While necessity is the mother of invention, the impact of COVID on innovation in the fashion industry has been more of an acceleration. Digital is re-shaping all aspects of the fashion industry and COVID has been an interesting ‘testing ground’ to see the future possibilities of technology across the fashion spectrum.
Fabric Innovation
Fashion with embedded sensors, responsive fabric and clothing with inbuilt automatic thermo-regulation systems are examples of designers finding innovative solutions in fashion to everyday problems.
For all the criticism of the waste in fashion’s supply chain, there has been considerable development in compostable fabrics and sustainable clothing by amazing tech brands such as Vollebak.
Similarly, digital fashion brand Valentins works in the fashion design and digital transformation space, which creates new materials constructed from digital elements such as texture maps and lighting. This is an opportunity for purely digital materials to appear in the physical world.
Online Fashion Shows
Digital Fashion Shows and online runways have definitely been the flavour of 2020. With so much focus on the traditional Fashion Week, which was based on celebrity and spectacle, livestreamed fashion shows have been tasked with the challenge of bringing this to life in the online space. Additionally, many fashion shows were ‘By invitation only’ while online shows are available to everyone - is this the onset of a more inclusive approach to fashion?
Virtual Fashion
Virtual fashion is focused on the design and sale of fashion for avatars or virtual beings. The design process is similar to digital fashion but instead of the fabric being printed, it remains in the virtual realm for the purposes of video games, avatars and social media.
We would love to speak with candidates with digital experience who are looking for their next opportunity.
Kind Regards,
Janine, Amy & Natalie