Digital fashion

Digital Fashion is the visual representation of clothing built using computer technologies and 3D software. 3D Fashion design is developed using software like VStitcher or DC Suite. VStitcher is a 3D fashion design software that builds virtual, true-to life garment visualisation with cutting-edge simulation technologies for the fashion industry. 3D Fashion design has been pioneered by such designers as The Fabricant, the world's first digital fashion house, and Cat Taylor.[1][2] In 2019, Forbes magazine reported The Fabricant's sale of the 'Iridescence' dress, the first ever piece of digital couture to appear on the blockchain, which sold for (US) $9,500. In January 2021, The Fabricant set another landmark, with footwear brand Buffalo London. As reported in the magazine Dezeen, their design collaboration on a digital sneaker, the 'Classic BurningFor', marked the first time an established brand had sold a digital fashion item on its website alongside its regular physical products. Cat Taylor, better known as Cattytay, has been bridging the gaps between Fashion, Technology, and Sustainability—working with clients as notable as Alexander Wang, Selfridges, Balenciaga and more, she is redefining how garments are seen and even sold.

Digital fashion is also the interplay between digital technology and couture. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have been deeply integrated both into the fashion industry, as well as within the experience of clients and prospects. Such interplay has happened at three main levels.

  1. ICTs are used to design and produce fashion products, while also the industry organization leverages onto digital technologies
  2. ICTs impact marketing, distribution and sales
  3. ICTs are extensively used in communication activities with all relevant stakeholders, and contribute to co-create the fashion world

Since the beginning of the 2020 pandemic, the fashion industry has suffered incredible economic losses, as sales plummeted and jobs were lost, but it has since learned to digitally recover through virtual clothing, catwalks, and showrooms.[3]

Design, production, and organization

Among the many applications available to fashion designers to model the fusion of creativity with digital avenues, the Digital Textile Printing can be mentioned here.

Digital textile printing

Digital printing is a process in which prints are directly applied to fabrics with printer, reducing 95% the use of water, 75% the use of energy, and minimizing textile waste. The main advantage of digital printing is the ability to do very small runs of each design (even less than 1 yard).[4]

Digital Textile printing is “probably the greatest innovation of 21-st century fashion" as declared by Christina Binkley in the Wall Street Journal. The “vastly improved digital printing technologies allow designers to innovate while beefing up their brands“.[5]

Brands such as Prada, Pucci or Jil Sander are using this technology to invent their design ideas on fabric.

The fashion industry has been facing various challenges ranging from the high taxation, availability of raw material to the constrained market. The fashion industry has become more competitive and with new trends taking over the market as a result of digitization. The organization has differentiated its operations and products due to the recent developments in technology which have realized new integrated online shopping.

The changes in the organization have helped to facilitate effective management of their inventories and shipping. Moreover, the business has gained a higher order status and created a partnership that involves both buyers and sellers. The digitization in the organization has helped the management to receive regular reports on the performance in the market and the feedback from their contacts.

Business requirements

One of the entities in the fashion industry which would adopt this move includes Brick and Mortar. The move will help both the operation of the business and make the company more competitive within the fashion industry. Some of the technologies are such as:

  1. Intelligence systems
  2. Big data and knowledge technology

The big data and knowledge technology refer to a system that incorporates internet clicks, use of social media, mobile transactions as well as the user-generated content such as the use of sales questions among other forms of transactions. The technique is more superior when it comes to unveiling the patterns and trends. The vast amount of data encompasses data exhaust system, private data, public data, self-quantification of data, communal data as well as data exhaust systems.

Some of the characteristics of the system include the use of various varieties of data, large quantities of data and the variability of data acquired. The big data information has been induced in most businesses and has helped to develop new ideas, get updates on emerging trends, styles, and shape within the fashion industry. The use of social media comments, opinions and views has helped in achieving these new trends.

This, in turn, has helped in knowing the customers better by knowing what they like and at the same acquire new markets. More to that, it has played a key role for the customers and fashion lovers through the use of adequate content in magazines and other platforms (Stone & Farnan, 2018). Such initiatives have made the implementation of highly innovative concepts and ideas easily implementable. The model has also created a number of experts and professionals whose role is to improve and boost the digitalized fashion industry.

In order to gain a deeper understanding of the new ideas and trends, the study has highlighted Macy's Inc. which has adopted the technology to develop fashion ideas and get updates on the most popular fashion.

Intelligent system

This involves the use of machinery which have embedded the internet and also the use of internet-connected computers with a capacity of gathering and analyzing data with a connection to the other systems. In the fashion industry, some of the changes which are incorporated include the use of computer vision with various sizes, shapes, color, and proportions in identifying the identical items instead of searching for a specific word or even using its description.

The use of intelligent systems has provided an opportunity for solving the problems of the customers easily and also easing the ways of interaction and communication. An organization such as Nordstrom's and has embraced the intelligent systems technology and helped them to compete effectively in the new trends, besides maintaining contact with their customers.

Competitors and technology

The highlight of Macy's company and Nordstrom's in the fashion industry depicts the effectiveness of adopting big data and knowledge technology. The technology has benefited the company by learning the latest trends in the market and helping the company gain a competitive advantage over the competitors. The new business should adopt big data and knowledge management technology since it encompasses mobile transactions, internet clicks, use of generated content and social media among other forms of transactions. The business should adopt the techniques which are more powerful in detecting the trends and patterns in the industry.

Marketing, distribution, and sales

While all digital channels can be used in order to market and sell fashion completely online (eCommerce), they usually are implemented in connection with offline channels (so-called "omni-channel"). Here, Virtual and Augmented reality is playing a crucial role.

Prospects and clients can use ICTs - own computers, tablets and smartphones - to skip fitting rooms and cosmetics counters, and instead virtually see how they look in specific outfits and makeup via in-store kiosks, mobile phones or tablets.[6] Modiface is a web application that anyone can use to give them a virtual makeover. Customers can give any look and decide on what to suits and buy products.

Sephora, the beauty specialty retailer, and ModiFace, an augmented reality virtual makeover technology provider, today announced the launch of a 3D Augmented Reality Mirror that can simulate cosmetics on a user's face in real-time and in 3D. The new patented technology, created by ModiFace, tracks the precise location of a user's facial features and applies eye shadow colors directly on the video feed from a camera.[7][8]

Oftentimes beauty retailers will feature virtual fitting rooms to allow users to experience the look of their product before committing to a purchase. Some examples are color contact retailers Freshlook, which allows users to simulate contact lens wear in their color contacts studio before purchase.[9] Colorful Eyes also offers a virtual color contact lens try on room.[10]

Virtual dressing room

A virtual dressing room[11] (also often referred to as virtual fitting room and virtual changing room although they do perform different functions) is the online equivalent of the near-ubiquitous in-store changing room – that is, it enables shoppers to try on clothes to check one or more of size, fit or style, but virtually rather than physically.

The multimedia communication company Eyemagnet developed the Virtual Dressing Room for the Hallensteins menswear chain. The changing room is transformed to a single panel which reflects the user. These users can then use simple arm and hand gestures to ‘try on’ any apparel in the store, take a photo of any selected outfit and have it sent to their mobile phone. Newer versions of this technology eliminate the arm-waving altogether.[12]

Fashion retailer Topshop installed a Kinect-powered virtual fitting room at its Moscow store. Created by AR Door, the Augmented Fitting Room system overlays 3D augmented reality clothes on the customer. Simple gestures and on-screen buttons let users "try on" different outfits.[13] However, the high variability of virtual fit platforms to predict consumer clothes sizes called into question the accuracy of these systems in their current form.[14]

Nike is among the brands that have incorporated ground-breaking AR technology that allows customers to try on shoes virtually. This function incorporated in 2019 into both Nike's mobile app and retail stores is called "Nike Fit" and was created so that costumers can accurately determine their shoe size, as according to their website “three out of every five people are likely wearing the wrong size shoe”.[15]

In June 2020, Gucci partnered up with Snapchat and unveiled a filter that allowed users to test how the brand's shoes looked on their feet.[16]

Communication and experience co-creation

Fashion is also a matter of socially negotiating what is "in" or "out", fashionable or not. In other words, fashion items do not only play on the economic market of physical goods, but also - and sometimes even more importantly - on the semiotic market of the production of social tastes and customs. Thanks to social media, and to all services offered by the so-called web2.0, laypeople can contribute to co-create the fashion world, shaping tastes, customs, and fashion-related values.

Gamification

Gaming has played an important role in fostering digital aspects of the fashion world, first beginning with dress up games that used avatars and allowed players to select garments. Nevertheless, it seems it will now move on to the real world and start using avatars of real people.[17]

Garments from luxurious brands have been copied and adapted into the aesthetics of games such as the quarantine-released Animal Crossing: New Horizons and The Sims.[18] As to the former, users found themselves filled with time during the COVID-19 confinement and recreated outfits from a great variety of fashion brands, including Chanel, Gucci and Versace. Moreover, it became a platform for users to showcase their costume designs.[19]

In April 2019, Moschino collaborated with simulation game The Sims in a capsule collection that featured signature Jeremy Scott garments.[20] The collection was made available to shop and the campaign was set against the backdrop of a Sims-like atmosphere.[21] Furthermore, in May 2019, Nike partnered up with Fortnite to include their iconic Jordan sneakers. In similar fashion, in May 2020, Marc Jacobs designed 6 of the brand's favorite looks for Nintendo's Animal Crossing: New Horizons in a partnership with Instagram user @AnimalCrossingFashionArchive.[22][23] They were made available to download. Valentino also collaborated with the account and provided 20 looks from the house's SS (Spring/Summer) and F/W (Fall/Winter) 2020 collections.[24]

Digital fashion education and research

Nowadays, the fashion industry needs experts in digital fashion, equipped with the above-sketched knowledge and competences. Several Bachelor and Master programs in Fashion have in recent years integrated Digital Fashion courses.[25]

While there are not (yet) dedicated scientific journals devoted to the topic, several research activities have been done in the field. Among them, a dedicated conference has taken place in 2015 in Seoul, South Korea. SComS - Studies in Communication Sciences, a Swiss-based Communication Journal, has published a special thematic section on Fashion communication: Between tradition and digital transformation.[26] In July 2019, a conference titled FACTUM19 - Fashion Communication: between tradition and future digital developments has taken place in Ascona (Switzerland), whose proceedings are published by Springer.[27] During FACTUM19, a document titled "Fashion Communication Research. A way ahead" has been published.[28]

Fashion is closely related with Art and Heritage: among the most important initiatives to digitize fashion history, thus making such heritage available to researchers, practitioners and all interested people, two projects can be mentioned: Europeana Fashion[29] and We Wear Culture[30] by Google Arts and Culture.

The rise of digital fashion during COVID-19

Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, fashion is among the industries that have been forced to adapt their commercial and creative strategies to better suit the social distancing measures.[31] Therefore, the digital channel has since seen a rise in use and has been highlighted as the only way to overcome physical barriers.[32] It is also believed that these changes will prevail in years to come, as reported by WGSN.[32]

Fashion brands and well-known personalities in the industry spread welfare messages on social media and brands such as Louis Vuitton, Balenciaga, Gucci and Prada began mass-producing face masks and hospital gowns in order to help with the shortage of the coveted sanitary product.[33] Moreover, brands stepped up and launched initiatives to aid in the battle of COVID-19's impact on economy. Ralph Lauren donated $10 million to help fight coronavirus and initiated the transport of free coffee and baked goods to New York hospitals to thank healthcare workers for their service.[34]

Once events only attended by selected people, catwalks and showrooms have become more accessible through live streaming and virtual fashion shows. Thus, they have resulted in high fashion becoming more procurable to the general public. Milan Fashion Week was renamed “Milan Digital Fashion Week”[35] and the New York version prioritized outdoor spaces to further prevent the spread and set the maximum capacity at 50.[36] The British Fashion Council also took upon the opportunity to show this year's designs online.[37] Consequently, many celebrities decided to watch fashion shows that they used to attend front row from the comfort of their own homes and showed their glamorous looks from their Instagram pages.[38]

The importance of fashion films has also been stressed as a medium to creatively show designers' upcoming collections. As a result, methods that were only used by digital focused houses such as The Fabricant are expected to become the norm. Therefore, 3D experiences have gained momentum. As a matter of fact, high-profile models such as Bella Hadid have already incorporated such advanced and revolutionary practices into their curriculum, as seen in an Instagram post that displays the star getting a full body 3D scan for a Mugler Spring Summer 2021 film.[39][40] The video shows her in a gold outfit as Pegasus, against the backdrop of a fantasy-filled world.[41]

Other embraced formats include avatar videogames such as Zepeto, which Louboutin partnered up with to showcase their SS21 collection. This way, attendees could create personalized avatars and view the brand's latest designs. On June 15, Balmain also resorted to digital fashion and created a virtual showroom[42][43] hosted by the avatar of creative director Oliver Rousteing, who posted on Instagram his face getting 3D scanned, adding "#future".[44][45]

Additionally, for their SS21 show, Italian streetwear brand GCDS recreated a 3D runway with cutting-edge technology and avatars that displayed the digitally rendered clothes.[46][47] They even incorporated the celebrity avatars of Dua Lipa,[48] Anwar Hadid, Chiara Ferragni and Fedez, to name a few. They were shown sitting front row in the audience as if it had been a traditional show. It was referred to by the brand as the "first digital front row".[49]

The role of avatar influencers such as Lil Miquela and Noonoouri has been emphasized as well and definitely had an impact on the fashion industry during the pandemic, as they encouraged sales with the promotion of fashion brands.[50]

The digitalization of fashion is definitely both exciting and scary as we begin to wonder what awaits the industry's future. It does present the advantage that all will be eco-friendly, as it will not produce fabric waste. However, clothing has always been meant to be worn in real life, and the process involved with sewing has always been a sacred one.[51] It is safe to say that COVID-19 has accelerated fashion's digital transformation.

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