New York – Just when it doesn’t seem like this age couldn’t get any more digital or
technology focused, a new phone app, iPhone, or e-commerce operation pops
up. There are few things that can survive without technology in this day
and age, including fashion. Fashion publications have been investing
heavily in their digital operations, luxury brands are finally doing
e-commerce, and technology companies are trying to find ways to integrate
themselves into the fashion industry.
Fashion has entered the technological era, much to few people’s surprise.
While it makes perfect sense that top fashion publications like GQ and Elle
are investing more in their digital operations, that one was simply a
given. The real shocker to the fashion industry and the biggest indicator
that fashion was undergoing a new digital and technology revolution was
when luxury brands became more open to the idea of doing e-commerce.
When sites like Net-a-Porter and Moda Operandi began popping up, it was a
sign that there was a new frontier in fashion. The fact that high designer
clothes could now be delivered to your doorstep via USPS was a
revolutionary concept. Of course, some found it distasteful at first. The
idea that luxury fashion could be purchased through the internet was seen
as cheapening the brands.
Of course, that old guard of fashionistas who were so hung up on the old
school way of purchasing luxury goods would eventually have to bow to
contemporary times. The demand for luxury goods was growing, and high
fashion boutiques weren’t easily accessible to everyone. The increasing
demand for luxury goods finally led Tom Ford to begin offering e-commerce,
becoming one of the first major luxury brands to do so.
Tom Ford launching e-commerce was the shot heard around the fashion world.
The man known for his seven figure suits was now doing e-commerce. While
his suits and dresses weren’t available via e-commerce, offerings included
items like shoes, which can retail anywhere between 770 dollars and 2690
dollars, and bags, which can range in price from 1190 to upwards of 30,000
dollars.
Earlier this year in April, Chanel announced that they would be launching
e-commerce, and this seemed to be the beginning of a domino affect. The
week of November 4, 2015, Chanel began selling their sunglasses online, the
first of their product offerings for e-commerce. Earlier this year,
Spain-based luxury brand Delpozo also began e-commerce this year.
The merger between technology and fashion extended far beyond e-commerce.
This year, Chanel sent a collection of 3D printed dresses down the runway.
3D printing is an additive manufacturing process where dimensional objects
are made from a digital file.
It was a big indicator of how technology would begin to affect the fashion
industry going forward. In June 2015, mashable.com reported a story on
Danit Peleg who spent 2000 hours printing her final design project. Peleg
was a 27-year-old student at Shenkar’s College of Engineering and Design in
Israel. The 3D printed dresses she did were met with critical acclaim.
Apple is also living proof that fashion and technology now go hand in hand.
Last month, Apple, in partnership with WME/IMG, began bidding for a new
fashion television channel called Made2Measure. While the idea was to have
an entire television channel devoted to fashion, Apple was also hoping that
it would also make fashion lovers sign-up for Apple TV.
The most recent cherry on top of the fashion and technology cake came from
Intel on November 2, 2015. Intel, a sponsor of New York Fashion Week,
collaborated with a Brooklyn design group on a new sports bra that was
embedded with computer modules that opened vents in the garment when the
wearer became too warm. This wasn’t the only fashion idea to come out of
Intel, however.
The company famous for their Pentium processors, also worked on a black
“adrenaline dress” whose sensors expanded a carbon fiber lattice around a
woman’s back when they detected rising levels of adrenaline. The dress was
designed by Chromat, a fashion company known for their “structural
experiments on the human body”, as their website describes it.
Becca McCharen, Chromat’s founder and chief executive officer, offered a
bit of insight to the New York Times on the future of fashion and
technology. “We’re starting this huge boom, and fashion is trying to keep
up,” McCharen said to the Times. “Pretty soon people will be hacking
designs straight off a runway and making those things, changing them
around, using 3D printers.”
This year Intel also produced an interactive dress with mechanical arms
inspired by a designer who liked video games. They also produced connective
watches in partnership with Fossil Group as part of their entry into
fashion accessories.
This is just the beginning for the future of fashion and technology. Two
industries once kept fairly separate have become so intertwined. With
everything from the media, education, and entertainment being affected by
technology, it was only a matter of time before technology took over the
fashion industry too. The age of technology is now the permanent age, and
it only stands to further affect fashion moving forward in ways only
waiting to be seen.