State of Digital Fashion

Image provided by The Fabricant, a digital fashion house.

The Age of Fluid Identities

We are living in a time where a whole generation [Z] sees no real distinction between the physical and digital worlds. As age-old constructs fall apart, this generation seeks more experiences to identify with — experiences that are not only memorable and shareable [on social media], but also an outlet to discover and express increasingly fluid identities.

Fashion has always been the predominant way of expressing one’s identity, but today that is no longer a guilt-free avenue. People can’t help but feel judged for their fashion choices — what you should buy, where you should buy from, how much should you buy, whether you should buy at all — retail therapy comes with a price much higher than money.

Fashion, A Dirty Word

While the rise of digi-tech has provoked the use for innovative digital experiences even in the otherwise traditional space of fashion, today, fashion is plagued with the label of being a global pollutant. A rising wave of “woke” consumers are demanding more sustainable alternatives, and this need is perpetuated by online fashion influencers who dominate the rules of fashion on social media and hence in reality. (There has been a 200X increase of “sustainable fashion” haul videos created, and a 13X increase in the views of these. Also, the top 5 fashion innovations in 2019 were all efforts to reduce environmental impact.)

We are buying more clothes but using them less.
– Business Insider

And so, the visual signals of fashion still hold a lot of power, making it the top consumed content on Instagram, a platform that holds the [literal] currency to everyone’s attention.

Consumers as Co-creators

86% of consumers say brands that co-create are more trustworthy.

The desire for a perfectly curated [Instagram] life gets fuelled by the on-demand and personalised consumer needs that are disrupting the traditional business model for fashion brands; marking the onset of a new wave of fashion consumers — as co-creators.