The world of fashion is evolving at a rapid pace. How people used to operate and wear in the 1980s feels like an ancient kind of wear today. If you saw someone adorning the 50s look, you’d be wondering what kind of hole they crawled out from. Well, they might be enthusiasts of old fashion, but we can all agree that fashion in the second decade of the 21st century is straight out of the movies.
Who ever knew that fashion could be digital? Who knew that you could hold a fashion show in a virtual world? These were just the imaginations of some movie directors 15 years ago, but now they are realities for fashion enthusiasts. Paying with digital money is another kind of mind-blowing trend. Trendy fashion houses like Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Balenciaga, among others, are now accepting the use of Bitcoin as a means of payment. When you look at a Bitcoin price chart, you’re able to know how much Bitcoin you can use to buy your favorite purse or perfume.
But let’s look at some of the things that are going on in the fashion world as current technology takes over.
The metaverse and fashion
It is not hard to hear people, especially those who are not into tech, asking what metaverse is. Why do we need it? Is it a must we understand how it works? What people might not understand is that it has already come into fashion and is widely operational.
Now, imagine a huge virtual world where anything is possible. Here, people can buy land, buildings or avatars and even dress them up. You use real money and digital currency to complete trades, something that affects you in real life. For example, in 2021, Hiroto Kai spent an entire night designing Japanese-inspired kimonos on the popular metaverse, Decentraland. This digital artist went on to sell each for roughly $140 and ended up earning between $15,000 and $20,000 in just three weeks. Imagine a feat that would have taken somewhere close to one year was done in just three weeks.
As if that’s not enough, Decentraland has been holding annual Metaverse Fashion Weeks on the metaverse, where fashion brands build virtual spaces to show off their fashionable items. This has been going on since 2022.
It is true what Diana Vreeland once said. Fashion is a part of daily air, and it is constantly changing as events come and go.
The use of generative AI
Generative AI is perhaps the quickest-moving technology in this decade. According to Statista, the market of Generative AI is expected to grow at a 41.53% rate between 2025 and 2023, resulting in market volumes of approximately USD 356.10 billion in 2030. The State of Fashion 2024 report by BoF and McKinsey revealed that 73% of fashion executives were planning on using generative AI for their businesses. Just imagine using artificial intelligence to help you come up with ideas on what to create. Who would have thought of that in the early 1900s?
We have seen that AI can be a good trend analyst, co-designer or personal shopper, but believe it or not, we have yet to scratch the surface of this technology. Considering what we know about AI, as of now, it could completely revolutionize the whole fashion industry. AI could and is already being used by designers to come up with unique, trendy and informed products. It could also be used to diversify marketing and optimize production.
3D printing and design
If you have your personal designer, you’ve probably noted the amount of fabric that is wasted during cutting and production. However, 3D printing eliminates waste almost entirely. Here, the material is directly layered on textiles using images based on digital designs. This ensures that the material is cut precisely and that there is minimal wastage. Actually, the amount of material cut is the material that has been ordered.
Now, the best part about this technology is that it offers the highest forms of customization. You see, traditional manufacturing comes with pre-set sizes, which, most of the time, are a little bit smaller or bigger than the ordered piece. However, with 3D, you can specifically customize your orders according to the customers' specs. What else would you need in order to differentiate your brand from all the others?
Another use of 3D printing technology that fashion designers have been implementing is creating prototypes to help them assess different designs. This helps the designers save time as well as come up with products that are not only viable but innovative.
Additionally, 3D-printed material can be generated from recyclable material, helping deal with the issue of sustainability. Actually, a European Commission study stated that this tech could save up to 90% of natural resources where materials are sourced from recycled plastics.
In conclusion
Fashion is always evolving, and if you are not evolving with it, then you are going to miss out on a lot. Technologies such as the metaverse, generative AI and 3D printing are quickly changing the game, making the fashion industry a force to reckon with. As we continue embracing these new forms of tech integrations with fashion, you can be sure that in 20 years, we might be in a whole new universe.
