indeed. This month is supposed to be the heart of a new season of catwalk shows in London, Milan and Paris.

But every once-Botoxed brow on the front row is now furrowed with worry. Bicester Village outlet mall in Oxfordshire has enjoyed record summer footfall, even without the seasonal influx of Chinese consumers. Deals up to 70 per cent off the Prada sticker price are hard to resist.

By contrast, walking into a central London boutique that requires a Tube journey to reach is like intruding on private grief. Britons are the slowest consumers in Europe to get back to the shops, largely because of fears over taking public transport. If a second wave of Covid infection is kept under control, retailers reckon we will begin to head out again in the run-up to Christmas, which is likely to be a big celebration for many who will be eager to bid good riddance to Office dress codes were becoming more and more casual before lockdown.

Now with WFH, the whole idea of smartening up to go to the office looks dead. Labels noted for tailoring such as Hugo Boss and Zegna are going to have to loosen their collars. At the opposite end of the market, what will happen to fast fashion? In , the company unveiled its first Manhattan location in Hudson Yards, and with it a vision of what a tech-enabled retail experience of the future might look like. Technological innovations featured in the ,square-foot location included:.

However, Neiman Marcus closed its Hudson Yards location in July following its bankruptcy filing. Meanwhile, in footwear, the AR-powered Converse Sampler app allows users to select any shoe from the Converse catalog and see how it will look just by pointing their phone at their feet.

The patent was granted in January AI-based digital stylists and chatbots, which can give feedback on outfit choices or suggest alternatives, are also taking off. In , Amazon launched the Echo Look, a device that would take full-body photos of your outfit and suggest clothing for new looks, but discontinued the product in May Amazon has also introduced StyleSnap, an AI-powered feature that lets customers upload photos or screenshots of fashion items they like.

The system then gives recommendations for similar items listed on Amazon. StyleSnap also considers price range, customer reviews, and other factors when suggesting items that match the uploaded photos. Other tech giants have developed similar technologies. Google Lens, for instance, enables users to upload photos of fashion products they like and then displays similar products found online.

Digital assistants have lots of personalization potential in fashion. As visual search and recommendation systems improve with AI, users will be able to send bot stylists photos of items they like and get suggestions for similar items. Israel-based Syte is one company working in this area, offering retailers and brands a camera button that can be added next to the search bar on a mobile website or app. And some shopping apps are integrating social media components. Over time, the app learns user preferences and builds a personalized feed.

Wearable technology has been on the market for some time, from the earliest days of the FitBit to the latest iterations of the Apple Watch and Google Glass.

Now, fashion leaders are merging form and function to make wearables more stylish and functional. Formerly known as Android Wear, Wear OS has undergone a number of updates and changes since , including new features, more standalone apps, and a better user experience for iPhone users.

Amazon unveiled its Echo Loop smart ring in , which will allow wearers to summon the Alexa assistant on-demand and make phone calls. Fashion brands and startups are also partnering up to create connected bracelets, rings, and necklaces. Beyond jewelry, the latest fashion tech innovations embed app-connected hardware right into our clothing.

Users customize their gesture controls in a companion app. Ivan Poupyrev, Google engineering director. Samsung has also demoed connected tech garments that look and feel like clothes you already wear.

Its Body Compass workout suit features hidden sensors that can track your workouts or wellness metrics, while its Smart Suit features gesture-controlled, app-connected cufflinks.

Advances in wearable tech will make our clothes more functional, as well. You can already buy a phone-charging jacket from Baubax , and MIT researchers have developed self-ventilating garments capable of cooling you as you work out.

Startups and fashion incumbents alike have begun experimenting with new virtual lines, whether it be for real people or digital avatars. Tribute, Dress X, and Replicant. Gucci has increasingly bet on virtual fashion, releasing a digital collection for a styling app, exclusive outfits for a tennis game, virtual looks for Genies avatars, and, soon, sneakers for location-based mobile game Aglet.

Users can earn in-game currency by taking steps, referring friends, or spending real money to acquire sneakers in the app. Fashion brands are now turning to NFTs in an attempt to build new revenue streams. Neuno, for instance, is working with a handful of luxury brands to launch NFTs. These users can then go to social media and post photos of themselves wearing these outfits. Neumo also wants to partner with game developers to enable users to dress their avatars in the clothing they bought as NFTs.

Clothia , a luxury marketplace, is auctioning NFT-linked clothing items. The winning bidders receive real-life clothes as well as the corresponding NFTs. Meanwhile, Arianee , a French startup, is developing a digital protocol that uses NFT-based watermarks to authenticate luxury items, including expensive watches, handbags, and more. The company is working with watchmaker Breitling as well as the luxury conglomerate Richemont Group.

These malls would be new sales channels and virtual spaces in which shoppers could talk to other shoppers, explore digital fashion items, and enjoy an immersive experience. Gaming platforms like Fortnite and Roblox offer a glimpse of how metaverse malls might look.

But creating metaverses requires huge amounts of computing resources, engineering talent, and cash. This concept is therefore likely a while away yet, and bringing it to life will require a sustained effort by tech giants, innovative startups, and fashion brands. Finding the perfect fit when shopping for clothes online is difficult, but 3D scanning and clothes-fitting tech could change that.

Retailers are hoping that this tech could also reduce returns. TG3D Studio, for one, has developed a 3D body scanner to ensure a tailored fit. Users get scanned via an app and can dress up their avatar in different garments to see how they fit. Virtual try-on solutions are being offered by other companies as well. Fit:Match has rolled out 3D scanning solutions to help with sizing.

First, a 3D camera scans in-store shoppers. The software then asks users about individual preferences before suggesting a list of clothing items from retail partners. Customers also get an ID that they can use in the future and when shopping online. Even social media company Snap is jumping on the virtual try-on bandwagon. In March, the social media firm announced that it was acquiring Fit Analytics, a German startup that uses machine learning and customer details to recommend well-fitting clothes.

The company offers a smart mirror that captures a 3D model of the person standing in front of it. Once the scan is complete, users get information on their body size, proportions, and other parameters. These data points can be used to both track health and enable businesses to produce made-to-order clothing items. Nike took a slightly different approach to help customers find shoes that fit well. The US footwear giant allows its app users to scan their feet using a smartphone to measure their shoe size.

Novel fabrics made of next-gen materials may also find commercial adoption in the future of fashion. Startups like Modern Meadow are developing lab-grown leather without harming animals, while Bolt Threads is innovating to turn super-strong spider silk into a readily accessible fabric source.

Bolt Threads is also developing a mushroom-based leather substitute. Adidas, Lululemon, and several other fashion brands will be among the first companies to use the new material in their products in Fashions that change color may be coming too.

While Hypercolor color-shifting t-shirts and mood rings had a moment in the 90s, the latest iterations are far more sophisticated. The first item ColorFab created with the technology is a ring that can be programmed to change into a handful of preset, customizable colors. Synthetic media is content created using AI. Smart algorithms ingest voices, videos, photos, text, and other types of data to learn and then produce realistic digital content.

This software can be used to mimic the looks, sounds, and mannerisms of specific individuals. Fashion brands could use synthetic media in various ways. For example, the tech could accelerate the creation of digital content for e-commerce product pages by rapidly generating images and videos of human models wearing new styles.

Advances in tech like pose iteration could make these synthetic models extremely realistic. AI-generated human models could also speak in various languages and be quickly tailored to different audiences. Eventually, brands may find that synthesizing voices and videos using AI could be cheaper than hiring human models for some marketing campaigns.

Source: Synthesia. The AI video synthesis platform generated a video of David Beckham speaking 9 languages to raise awareness for the Malaria Must Die initiative. Cryptocurrencies , such as Bitcoin, are surging in value. Customers can use bitcoins to buy a Tesla or coffee at Starbucks, and some luxury brands are jumping on the crypto bandwagon as well. Major luxury watchmakers like Franck Muller and Hublot, for instance, have offered some of their products exclusively for sale via Bitcoin.