AI-Generated Fashion Designs
Utilizing algorithms and data-driven insights, AI can create unique and trend-responsive designs. AI can generate designs that resonate with a specific target audience by analyzing vast amounts of data, including current trends, historical fashion data, cultural influences, and consumer behaviour.
Customization and Personalization
AI enables the creation of personalized garments that cater to individual preferences, sizes, and styles. By learning from the customer's previous purchases, interactions, and feedback, AI can suggest or even design products that align perfectly with individual tastes.
Virtual Try-Ons and Styling
Through AI-powered virtual reality and augmented reality, customers can try on clothes virtually, experience different styles, and receive personalized styling advice. This tech-driven personalization enhances the shopping experience and aids in decision-making.
Transforming the Designer's Role
The advent of AI in fashion design doesn't mean the end of human creation. Instead, it opens up new possibilities and collaborations:
Enhancing Creativity
AI can act as a creative partner, providing designers with insights, inspiration, and tools to explore new design territories. By handling repetitive and time-consuming tasks, AI frees designers to focus on innovation and artistic expression.
Collaborative Design Process
The synergy between human designers and AI can lead to a more dynamic and responsive design process. Designers can use AI to test and validate ideas, explore different design paths, and create collections more aligned with market demands.
Sustainability and Materials Innovation
AI's data-driven approach can also contribute to more sustainable practices within the fashion industry:
AI's ability to accurately predict trends and consumer preferences helps reduce overproduction and waste, contributing to a more sustainable and responsible industry.
AI can aid in the research and development of sustainable materials, creating eco-friendly and fashionable alternatives.
While the future of AI in fashion design looks promising, there are challenges to consider. Finding the balance between machine efficiency and human creativity will be vital in maintaining the artistry and soul of fashion.
Conclusion
Artificial Intelligence as the future designer marks a transformative phase in the fashion industry. It's not about replacing human creativity but augmenting it, opening new horizons for innovation, customization, and sustainability.
As we embrace this new era, the collaboration between human designers and AI promises to bring a rich and diverse fashion landscape that caters to individuality while embracing technology's efficiency and insights.
Fashion enthusiasts, designers, and industry leaders should look forward to a future where AI not only complements human creativity but elevates it, forging a path that blends tradition with technology, art with analytics, and style with substance.
NFTs are one-of-a-kind digital tokens that serve as proof of asset ownership. To ensure transparency surrounding authenticity and ownership, these tokens may be safely exchanged, with transaction history logged to a blockchain - a decentralised, digital public ledger.
Photo by Andrey Metelev on Unsplash
NFTs are typically associated with digital assets like images or videos, but they are also used to register the ownership of tangible items such as real estate, artwork, and, increasingly, clothing.
So, what exactly is an NFT in the fashion industry? Fashion NFTs can take numerous forms, including virtual clothes that buyers can wear within virtual worlds, digital content that owners can interact with, and digital twins of real physical creations.
The long-awaited meta-economy will open up new avenues for marketers and influence how people interact, shop, and socialise. Experimenting with NFTs allows you to augment your physical product with a digital layer. In other words, physical purchases that unlock in virtual worlds. Customers will soon purchase branded things for themselves and their digital avatars.
"Phygital" fashion goods have been around for a while. In February of last year, virtual sneaker company RTFKT Studios sold over $3 million USD in a limited-edition drop that featured both a physical pair of polychrome sneakers and an NFT that corresponded with the shoe. Of course, the unique NFT is worth far more than the shoe itself.
Another example of a "phygital" product is the Balmain x Barbie collaboration that debuted in January. The NFT release premiered in auction-style, with three separate digital dolls dressed in monochrome pink clothes decorated with the French fashion house's monogram design. The co-branded collection also included a full range of physical items, such as dresses, T-shirts, coats, and shoes, which were available for purchase offline.
With multiple platforms allowing artists to manufacture and sell digital fashion, NFTs and digital fashion have become key tools for businesses to establish relevance and buzz. While certain luxury labels, such as Gucci, have collaborated with platforms and individuals to develop digital clothes, people frequently make and sell products that look to be made by premium brands but are not. Consider Roblox, a metaverse and gaming platform where Gucci, Stella McCartney, and Nike have sold digital items; users can also purchase what appears to be Burberry, Chanel, Prada, Dior, and Louis Vuitton, despite the fact that these brands did not appear to be involved in the creation or sale of the majority of these items.
So how is the fashion industry adapting to the new NFT Trend?
Brands are integrating fashion and NFTs together in a variety of imaginative ways, from phygital goods that increase the traceability of rare and costly clothes to virtual objects that buyers can buy, wear, and collect in the digital realm.
Augmented reality clothing
Although an NFT is a digital asset, many consumers prefer to wear the clothing they buy. This is made feasible by the use of augmented reality, which superimposes digital pictures over real-world camera video.
AR fashion is becoming increasingly popular, with companies like DRESSX and XR couture producing expensive digital clothing that buyers can 'wear' using AR. Retailers like GAP are also experimenting with virtual try-on technology.
Brands are increasingly combining augmented reality with NFT technology to create clothing that customers can collect, wear, and trade. Nike and RTFKT, for example, just released Nike Dunk Genesis Cryptokicks, a set of 20,000 NFT shoes that owners may see in real life by using a Snapchat filter.
Similarly, Rebecca Minkoff collaborated with fashion NFT marketplace The Dematerialized to create a range of NFT outfits that clients may engage with using their smartphone cameras.
Metaverse fashion
Customers may even wear their digital products across the metaverse, with developing blockchain-backed worlds like Decentraland and The Sandbox claiming millions of registered members.
The first Metaverse Fashion Week, held within Decentraland, demonstrated fashion's interest in the metaverse. Over 70 labels, including Tommy Hilfiger, Dolce & Gabbana, and Karl Lagerfeld, took part in branded catwalks, displaying partnerships with notable digital designers, during the NFT fashion event. Several firms took advantage of the chance to market NFT gear for customers to outfit their avatars in. Tommy Hilfiger, for example, provided digitised copies of its renowned designs, such as logo sweatshirts and varsity jackets.
Virtual stores
In order to market towards young consumers, fashion brands have purchased a few NFTs of their own, often in the form of virtual land where they may establish stores and showrooms.
Users may purchase plots of land in the form of an NFT in virtual environments like The Sandbox, and premium businesses like Gucci have already set up shop. Gucci plans to develop an interactive fashion experience based on Gucci Vault, the premium brand's conceptual environment, in collaboration with the platform.
In the metaverse, Gucci is not alone. Selfridges, for example, has recently created the world's first NFT department store within Decentraland, where users may view unique NFTs as well as explore Selfridges merchandise.
Digital twins
According to a Scalefast survey, 25% of buyers who are interested in purchasing an NFT would be more inclined to do so if it was accompanied by a tangible item. Many firms, unsurprisingly, integrate NFTs with a real product that customers can touch and wear.
Dolce & Gabbana's record-breaking Collezione Genesi, the first premium NFT collection to combine both digital and physical works, is a perfect example of this. Winning bidders received both a real and virtual version of the design after paying $5.7 million at auction. Another example is Nick Graham, which has recently debuted its NFT/AR outerwear collection. Purchasers may verify their garments on the blockchain and use it to access special AR experiences via a QR code embroidered into each product.
Overpriced, for example, is leveraging NFT technology to increase traceability; their physical NFT-linked hoodie can be scanned to establish authenticity and ownership through the blockchain.
Exclusive content
Fashion brands are searching for opportunities beyond virtual clothes like taking inspirations from the success of image-based NFT ventures like Bored Ape Yacht Club.
In reality, the industry's first big venture into the field was a four-minute video inspired by Gucci's Aria collection, rather than a wearable NFT. Since then, the premium label has released the 'Gucci Grail' NFTs, which contain brand-inspired avatars based on 11 popular collections, including World of Women and Cool Cats. Adidas has done similar partnerships, adding its name to well-known collections such as Punks Comic.
Similarly, fashion brand MANGO recently launched an NFT collection inspired by Spanish painters Joan Miró, Antoni Tàpies, and Miquel Barceló, which featured a variety of MANGO outfits. Rather than selling the collection, which was created to commemorate the inauguration of its New York flagship store, the company will display it in its physical and virtual stores to engage with young consumers.
Video game collectible
According to Statista, 61 percent of Chinese Gen Z consumers buy luxury products in the 'pursuit' of fashion, while 24 percent believe these items serve as an identity statement and 45 percent believe they bring confidence. Taking advantage of the luxury consumer's passion for collecting and exclusivity, companies have teamed with video game developers to offer rare NFT collectibles to their virtual worlds.
Burberry has created a range of (virtual) vinyl toys in the digital world of Blankos Block Party, becoming the first premium brand to do so. Similarly, Louis Vuitton chose to develop its own game in which players explore the digital world and gather 30 embedded NFTs. Players that gather enough are entered into a raffle to win an ultra-rare NFT, which is transferable between platforms and may be used as a distinctive avatar on social networks.
The desire for digitalisation drives NFTs in the fashion industry
As Generation Z consumers are more keen towards digitization and personalisation, NFTs will undoubtedly play an important role in the future of fashion, especially as the metaverse evolves to provide new outlets for customers to exhibit their digital purchases.
According to a report by Epsilon, companies that provide personalised experiences to customers are more likely to be purchased by 80 percent of them. An NFT is technically a digital record registered on a blockchain, but for consumers, it's a chance to engage with companies they care about and enjoy unique experiences in the digital format they like.
So we can say that a vibrant community exists behind every successful NFT initiative, where customers can interact with your brand and supporters may form a deep and lasting bonds with one another. Customers who own your company's digital collectibles have a financial incentive to bring more people with them and become genuine brand advocates. According to Shopify's 2022 Future of Commerce research, 40% of companies want to provide additional methods for customers to connect with them in 2022 and beyond.
On that note, we can infer that we are on the verge of a new digital revolution. NFTs and the metaverse are introducing new economic opportunities and risks. Many of these new advances are being spearheaded by the fashion industry.
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Beyond Retro
Beyond Retro is a vintage retailer. Its customers sift through tens of thousands of antique items, but only one in a thousand makes it to the showroom floor. The company came up with a unique alternative for the remaining 999 bits that didn't make the cut by introducing an upcycled Label made entirely of repurposed fabrics. Taking the bits that didn't make the cut and arranging them into massive fabric piles, the company then redesigns based on fashion forecasts, and they are upcycled for future seasons. Another distinguishing feature is the low price point, which makes it easier for ethical shoppers to shop.
Fanfare
Esther Knight, the founder, and designer of Fanfare is a British fashion brand that is pioneering sustainability in the industry. The slow fashion movement is ingrained in this brand's DNA. Unlike fast-fashion houses, the brand only releases one collection per year. Aside from that, the brand promotes recycling used clothes by redesigning them into new pieces. Fanfare sources unique vintage pieces – primarily denim and outerwear and upcycles them into opulent designs. The design team creates one-of-a-kind pieces by embroidering and embellishing offcuts and production waste.
H&M Group
H&M Group's garment collection program began in 2013, and since then, 78,000 tons of clothing have been collected through customer donations at stores around the world. Customers can bring in any textiles in any condition—from worn-out sheets to ratty T-shirts , in exchange for 15% off their next in-store purchase. Textiles are sent to a facility where they are classified: re-wear, reprocess, and recycle. From there, they’re either sold as secondhand goods, regenerate into alternative garments, or softened into textile fibers to manufacture other products.
Madewell
Another emblem devoted to creating the maximum out of used denim, Madewell additionally companions with the Blue Jeans Go Green application to show recycled denim into insulation for housing projects. It accepts denim from any emblem in change for $20 off a brand new pair of Madewell denim, and donation containers are to be had in shops globally. Since the partnership started in 2014, greater than 716,000 pairs of denim had been accrued from Madewell shops.
Zara
Zara offers a clothing collection program that accepts clothing in selected stores under all conditions. It currently also offers in-house collections for certain customers in Spain, Beijing, and Shanghai. When placing an online order, these customers have the option of requesting a free pick-up in a used clothes box on the same day, the customer's new items are delivered. Used clothing is donated, recycled, converted into new fabric or sold to fund the projects of the participating non-profit organizations. Items are properly separated for optimal use.
-Mohammed Ismail
Elle Magazine
Elle Magazine offers the latest fashion trends along with improved developments. Over the past 70 years, readers have had access to a wide variety of images and colorful ornaments in the world. Elle offers news on health, entertainment, politics, and advice on their work and relationship issues which grabs the reader's attention.
Vogue
Vogue is one of the most popular magazines in the world today. Vogue has more than 8 million people, about 13 million Twitter followers, and an active fanbase. Vogue covers all kinds of topics about cosmetology, celebrities, culture, and the world around us. Fashion reflects current culture and this magazine focuses on factors that have a significant impact on style while introducing new contemporary things. Some of the most famous icons are on the covers of Vogue magazine.
Harper's Bazaar
Founded in 1862, Harper’s Bazaar is the first major American-language magazine to publish improved content, information, and inspiration. From the latest to more traditional and contemporary styles and designs, the editor has included some interesting elements. It moves from week to month and is now the magazine for other digital platforms. This magazine is headquartered in New York in 32 countries.
Cosmopolitan
Cosmopolitan, better known as "Cosmo" continues to unite its name by placing feminist themes everywhere. Cosmo has over 64 international editions published in 35 countries and 110 languages, Cosmo is truly global. It started as a family magazine in 1886 and gradually became a lifestyle magazine in the 1960s. Helen Gurly redesigned the magazine in 1965 with new material on modern conditions, sex, relationships, women, and everything that is considered taboo. "Women's feminism" is the subject of the magazine. Brand spread like a wildfire started rising from the stand like everyone else and continued.
Vanity Fair
Another big name with another magazine under Conde Nast’s umbrella! It began in 1913, served for 20 years until 1936, and was revived in 1983 after Condé Nast came to power. Vanity Fair has been proud of its legendary leadership and guidance over the years, revealing its unique origins and status. Professionals keep up with industry professionals, modern bloggers, fashion enthusiasts, and anyone with an interest in lifestyle, technology, and jewelry.
- Mohamed Ismail
]]>Fashion is without a shadow of doubt the most innovative and fastest growing industry that has increased the standard of beauty by engaging consumers and developing innovative strategies. In this article, we are exploring the applications of AR Technology in the Fashion Industry.
Ever since the cognitive revolution, humans' ability to innovate has shaped the world around us which led to the invention of new technology that has evolved exceptionally. People from different walks of life are intrigued by the way technology is progressing at a profuse rate in the digital world.
Augmented Reality (AR) is one among many which was introduced in the fashion industry which imbued them to revolutionize the entire business of fashion. Augmented Reality (AR) allows the user to try on different dresses and visualize themselves in the dress which they desire in real-time. AR makes it easier for users who are skeptical to buy dress online.
Apple CEO Tim Cook stated that AR is set to modernize shopping experiences and fashion runways. "I don't think there is any sector that will be untouched by AR," Cook said. The colossal shift to AR in the fashion industry is not just limited to transforming processes in cosmetics and fashion brands, it has also been adapted by the consumers that rely on this new innovative technology. Google says 61% of the users would prefer to shop stores that offer AR. Imagine yourself going all over a physical store and to pick that one dress that you love and stand in queue to try it out, AR makes it easier and saves a lot of time when it comes to trying out fashion brands.
Below are a few brands which have been effectively using AR technology:
Sephora is one those brands that has benefited immensely using AR Technology. It helps the user to try on cosmetic products. You can purchase that perfect shade of lipstick which is right for your skin tone after trying out multiple shades and seeing how it appears in reality. AR has helped here to elevate the online shopping experience for the customer.
Suzanne Harward is one of Australia's leading wedding couture brands. Employing the AR technology in their mobile app has helped enormously for brides who are looking forward to purchase bridal-wear. The app provides an effortless and enticing experience for brides. One feature allows the brides to zoom into the premium fabric and see the dress in full 360 degree angle which helps them to meticulously analyze every detail. This is available on iOS and Android which is convenient for both customers and fashion retailers.
Zara has used AR to showcase its brand-new collection at their stores. Using this technology, they provide a live runway like experience to visitors with life-size virtual models wearing different items available in the store.
Wanna Kicks enables people to try on shoes of their choice which they think will be the right fit by using their app. The users just have to use the smartphone camera to focus on their feet and they can visualize different shoes as if they are wearing them.
The biggest risk of online footwear shopping is that the consumer is at the risk of buying a shoe that won't fit. Building an AR system makes it all easy before the order arrives at the doorstep. This will save a lot of time and no one has to go through the process of returning their shoes in the first place. Wanna kicks features products from all big brands including NIKE, Adidas and Vans.
Technology has become an inherent part of our lives, AR has created a platform which increases customer engagement. Fashion is a dynamic industry which requires to stay up to date with the latest technology as a gateway to move forward. So AR is one such technology which holds a great potential for the future.
]]>3D printing, more professionally known as additive manufacturing, has been in use for nearly a decade by scientists and architects who utilize this technique for building 3D models. Through the years 3D printing has proved versatile with many usages in a multitude of industrial sectors as it provides extreme precision and ease of manufacturing from scratch without the need of any other tools. It is usually done by layer to layer construction inside the printer using easily available input materials that are not only cost-effective but also time-saving when it comes to large scale manufacturing.
The fashion industry hasn’t been any exception to this industrial revolution, which some term as the Fourth Industrial Revolution. From accessories and shoes to clothes and jewellery, there’s no limit to the scope of 3D printing. Once only found in large labs and manufacturing industries, 3D printers have become more accessible in the recent years, allowing fashion designers to experiment with them from the comfort of their home.
3D printing provides immense advantages over the traditional methods of manufacturing a garment. It does not require any mould and can be used to create highly detailed textile pieces with desired qualities such as flexibility, opaqueness, rigidity, waterproofing etc. It completely does away with the lengthy multi-process traditional methods which involve cutting and sewing of patterns, as 3D printers can produce whole garments with just a simple template fed into the printer with input construction materials.
Iris Van Herper’s fashion show “Crystallisation” (2011) in collaboration with Daniel Widrig, a London architect, at the Paris Fashion Week, saw a successful attempt at garments created using 3D printing. At present, 3D printing is limited in its application as it can be used to create specific geometric structures and meshes only.
Danit Peleg made game-changing progress in 3D printing during the time of her graduation in which she created a collection of 3D printed garments at her home without any prior technological skills in this department. You can even buy your own customized outfits on her website if the fancy strikes.
Besides garments, 3D printing has been applied in making fashion accessories such as eyewear too. Mykita and Ic! is the first company that started making customized glasses from 2009. Other brands such as Safilo and Monoqool also manufacture glasses using 3D printing technology.
Gemmyo and Goossens are two of the brands that manufacture 3D printed accessories and jewellery. Brands like Reebok, Nike, and Adidas also use 3D printing for manufacturing their shoes. The ability of 3D printers to create complex structures is sought after by these sneaker brands as it allows for more refined soles and better construction, besides providing immeasurable purview for experimentation.
Though the usage of 3D printing in fashion is still at a rudimentary stage, the future scope for evolution is promising. According to Danit Peleg, 3D printing shows prospects of consumers being able to create their own garments in the near future from the comfort of their home. It will be fascinating to see how 3D printing evolves and revolutionizes the fashion industry towards a more cost-effective and time-saving alternative for consumers.
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Technologies such as Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Natural Language Processing etc are attracting more attention than ever and are starting to disrupt many industries. Here is a sneak peek into what the future holds for the Fashion Industry and how these technologies could impact businesses and consumers in the next few years.
Personal Stylist & Recommendation Engines:
Ever wondered if you could hire a professional stylist to crack the perfect look for an event or party but dropped the idea because these services are inaccessible or too expensive? The day may not be far when you have a personal stylist at the click of a button. Startups are building Artificial intelligence systems that could suggest styles exclusively for you suiting your tastes, budget, occasion, current trends etc.
Consider this scenario – You are searching for the perfect wedding dress and have narrowed down a few style inspirations from the internet. With the help of AI applications, you could upload these pictures and the program would throw in more details regarding fabric, designer, availability at online or retail stores, customization options etc. Advanced systems might even be able to take in your instructions and create multiple design sketches for you in real-time and also suggest designers / tailors who could create the dress for you.
Ecommerce companies are already using technology to track consumer behaviour and understand which products catch the attention of users the most. With the help of machine learning techniques, these systems could quickly learn about a specific customer’s preferences and then showcase or recommend products which they are most likely to buy.
Chatbots:
Companies have also started using chatbots to handle customer queries. At Fashionous, we are using Facebook Messenger chatbot to showcase and sell products and also to update customers about order /shipping status. Click here to try out the messenger app and let us know your feedback. Though the technology is in the early stage, in the coming years we can expect the chatbots to become more intelligent and they could engage in more natural & meaningful conversations with customers and eventually the customer may not be able to distinguish whether he / she is communicating with a real person or a chatbot!!
Trend Predictions:
With so much of data (consumer behaviour, Shopping patterns, historical trend cycles, cultural preferences etc) available, AI systems can predict which styles are likely to be adopted by customers in the coming seasons. Fashion retailers could get insights on what products to stock, set up price points at which they are most likely to sell and also plan product launches.
With rapid developments in technologies such as AI & Machine learning the future certainly looks promising and exciting!!
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