What is the future of the fashion industry?

We are living in the age technology enabled disruption. We see disruption happening in every industry, from food to health. Some sectors are faster and easier to disrupt than others (e.g. travel), but that doesn’t mean that change is not upon us, regardless of the sector.

Looking at the fashion industry, we cannot help but notice that the current operating model has not changed significantly in the past century. The same process is generally being followed by most fashion brands: designer makes collection, collection is presented to an array of fashion royalty, collection is then ordered by said royalty, produced in various locations employing various suppliers, distributed to retail locations around the globe in the next 6 months.

We’ve seen signs of disruption in this industry for a few years now, with “fast fashion” brands (see Zara, H&M) bringing new collections to stores every few weeks. While this has significantly changed the way people shop and the general access to fashion, making it more affordable, it has yet to massively shift the way the fashion industry operates.

In contrast to other sectors, disruption in fashion appears to be slower and more segmented. In this article we will be looking at the trends set to change this industry again in the near future: agile retail, personalisation and technology.

Agile retail

We’ve seen how brands like Zara have changed the fashion landscape by bringing collections to customers faster and at more accessible prices.

Agile retail is set to change the fashion industry landscape by employing data to predict consumer trends, eliminating the waiting time between collections, streamlining production processes and effectively rendering most traditional fashion shows futile.

We see emerging fashion brands act as technology brands, collecting data on consumer behaviour, weather and a variety of other factors set to influence trends and using it to create collections which are not only more desirable, but also cheaper to produce and easier to distribute. These collections are designed with the actual consumers in mind, have shorter production times thanks to streamlined processes and more effective distribution cycles, but most importantly, lower price points, thanks to the lack of physical retail spaces.

Personalisation

We see this happening in programmatic advertising, with algorithms retargeting consumers based on browsing history and online behaviour.

How will this be applied to the fashion industry? We could be looking at algorithms suggesting items based on past purchases and taking into account various external factors such as weather. The result would be a completely personalised shopping experience, with new styles being suggested based on a combination of preference and seasonal trends.
Let’s look at an example: say Lizzie bought a pair of white trainers from website X, just in time for spring. Website X will store the data about Lizzie’s purchase so that when she returns to browse the new collections, she would receive a notification inviting her to purchase a beige rain coat which would match her last purchase and would be indicated since spring is expected to be rainy.

We could expect consumers to be targeted with personalised editorial content based on their style and fashion preferences. A person who buys mainly sneakers in bright colours would be recommended such items in their preferred colour scheme, while a person who prefers more elegant wear would receive suggestions based on their respective style.

Technology

The applications of technology in the fashion industry are many: from retail focused predictions based on consumer behaviour (like the ones we just discussed), to 3D printing, high-tech fashion and virtual changing rooms, we see development everywhere.

We are already witnessing a great wave of high tech fashion, especially in the sport apparel sector, with brands such as Rhone making sportswear for men, designed to control sweat and odour. We will be increasingly looking at such techniques penetrating the market, with technology and fashion merging to produce intelligent apparel which adapts to weather conditions.

Although still in its infancy, 3D printing is a very promising technology set to disrupt multiple industries. Its application in fashion would result in adaptable clothes and next level with tailoring like printing a garment to a person’s specific measurements.

Looking into the future, we can expect such technologies to become so widely accessible that the average Joe could print his high tech fabric T-shirt at home.

Finally, targeting one of online retail’s biggest pain points, we will be seeing more online retailers offering virtual changing rooms. Either employing VR/AR technology or 3D body mapping, technology now allows us to see how a product would fit before we order it online. We can expect this to improve the performance of fashion retail by reducing the rate of abandoned baskets and returns attributed to ill fitting clothes.

Disruption in the fashion industry might not come with a bang. It is happening slowly and subtly. It is, however, happening. One certain thing is that when we will be looking back 10 years from now we will realise how much has changed in the way we imagine, consume and engage with fashion.