Fashion & Tech are now in a relationship

Fashion week season is over and the biggest trend coming from the runway was not the color to look out for next winter season but the growing relationship between fashion and technology. This is not a new trend but over the last few years fashion and technology have merged at an accelerated pace. From livestreams to interactive smartphone photography, brands and designers are making their fashion shows more accessible.

Luxury fashion retailers are leading the way in digital innovation and among them Burberry has emerged as the most technology advanced. The iconic UK brand was one of the first brands to live-stream its fashion shows and while many of its competitors are progressively elaborating their online strategy, Burberry recently opened a new flagship store in London designed as a physical manifestation of their website. The store includes the world’s tallest retail screen, 550 hidden speakers and smart mirrors turning into screens when needed. A few weeks ago, they announced a new concept, “Made to order with Smart Personalization”, allowing customers to order coats and accessories directly from the runway. While some argue that the impact of their digital strategy is yet to be seen on their top line, Burberry’s management is convinced that deeply embracing the digital age is the way forward. Technology offers many opportunities for fashion retailers: they can engage with their audience, tell stories and grow their brands through social media. They can also use the ever-increasing amount of data to get insights about their customers and can use those insights to learn what to produce. Finally, they can develop in-store technologies to create unique shopping experiences.

However the growing relationship between fashion and tech works both ways: technology companies are also getting closer to fashion brands. If purchasing an iPhone has become a fashion statement, not everyone is Apple. In a growing but competitive consumer tech market, fashion brands represent the opportunity for tech companies to add a new key dimension to their sophisticated gadgets: the cool factor. At NY fashion week in 2012, models walked the runway at Diane von Furstenberg show wearing Google Glass, the Internet-connected glasses that will show digital information right in front of your eyes. According to the NY times, Google is also collaborating with Warby Parker, a successful e-commerce startup selling trendy eyeglasses at affordable prices, to help them design fashionable frames

The reason why tech and fashion work so well together is because they are both highly aspirational products that are about self-expression. With the rise of wearable computing, described as the next big thing in consumer tech, we’ll be carrying new mobile devices other than smartphones. The style and design of those devices will be as important as their technology.

While some think that the future of fashion lies in a marriage with technology, the opposite could prove to be true as well.