The fashion industry relies on technology to enhance design, manufacturing, and customer experiences. The results have propelled the industry into greater profits, precision, and convenience, but some of the unintended consequences can be hard to identify.
Fashion is a language of creativity and serves as a reflection of the times we live in. The newest trends, technology, and ideas constantly feed the fashion industry, which is ever evolving. As is the case with many industries, technology has changed many aspects of the fashion industry for the better – and in some cases for worse. The industry has used tech to roll out robots that sew and cut fabric with increased precision, artificially intelligent (AI) algorithms that predict style trends, augmented reality (AR) dressing rooms for convenient at home shopping experience, or to gain more insights into customers and increase repeat business. However, thanks to advances in tech, fast fashion brands have taken over the market with their low prices and constant new arrival, pushing out many small and independent brands. Underrepresented groups, particularly people of color, struggle to gain entry into the industry, and those who do frequently don't feel welcomed. Robots are replacing humans in the workforce, negatively affecting employment opportunities for people hoping to work in the industry. The increased reliance on technology poses an important question – how can ensure the positives that technology brings to the fashion industry will outweigh the negative consequences?
The fast fashion industry
Technology has made manufacturing and production processes in fashion more efficient. With advances in technology, companies can produce products faster and at a lower cost. However, fast fashion has its drawbacks, it is not environmentally friendly, it creates a culture of immediate gratification, and it pushes small and independent brands to close. In the search for speed and efficiency, companies use a lot of cheap labor and environmentally damaging materials. A lot of waste is produced by the ongoing manufacture of products to keep up with new fashion trends which is in part fueled by impulse buying – often leading to the purchase of lower-quality products that don’t last long and end up being thrown out.
Diversity and inclusion in the fashion industry – appropriation vs. admiration
The world is a melting pot of people and ideas. With increased globalization, propped up by the onset of increased connectivity through advancements in media and technology, comes and increased flow of information across geographies and cultures, bridging the gap of understanding and openness. However, western fashion often borrows very heavily from eastern cultures in the ongoing quest to spot the latest fashionable trend. This inspiration has brought eastern influences into the mainstream, but there is a fine line between admiration and cultural appropriation.
Women’s Wear Daily puts things into prospective in their column on cultural appropriation in fashion, “cultural appropriation, on the one hand, can be a celebration of that cultural exchange when done respectfully and tastefully. But it can also take from cultures and people’s heritage, often leaving them out of the story entirely.” For the increase in eastern influence brought by technology and globalization, there should be an increased presence of designers and creatives from underrepresented cultures brought into the fashion industry spotlight.
Customer data for an enhanced customer experience
In this day in age, data, customer data in particular, is at the heart of most modern businesses. In an interview for a business case study done on rue21’s customer loyalty software, Lauren Pearson, Senior Manager, CRM and Loyalty at rue21, said that the company has a “customer-obsessed culture, and Oracle CrowdTwist enables us to strengthen new and existing customer relationships.” The Oracle CrowdTwist tool grants rue21 access to real-time data, allowing them to reward loyal customers. It provides an enhanced customer experience through personalization and real-time engagement, all of which is meant to lead to repeat purchases.
According to a 2020 Mckinsey & Co. article, the insights gathered from customer data “can help to develop new products and services, as well as to personalize advertising and marketing.” On the flipside, there’s a spike in consumer worry about data privacy and the collection of personal data. The Mckinsey article goes on to share that “consumers are becoming increasingly intentional about what types of data they share—and with whom.” On one hand companies collect customer data to provide a personalized experiences for consumers, on the other hand there are some concerns about how much information companies are collecting and how they are gaining access. The issue of customer data is not unique to the fashion industry, but its increasingly important for companies to prove to customers that they are handling our information with care.
Technology in fashion design and production
You’ve probably heard about the mind-blowing AI generated art created by groups like DALL-E. AI and other technology have the potential to drastically change the fashion landscape. For example, there is the invention of vegan leather which is meant as an alternative to leather produced from the slaughter of animals. Unfortunately, as highlighted in The Good Trade article from March 2021, “the most common leather alternative is petroleum-based plastic, called polyvinyl chloride (PVC). It’s made with fossil fuels, can be harmful to human health, and is not biodegradable.” This is a classic case of a noble and novel idea that results in unintended negative consequence. Most innovative tech like these are meant to solve challenges around efficiency and sustainability, designed with a greener future in mind and preventing the harm of animals. Then there’s the case of AI and robots taking over the creation of designs and other process in the fashion industry. Technology is mostly great, but we need to make sure that we are asking the right questions and getting input from all the right stakeholders. What will be the consequences of losing the human element in fashion and art? How can the industry ensure that negative unintended consequences can be mitigated with the introduction of new technology? The answers to these questions are complicated but we need to dwell on them and invest in the unbiased search for answers.
The future of technology and fashion
Many of the advances made in technology have led to creative innovation that address challenges in the fashion industry. As with any new technology, there are always some unintended consequences – some negative and some positive. Business and consumer behavior will become increasingly responsible for shaping the use of technology. Consumers have an increased responsibility to keep brands and companies accountable on how they use technology, and in return brands need to continually invest not only in technology, but in research around the sustainable and ethical use of technology to prevent unintended negative consequences.
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