5 Technology Trends Transforming the Fashion Industry

"Technology is going to turn the entire fashion industry inside out" Fashion and technology: the digital revolution presents the "biggest challenge for fashion brands" according to digital fashion pioneer Francis Bitonti who asks: "How will an industry where value is communicated by exclusivity and craft cope with this new space?" (+ interview) The fashion industry has been slow to adapt to new technologies, says Bitonti, who warned: "Fashion brands are going to have to adapt to this, which is going to mean a shift in core values for many brands." The New York-based designer initially trained as an architect but has recently focussed on applying advanced manufacturing techniques to fashion, jewellery and accessories, including a 3D-printed dress for Dita von Teese and a pair of 3D-printed shoes. "We want to redevelop everything from design methodology to material and form, to distribution and production," he said. Bitonti berated the mainstream fashion industry for not being quicker to embrace technology. We don't live in a time for concepts and drawings.

Fashion’s big brands follow the money to join the wearable tech revolution | Technology We’ve all been there. You rush out of the house to catch the train to work, elbow your way into a seat and immediately reach for your smartphone. But it isn’t there. It might sound like the stuff of sci-fi, but clothes that double up as smartphones aren’t as far away as you might think. From its studio in Shoreditch in east London, Rosella and her team have been fusing technology with clothing for a decade and have a reputation for coming up with some of the most innovative stuff. Britain – and London especially – has long been seen as a trendsetter in smart clothing. One big brand name that’s keen to talk about wearables is Ralph Lauren. “The technology has evolved to a point where it can now be synthesised with clothing. There will be outfits for our children that will tell us if they’re getting enough exercise, and jackets warning us if our blood pressure is too high. But why now? His company, which employs 50 people, is throwing its resources into designing technology for clothes.

London fashion week: why technology is in fashion | Media Network At London fashion week the multibillion dollar worlds of tech and fashion are colliding like never before. For many, the launch of Apple’s new watch, announced this week with impeccable timing to coincide with the global fashion weeks, will mark an important turning point for fashion tech, a new sector with huge potential for growth. While Apple’s entry into the market is almost guaranteed to boost the industry’s profile, in reality the fashion industry has been driving fashion tech for years. Fashion tech is much more than just tech inside a timepiece, and nowhere is this more apparent than in London. In 2010, London Fashion Week was the first in the world to grant access to the masses by live streaming the runways. Now, everyone has their smartphone camera primed, ready to make their contribution to the zeitgeist. The next generation of high tech fashionistas are already emerging. Two rising stars from this growing trend are Kate Unsworth and Roberta Lucca.

15 Examples of How Technology Innovates Fashion It was the great Coco Chanel who once said, “Fashion changes, but style endures.” Well, regardless of your thoughts on the matter, there’s another thing that changes along with fashion. It is technology. With the amount of innovation happening these days, it kind of makes sense to bring the two together. By combining style and functionality, there have been a few people who have taken fashion to the next level. We can’t say for certain if they’ll actually catch on but these futuristic fashion styles do look pretty awesome. Recommended Reading: 10 Upcoming Technologies That May Change The World CHBL Jammer Coat This coat is designed by an Austrian architecture company, Coop Himmelb(L)au and you can use it to disappear. Rain Palette Since acid rain remains a threat to public health nowadays, the Korean-born, London-based designer Dahea Sun had invented a natural cabbage dyed dress that could act as a pH indicator when rain falls onto the fabric. BB. Karma Chameleon Project Intimacy 2.0

Smartphones Make Catwalks Instantly Shoppable - BoF - The Business of Fashion NEW YORK, United States — Fashionistas who want the latest looks from New York’s Fashion Week no longer need an invite to the exclusive event. A group of tech savvy women are making designs from the catwalk instantly shoppable for deep-pocketed consumers thousands of miles away. Only the invitees used to be privy to the runway collections before they graced the pages of Vogue or Harper’s Bazaar weeks later. Even then, those designs wouldn’t reach the hands of well-heeled consumers for half a year, through the highest-end department stores or the fashion houses themselves. A crowd of chic geeks at start ups including RewardStyle and Refinery29 have now infiltrated the $250 billion luxury clothing and accessories market, armed with little more than smartphones. What customers want is to get their hands on Azria’s designs as soon as their Instagram feeds are inundated with photos from the week’s shows, she said. Fashion Accessibility Here’s how LikeToKnow:It works. Advance Production

Never be disrupted by calls you can answer later. You decide when to be notified and by whom. Get control of your life...and your phone. The Beacon puts technology in its place. Fashion meets the future as garments go hi-tech Social media users curate the runway at Fyodor Golan's London Fashion Week show An interactive garment created by Nokia Lumias became the world's first interactive smart skirt Celebrities including Alexa Chung and Pixie Geldof whip out their smartphones on the front row at London Fashion Week Apple launched its smart watch in September, allowing users to call and message friends with a click on the device Ralph Lauren's biometric shirt tracks your body's data before sending it to your smartphone Google Glass is often credited as the trailblazer of wearable tech, and the product has since been adopted by designer Diane von Furstenberg Jawbone Up tracks weight and fitness through its wristband and smartphone app, helping to integrate health management into your daily routine Fitbit has proved to be one of the most popular wearable creations, helping to fuse the gap between fashion and technology. Futuristic fashion "We have become better online than in stores.

How Premium Fashion Brands Are Maximizing Their Social Media ROI Social media and digital technology have forever changed the retail industry. In 2011, brands and retailers have reached a tipping point, digital innovations have decentralized commerce, and real-time consumer demand for designer merchandise has forever changed retail production cycles. Many fashion brands, mocked for their inability to move with the web because of a fear of accessibility, are no longer fighting the flow. Through their embrace of social media and social commerce, fashion brands are now innovating and profiting from their online marketing strategies. Luxury and premium brands are starting to lead the way for all retailers looking to connect with their customers and build online revenue channels. Fashion Brands and Social Commerce Online shopping is becoming a socially connected event. During the past year, the luxury market experienced a digital tipping point, with many brands rolling out new e-commerce sites, social media campaigns and mobile applications.

DIY Magazines This article was originally published in Domus 961 / September 2012 What decades of magazine design have put together, it has taken only a few years of apps to rent asunder. As mainstream print publications awkwardly rework themselves for Web and tablet, a set of websites and apps has created an alternative model for consuming, saving and sharing media. Given the opportunity to take just the parts of the magazine we like, we may reveal (even to ourselves) that we only ever wanted to read the pull-quotes, look at the fashion disasters or skim the infographics. As social media platforms specialise, I observe two strands of development, one towards an image-driven experience, and one towards a word-driven experience. A social media timeline. What they have in common is a pared-down, even minimal architecture, one which re-emphasises the text or photograph (if not necessarily its producer) instead of the designed ecosystem of a particular magazine. Examining today's editorial apps.

Free Will vs Notifications: Who Will Win? | Dr Richard Graham We all flatter ourselves that we have a great capacity to be independent, and have a free will that directs our actions and enables us to make choices. But from the very moment that life begins, the hopes and expectations about an unborn child within a family start to introduce influences that colour this independence. Culture, national policy, or the law will also shape our thinking. The great Dennis Potter, in his final work likened our plight to that of the Karaoke singer - the music is already written and arranged, and even your small part is that of singing someone else's words. Knowing your own mind and expressing it has never been easy. Yet the opportunities of social media, and functions such as anonymity, seem to promise greater possibilities for self-expression, and whilst this may be true for many, choosing not to participate in social media no longer seems a choice.

BoF Exclusive | Apple Watch To Make Editorial Debut in Vogue China - BoF - The Business of Fashion BEIJING, China — Apple’s relationship with fashion has grown from a casual flirtation to a full-blown love affair. BoF can reveal that the Apple Watch is set to make its editorial debut on the cover of Vogue China’s November issue, out this Monday, featuring Liu Wen. A spread from Vogue China’s November issue | Source: Vogue China It’s the latest in a series of activities that puts fashion at the focus of Apple’s communication strategy. On September 9th, in the middle of New York Fashion Week, the Silicon Valley-based company invited a cadre of fashion editors and bloggers to the unveiling of the Apple Watch, held at its the headquarters in Cupertino, California. Later that evening, Apple organised a high-profile dinner for 250 fashion insiders, co-hosted by Azzedine Alaïa, Marc Newson and Jonathan Ive. Apple Watch by David Sims and Karl Templer | Source: Courtesy Apple But why might Apple choose a Chinese fashion magazine for its editorial debut?

5 Tech Trends Transforming the Fashion Industry By Anish Singh, CTO, Fashion GPS The innovations taking place at the intersection of fashion and technology are profoundly amazing and transformative. In many respects, the fashion industry today bears little resemblance to that of a decade ago—and will change even more in the decade ahead. Legendary businessman Peter Drucker famously said, ”Trying to predict the future is like trying to drive down a country road at night with no lights while looking out the back window.” I am, however, going to energize your imagination with five trends that will help create that unpredictable future—trends that are taking shape right now, that Fashion GPS is tracking closely, and with which all of us in the fashion industry will need to grapple in the years ahead. 1. What it’s about: The most obvious examples of wearable technology today are Google Glass and a variety of smartwatches—but these are rudimentary first steps into the realm of wearable tech. 2. 4. 5.