Vivek Ghai
Vivek Ghai
Digital Transformation Enabler. We Help Companies with Products, Services and Resources.
Published Oct 1, 2019
+ Follow
Disruptive technology, as the name suggests disrupts the conventional mode of operation in fashion business and forces them to adopt newer ways to prevent themselves from getting obsolete or irrelevant in the current market. The disruptive tech stack includes Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Machine Learning, Internet of Things, Cloud Computing and Robotics that give birth to smart and intelligent applications intended to make fashion brands sustainable in the long run.
Fashion industry is witnessing revolutionary changes due to the adoption of disruptive technologies at different stages across the supply chains. Whether it is e-retailing of fashion clothes in a highly engaging environment, designing of custom outfits through collaborative software, personalization driven marketing, production using robots or supply chain management using Blockchain; disruptive technologies are challenging the current practices for a better tomorrow.
Disruptive tech in practice: Setting the path for a new fashion wave in 2020
- Artificial Intelligence (AI): AI is making fashion brands intelligent as they are adopting automation to improve sales systems and predictive analytics to enhance the shopping experience across all channels. AI continuously analyses human behavior and predicts future trends in fashion. Moreover, based on consumers’ interests and preferences, AI-empowered algorithms give personalized recommendations and guided experience, making their shopping journey consistent and exciting. Besides, the usage of chatbots and assistants is significantly increasing where virtual assistants engage with customers to understand their requirements, style, purchase patterns, and give them suggestions accordingly.Also, AI dives deeper when customers upload the pictures of the outfits they want, and AI-empowered apps recognize them and locate for the availability of those outfits across the brands. The future of AI in fashion is bright because it is going to empower fashion brands to understand the dynamicity of the fashion market while equipping them with valuable insights to make informed decisions.
- Augmented Reality (AR): AR is another tech that is capable of offering a highly interactive experience where fashion shoppers can visualize their outfits in reality and analyze details of design, quality, look and fit in a real environment. Fashion brands are all set to engage their customers with virtual reality experience. Technology is helping customers to try apparels on them using virtual try-ons. Virtual fitting rooms are also gaining buyers’ attention that act like in-store change rooms where customers can check the fit and decide if a particular outfit suits their personality or not.AR has redefined how customers are interacting with brands. AR-empowered shopping experience is positively contributing to increasing brand affinity among customers. Though, apparel brands are excitingly adopting this forward-looking approach to captivate their millennial customers; AR has a long journey to cover in the fashion industry. The future will mark the presence of AR-enabled e-stores with small brands as well.
- Blockchain: With an ever-increasing population of socially responsible and ethics-driven fashion consumers, apparel brands are using ethical souring and sustainability as their unique selling points. Gone are the days when supply chains were big trade secrets. This is the era of transparency where consumers want to know if the source of fabric is genuine and what is the carbon footprint of their favorite apparel brand. Blockchain fuses transparency in supply chains through which every transaction can be recorded and traced back to its source to avoid any instances of counterfeits. It can gauge wastes and excess resources at every step to resell them, thus capturing the economic value of resources along the supply chain. This is a beginning for Blockchain in the fashion industry. Over the coming years, fashion brands will reposition themselves to attract ethical consumers by embracing Blockchain in their business models. They will reinvent themselves to cater to millennials customers living in a changing culture that is giving its best to keep up with technology.
- Internet of Things: IoT is another emerging technology that is making apparels and wearables smarter. IoT empowers to establish a connection, communicate, and exchange information between IoT enabled devices and end-users. Many apparel brands are embedding technology in watches and t-shirts to enhance the consumer experience. Smart IoT allows fabrics to change their color with temperature. IoT is a powerful enabler that can help brands to switch to ‘experience retail’, a concept that says that modern shoppers look for in-store experience rather than looking merely for a product.IoT is a blue ocean offering enormous potential to apparel brands to come up with innovative outfits that understand their users’ needs. However, brands need to strengthen their capabilities to leverage IoT in the fashion industry in 2020.
- Collaborative Tools: Fashion industry is now seeing a paradigm shift as its supply chain shifts to demand chain. Contemporary fashion brands are working backward to combat the backlash generated because of the trend of ‘fast fashion’. They are now using collaborative tools and software that empower their customers to choose their fabric, design, pattern, and other details to custom-create apparels. Instead of pushing fast fashion, brands are bringing sustainable fashion where customer curates his own style. Technology enablers likeApparel Design Softwareare playing significant roles in catalyzing this trend.Customization and personalization in apparel have started and will continue to influence the customers in 2020 who look for sustainable fashion and not merely fashion.
Conclusion
Disruptive technologies are ready to take over the fashion industry in 2020. It would be interesting to watch how fashion e-retailers and apparel manufacturers will strategize and implement these tech drivers to stay ahead of the curve while creating delight for their fashion patrons.
Like
Celebrate
Support
Love
Insightful
Funny
To view or add a comment, sign in
More articles by this author
- Personalized Online Shopping A Smart Way For Retailers To Drive Revenue Sep 4, 2020
- Digital Transformation: A Sustainable Action Plan For Businesses In Pandemic Aug 21, 2020
- How Is E-Commerce Industry Steering Through Challenging Times? Aug 8, 2020
- IT Outsourcing: A Convenient Choice In This Pandemic Times Jul 28, 2020
- Why is Outsourcing Product Development gaining colossal traction these days? Jul 6, 2020
- Digital Transformation: The Imperative of Time Mar 31, 2020
- Steering through the Lockdown to Combat Virus and Save Economy Mar 26, 2020
- Can Right Response from Business Leaders help companies to navigate the Coronavirus Outbreak? Mar 23, 2020
- Digital Transformation: Beyond the Reach or Within the Reach? Mar 19, 2020
- Fight Against Covid-19: Implications for Businesses. Mar 17, 2020
Others also viewed
- Brand communication and fashion amidst Covid-19 pandemic: Focus on emerging fashion business in Nigeria Dr. Tunde Akinsola 1y
- In Brief: Importance of the Law in the Architectural profession. Saro Boghossian 6y
- Disruptive innovation: a concept from the past that makes the difference today Dr. Jordi Diaz 5y
- ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY IN THE FASHION INDUSTRY Elyzee D. 3y
- Disruption of the clothing industry Allan Rennebo Jepsen 1y
- The Benefits of Word Search Puzzles When it Comes to Language Learning Eleni M Georgiou 1y
Explore topics
- Workplace
- Job Search
- Careers
- Interviewing
- Salary and Compensation
- Internships
- Employee Benefits
- See All