future of fashion

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Future of fashion Fashion Forward

Created by Kalika Sharma

November 2014


Index

18/08/142

3. Future of fashion and UX:• Wearable tech• Smart fabric• 3D printing• Biocouture• Biomimicry• Virtual fitting rooms• Bionic fashion

Fashion Forward1. Current state of the fashion

industry• Increasing demand for fast

fashion• Production and distribution in a

globalised world• Impact on the environment,

labour, etc.

2. Innovations in fashion • Use of alternate materials • Improvements in production

process• Setting standards for ethical

clothing


The textile and apparel industry is one of the largest industries globally. Clothing, even if we were to assume it performed a more basic function sans fashion, catering to a world population of 7 billion people is already a pressure on the planet.

Today there is an ever-increasing demand for women and men's fashion that has given rise to a greater need to keep up with trends, rapidly shift to the latest, novel designs, and as a result consume more.

To cater to this need, a new kind of supply chain is born - one that is desperate to meet this demand, exploitative, unethical and unhealthy for the planet.

Reality check

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Current state of the fashion industry


Key trends and the rise of fast fashion

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Source: Greenpeace International


Fast Fashion and its Impact

So what is fast fashion?Fast fashion refers to keeping up with rapid changes in fashion trends that go from the catwalk to the market, encouraging consumers to buy more at a cheaper price.

As the fast fashion cycle diagram shows, there is and ever shortening production cycle, with timelines being compressed.

Ironically, with more sales, prices are on a downward spiral as large fashion companies have moved to a global production system, which uses the cheapest labour to produce and sell to the maximum.

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Source: Euromonitor International



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Increasing sales and lowering prices

• The global apparel market was valued at US $ 1.7 trillion in 2012 and employed 75 million people.' (Fashionunited) As per the Euromonitor international's report of March 2014, the global apparel and footwear market is due to reach the US $ 2 trillion mark by 2018.

• As we see, the sheer sales of this industry on the the rise, we also witness the prices spiralling downwards. A sign of some players in the production process being shortchanged for their work.

• In the case of fast fashion, labour from countries like Bangladesh, India, Vietnam, etc. are the ones that face most exploitation by this system.

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9Source: Euromonitor International

The market for fashion is very strong among BRICS countries, which are also populous countries.



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China is leading the way globally in terms of pure demand for fast fashion, followed by the US.



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Menswear has not only caught up with women's wear but for 2013 has exceeded women's wear in terms of sale.



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Footwear has consistently shown better growth than apparel over time.


Impact of fashion in hyper-production mode

Fast fashion is causing two main disasters in the world • One is the sheer exploitation of labour across the

world in terms of unfair wages, employing child labour, and production in inhuman conditions

• And two is the damage to the environment, from the pesticides that are used on the cotton crop to the including release of toxic chemicals into water bodies during the production process and the consumption of a great amount of energy.

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Impact of Fast Fashion: Exploitation

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The collapse of Rana Plaza garment factory in April 2013 in Bangladesh killed over 1000 and injured more than 2,500 people. Many fast fashion companies are accountable.


Impact of Fast Fashion: Exploitation

"According to a 2011 report by the consulting firm O’Rourke Group Partners, a generic $14 polo shirt sold in Canada and made in Bangladesh actually costs a retailer only $5.67. To get prices that low, workers see just 12 cents a shirt, or two per cent of the wholesale cost."

Rosemary Westwood, From the archives: Bangladesh disaster raises tough questions about cheap clothes (Macleans)

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Impact of fast fashion: Pollution

Source: Greenpeace International


Sustainable innovations in fashion

• Airflow dyeing technology that enables dry dyeing saves several gallons of a water

• Alternative materials for creation of fabric are being experimented with

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Airflow dry dyeing techniqueDigital printing of clothes



• Recycled materials are being used to create clothes• Materials other than the over-produced cotton, such as

hemp, bamboo, and jute, are gradually becoming more popular

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Use of alternative materials, e.g., corkJeans made of recycled bottles



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Fair trade standards are being set across the world, ensuring that the labour producing fashion are being fairly paid

The Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) has been put in place as a certification for sustainability across the entire production process


Movement towards sustainable fashion

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"It doesn't mean therefore you have to just buy anything cheap. Instead of buying six things, buy one thing that you really like. Don't keep buying just for the sake of it…. I just think people should invest in the world. Don't invest in fashion, but invest in the world.“ – Vivienne Westwood


Versatile garments can be worn in several ways

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http://vimeo.com/67903087 - click to watch how the Versalette can be worn in different ways

http://vimeo.com/67903087


The evolution of fashion

The future of fashion is sustainable and takes the function of clothing to another level. No longer will clothes be performing their basic functions of covering the human body and providing aesthetic value, but clothes will be involved with our health, communication, safety and so on.

We could look at the future of fashion in the following directions:• Wearable tech• Smart fabric• 3D printing• Virtual fitting rooms

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The rise of smart clothes

With work, learning, gaming, shopping and other activities going mobile, it's also expected and is becoming true that clothing will go that way. The functions of a mobile phone for example can all be integrated into a fashionable garment and the revolution has already begun.

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World's first Twitter dress that integrates social media with fashion. Fans can tweet to Nicole Scherzinger's account to see their message appear on the dress in public.


Wearable tech in fashion

Some say that the wearable tech phenomenon is only a step on the way for technology being external to the human body to tech becoming part of the body. All the same, it is an important step of technology not only being worn on our person but also becoming a factor to consider in terms of the styles we choose to wear.

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Carrie Underwood wearing a projection-mapping dress at the Grammy Awards 2013.

LED and projection-mapping could in the future, completely eliminate the need for dyeing and printing of clothes.


Wearable tech: smart accessories

25Source: cuff.io

Cuff provides smart jewelry that has three main features - notifications for calls, texts, etc., activity tracking like a pedometer, and safety alert messages the user can send if in danger,

Footlogger provides a fitness tracking device that is embedded in the sole of the shoe becoming a health and fitness tracker that gives precise information on foot strike position, etc.

Source: engadget.com


Biocouture: Grow your own

Suzanne Lee, Senior Research Fellow at Central St. Martins, University of the Arts London has successfully "grown" a new type of fabric using green tea, sugar, bacteria and yeast. This culture grown in a vat of liquid is at the cutting-edge of biocouture and is an invaluable discovery in the world of fashion, which is getting increasingly concerned with the unsustainable consumption of fabric.

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Revolutions in the manufacturing process

• As of today, 3D printing is accessible to a few in the luxury segment and involves the work of the fashion designer and the geek world of computers.

• The potential of 3D printing and it's use to the world of fashion is tremendous. We can envision a future where the user who has access to a 3D printer at home being able to create custom garments for themselves.

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Does the future of garment-making lie in code?

"Selling code is not something that sounds inviting to designers. It's like you're selling the sketch but letting go of how it's produced. Designers spend so much time selecting the right material, deciding how it's going to be stitched, how it's going to be cut. To let that all go is incredibly scary."

Liz Bacelar, founder of fashion technology incubator, Decoded Fashion - Source: Mashable April 2014

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Role of computers and 3D printing

According to designer Francis Bintoni, "technology redefines material as information, as data." (Mashable April 2014) making the possibilities in fashion design virtually infinite.

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Dita von Teese wearing a 3D-printed dress designed by Francis Bitonti in collaboration with Shapeways and costume designer Michael Schmidt


Role of computers and 3D printing

• The issue of wastage of material in the garment-making process is completely eliminated with the precision afforded.

• The possibility of recycling materials is much higher.

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Fabric-saving computer technique (DPOL)"


Biomimcry: nature-inspired design

• Biomimicry is an innovative possibility in 3D printing that involves mimicking designs from nature.

• Some fashion designers take inspiration and insights from nature to approach their creations, resulting in smarter materials and construction.

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Dutch fashion designer Marieka Ratsma and American architect Kostika Spaho designed this hollow-heeled shoe inspired by the skull of a bird, resulting in an efficient, light weight shoe that uses less material, make possible because of 3D printing.

Source: DeZeen Magazine, July 2012


Biomimcry: nature-inspired design

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Reptilian biomimicry, Source: ecouterre.com


Virtual fitting rooms

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Virtual fitting shop that is in-store at TopShop.

Source: NewsComAu

eBay has acquired PhiSix which Integrates 3-D Virtual Try-on technology

Source: techcrunch.com

With the rise of e-commerce, the need for virtual fitting rooms is on the rise as well.


What does it mean for UX designers?

• The future of the fashion industry will evolve along with other industries that might be going in a similar direction, where we can expect a converging of several functions into apparel and accessories

• The opportunity for UX designers is to make this process meaningful to users. There will be a plethora of issues to deal with including data analysis, privacy, and so on.

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Power to the user and the role of UX

• The future: Make your own and print your own will become common in the future, with people printing out clothes to their exact measurements and with the precise prints they want. It will also be possible to recycle materials in the same machine.

• The opportunity for UX is to create an extremely user-friendly experience for this home clothes-making process. At the moment, 3D printing is considered accessible to only a few and operating it is the work of 'geeks'; there is huge potential here to aid the lay person in creating their own clothes.

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Lady Gaga's wore a bubble-producing 3D printed dress to the iTunes festival in 2013.


Virtual fitting rooms: A huge opportunity in UX

• Major players like eBay and Amazon have entered the space of using 3D technology to make the fitting room experience very sophisticated.

• People find it hard to imagine themselves wearing the outfit they see online and don't know if the look and feel would suit their body type, so there is a huge area of improvement with fitting technology.

• Selling clothing remains a big challenge for online sales at the moment. "Online retail revenues are still a very small fraction of total retail revenues: only 7% are sold online comparing to 61% of books and 50% of computers." - fittingreality.com

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http://fittingreality.com/


Data on wearables and activity tracking

Data from US customers in 2014 shows that a large percentage of users would use wearables for tracking fitness, health, sleep, etc. (81% in total) with only 19% of users saying they would never use a wearable. However, in reality, only 2.5% of users actually have wearables. Therefore, there is room for great improvement in the wearable device segment.

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Human-centred tech: bionic fashion

• The future holds a lot of opportunities for wearable tech, and yet people today have not easily taken to becoming users of it.

• The opportunity for designers of wearable fashion is essentially to make it as human-centred as possible.

• This would give way to bionic fashion

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This LED mood sweater (developed by Sensoree) lets you know how a person is feeling. If it glows blue, the person is relaxed and red means the person is excited, nervous or in love.


Human-centred tech: bionic fashion

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The DareDroid dress uses mood censors, customised hardware, and medical technology to prepare the perfect drink for your evening party!

This Climate Dress has LED lights that blink slowly responding to normal levels of greenhouse gasses and blink rapidly in polluted areas. Designed by Danish design firm, Diffus


References

• Cover image: LED dress on Flickr (https://www.flickr.com/photos/orijinal/3235981786/ accessed on 20 August 2014)

• Key highlights from Euromonitor's apparel and footwear research, Euromonitor International, March 2014: (http://go.euromonitor.com/rs/euromonitorinternational/images/key-highlights-apparel-footwear-2014.pdf accessed on 20 August 2014)

• Fast fashion cycle: Greenpeace International, Toxic Threads: The big fashion stitch-up (http://www.greenpeace.org/international/Global/international/publications/toxics/Water%202012/ToxicThreads01.pdf accessed on 21 August 2014)

• What does a 14 $ tshirt really cost? Rosemary Westwood, May 2013, Macleans (http://www.macleans.ca/economy/business/what-does-that-14-shirt-really-cost/ accessed on 23 August 2014)

• Bionic fashion: Wearable tech that will turn man into machine by 2015, by Arion McNicoll and Jenny Soffel, CNN, http://edition.cnn.com/2013/07/25/tech/innovation/bionic-fashion-wearable-tech-2015/

• http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Most-Consumers-Dont-Tote-Wearables-GymYet/1011124/1

• Most consumers don't tote wearables to the gym - yet, Emarketer, Aug 2014, http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Most-Consumers-Dont-Tote-Wearables-GymYet/1011124/1

• The future of fashion is code not couture, says designer, Rebecca Hiscott, Mashable, !'t April 2014, http://mashable.com/2014/04/04/francis-bitonti-3d-printing/

• Biomimicry shoe by Marika Ratsma and Kostika Spaho, DeZeen Magazine, July 2012, http://www.dezeen.com/2012/07/17/biomimicry-shoe-by-marieka-ratsma-and-kostika-spaho/

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https://www.flickr.com/photos/orijinal/3235981786/

http://go.euromonitor.com/rs/euromonitorinternational/images/key-highlights-apparel-footwear-2014.pdf

http://go.euromonitor.com/rs/euromonitorinternational/images/key-highlights-apparel-footwear-2014.pdf

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/Global/international/publications/toxics/Water%202012/ToxicThreads01.pdf

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/Global/international/publications/toxics/Water%202012/ToxicThreads01.pdf

http://www.macleans.ca/economy/business/what-does-that-14-shirt-really-cost/

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/07/25/tech/innovation/bionic-fashion-wearable-tech-2015/

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/07/25/tech/innovation/bionic-fashion-wearable-tech-2015/

http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Most-Consumers-Dont-Tote-Wearables-GymYet/1011124/1

http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Most-Consumers-Dont-Tote-Wearables-GymYet/1011124/1

http://mashable.com/2014/04/04/francis-bitonti-3d-printing/

http://www.dezeen.com/2012/07/17/biomimicry-shoe-by-marieka-ratsma-and-kostika-spaho/

http://www.dezeen.com/2012/07/17/biomimicry-shoe-by-marieka-ratsma-and-kostika-spaho/


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