AI Stylist, Virtual Closet and Green Technology: How the Fashion Industry of the Future will Develop?

Factories will become digital, stores will turn into services, and customers will choose clothes based on values rather than trends – such changes in the fashion industry are predicted in the near future.

As we can see now, the old model of the fashion industry was characterized by overproduction: global brands produced ten times as many garments as people needed. But the quarantine brought people back to rationality, and by the end of 2020, the industry had reached a deadlock. So what’s coming to replace the old model?

Artificial Intelligence

Big data and artificial intelligence can help brands advise customers only on what they’re looking for — for instance, based on their existing closet and analyzing information about previous purchases.

Over the years, the industry will learn how to help people make decisions. Artificial intelligence will tell you: take it, it’s your lifestyle, your price range, and it fits the shirts that you already have in your closet. Such an approach will fundamentally improve the existing channels and eliminate the painful shopping process. Only a tiny segment of people who like to walk around and stare at clothes in malls will remain.

The market will be transformed quickly; independent designers will be left with no more than 5% of the market. In the U.S., besides Amazon (the world leader in innovation from retail to custom manufacturing), there is another typical example, the company Stitch Fix – a platform that uses artificial intelligence to analyze the customers’ style and then offers them to replace brands with their own goods (private label). Such companies set a global goal: to become a universal fashion marketplace.

Although it seems fantastic, fashion is partly dictated by big data even today. For example, artificial intelligence analyzes the information that Amazon and Alibaba Fashion have. The experts note that all that remains is to connect this data to an on-demand production system.

Digital Factories

The difference between digital factories and old manufacturers lies in maximum flexibility and minimum production costs by saving energy and materials. So far, there are few such enterprises globally, but they do exist. For example, in the midst of the pandemic, companies switched from classic clothing to personal protective equipment in just a few days, taking advantage of flexible production. Such speed helps to get profitable orders.

Digital factories will reach maximum efficiency when they are consolidated on digital platforms, where customers from all over the world can use their services. Ordering via smartphone will be enough to receive the product in your city. Many countries have already introduced this infrastructure element.

Personalization

According to forecasts, the future market will be tailored to the needs of the individual. As an example, it costs almost half as much to produce a pair of sneakers in the smart Speedfactory in Germany as it did in the previous generation of production facilities in Asia.

Technically, the industry is ready for the change, but there is no solution to the pricing issue yet. Not only are factories involved in price formation, but also the suppliers of material, and a single batch of fabric is more expensive than the wholesale. So it is not enough to create the most advanced factory, we need the suppliers that exist in the same paradigm, industry representatives explain.

Design and Trends

The era of fast fashion is gone. It’s time for a slow fashion or time of sustainable consumption. Things will be more tailored to consumer needs, and with new, more technologically advanced materials, they will be wearable longer. At the same time, discounts will become a thing of the past, and prices will increase.

With this kind of development, brands will be able to succeed only if they preserve their originality and identity. There is still a strong cultural code worldwide, so there is an opportunity to grow local brands and help them develop on new-generation consumer platforms.

At least 20% of malls are predicted to leave the market. In order for a customer to place an order without trying on clothes from their smartphone, a 3D customer avatar is needed. It is already possible to determine clothing size by smartphone camera photos online, although the accuracy of such measurements is questionable. Also, some scanners are installed in shopping malls, where you have to undress, twist around, and generally spend some time, which is not something everyone is ready to do.

A computer vision can be used to create a scanner that makes a 3D model of a person on the go, even in winter clothes. Moreover, the error of such scanners is minimal, so with such technology, you can even make a custom-made tuxedo.

The relatively widespread problem of “didn’t fit” or “didn’t match the style” will disappear in the near future. As a result, clothing companies will be able to predict consumption more accurately. The European Bodypass company is already working on the format and standards of the digital consumer profile. Experts emphasize that it would be possible to talk about a complete industry transformation if the entire chain were digitized.

There is hope that in the nearest 10 years, we won’t have to waste our time wandering through shopping malls searching for the perfect jeans, and the fashion industry will dictate to us the rules of conscious consumption without leaving behind a large-scale footprint of the ecological catastrophe of fabric and plastic.