Top 10 Innovations in the Fashion Industry

Fashion industry can be described as businesses/branch of companies that produce and sell clothing, shoes,

accessories, and other textile products. The fashion industry is a product of the modern age. Prior to the mid-

19th century, there were only handmade clothes for individuals by home production or tailors. In the beginning

of the 20th century, things changed by the rise of the new technologies such as sewing machine, development of

factories and systems of production, department stores and so on. It first developed in Europe and America, but

nowadays it is an internationalized high worthy industry which has been one of the largest employers around

the world. Similar with the industries that are consumer focused, even in this industry changes happen

constantly and it is constantly evolving together with the customers. It is no longer just large fashion houses and

retail stores but fashion industry evolved first with TV channels and then with the Internet and online retailing

which is becoming quite beneficial. On this paper we will discuss about 10 innovations that change the game of

fashion industry and the life of customers of this industry too. Those innovations include:

1. Introducing Online Selling

2. Robotics in clothes manufacture

3. Virtual reality (try on the clothes virtually)

4. Producing clothes after taking the wearer’s measurements in 3D

5. Connected smart hanger helps you decide what to wear

6. Handmade ‘leather’ sneakers- vegan and organic

7. Smart clothing monitors the wearer’s heartbeat

8. A rewards program for wearing clothes

9. One Size Fits All.

10. Biodegradable clothes

 1. Online Shopping/ Selling

Online selling was one of the best innovations in the fashion, which of course is thanks to the development of

the technology. Online shopping was invented in 1979 in United Kingdom and today it plays a huge role on the

businesses sales. Based on DataFeed Watch only in 2018, the fashion industry from online selling generated

worldwide revenue of $481 billion and in 2019 it increased in $545 billion and it is projected to be increased

year by year. Online shopping enables customers to buy their needed/wanted products at any location, without a

need to visit the shops and still at the same price, even though sometimes there is needed to pay a little amount

of money for delivery but it happens more on the longer distance shipment. Again, it enables you to buy the

clothes and other needed stuffs from everywhere, even if that store is not present in your city/country. It also

enables the companies to not invest in shops if they do not want to have one. So, thanks to online shopping,

companies are increasing their revenues and customers are saving their time.

2. Robotics in clothes manufacture

Sewing simple items was automated ages ago, but getting a robot to do it is at another level. In 2015, after years

of research, SoftWear Automation introduced LOWRY, a sewing robot. The technology is now advanced

enough to make whole t-shirts, pair of jeans and other similar products by a robot. The robots were introduced

by the company because according to them, a sewing robot does the producing process far faster than a human

sewing line. For instance, for 8 hours shift, 10 workers could produce 669 t-shirts, for the same time LOWRY

can produce 1142 t-shirts, so it replaces more than 10 workers and it workers under a single human guidance. In

this way, the company decreased its sewing labour and increased its production. Again, extra people for

software, installation, maintenance and guidance of the robots are needed, so the human labour will always be

present and important no matter what.

3. Virtual reality (try on the clothes virtually)

Based on Spring Wise, H&M was one of the first companies which introduced the virtual reality in 2018 in

relation with the customers using the AR Hologram app. It enables customers to virtually try the outfit with a

high accuracy based on the customized measurements in dolls. This way of shopping is seen very attractive to

the customers. It engages and retains the customers longer as they get excited and entertained by seeing how the

products fits them before buying them. It allows them to make different combinations, which in a way or other,

it seems like customers are “playing” on styling themselves. So, now customers do not have to go and visit the

shops and get tired of trying hundreds of clothes on. They simply use the app which is appropriate for the

specific companies. By this, it saves time and effort to both pairs and makes shopping more easy and attractive.
 4. Producing clothes after taking the wearer’s measurements in 3D

This innovation was made in 2017, and was one of the bests of the year by The Global Change awards edition.

It includes a machine which produces the jeans based on the wearer’s measurements in 3D. There is a perfect fit

and customers are satisfied with it, but on the other hand, companies eliminated their overstocks. This

innovation is a zero waste for the companies too, because every garment made by the machine can be reused

and spun into new jeans.

5. Connected smart hanger helps you decide what to wear

An Australian start up named “Take off” brought another innovation in the fashion. This innovation includes

the smart hanger which is made of wood and should be connected to the Wi-Fi. With the connection and with

the approach of the person to the hanger, the sensors detect the human body and the hanger displays the day,

time, the weather in Fahrenheit and Centigrade and the air pollution. Based on the weather, it suggests if there is

needed an umbrella, or should you wear a shirt or a hoodie, pants or skirts, what kind of shoes and so on. The

hanger can be connected with a smart phone too in order to use it from any location.
 6. Handmade ‘leather’ sneakers- vegan and organic

Nat2, a German company, made an ethical innovation in the fashion industry. This innovation includes the

production of a material similar to leather using mushrooms mycelium, fungus, eco-cotton, recycled bottles,

rubber and cork. The sneakers produced from this “leather” are totally vegan, eco-friendly and sustainable. The

process of producing those sneakers is time consuming because all the natural ingredients have to be collected

by hand by the workers and a lot more time on testing the material and hand- working. At the end, the product is

anti-bacterial, sustainable, chemical free and organic.

7. Smart clothing monitors the wearer’s heartbeat

Smart clothes were introduced by Emglare, which includes sport’s t-shirts for both genders. The items are

charged wirelessly, do not have any negative effect on health and are so comfortable to wear. By wearing the

shirt and connecting it to the app in the smartphone, the wearers are able to have information on their current

state of heart rate which can for the current day and other previous days/weeks or months. The application also

sends the notification to the user if there is a higher rate than usual, and you can also choose if you want to send
this notification to any family member, friends, doctors or others. So, with those smart clothes, it has been

easier than ever to browse our EKG histories.

8. A rewards program for wearing clothes

Some clothing brand as Tommy Hilfiger uses smart tags to allow users to collect points as they wear items.

They perfectly combined the fashion and technology. In 2018, Tommy Hilfiger released the “Tommy Jeans

Xplore” including 23 different items in which were embedded Bluetooth smart tags and were connected to

Tommy Hilfiger Xplore app. The data are totally safe and encrypted. Every time a person wore the clothes,

he/she is collecting real points. Those real points can be used for product discounts, concert tickets, fashion

shows, brand events or charitable donations. This whole program was done in order to reward the wearers for

their loyalty and preference for the brand and is used from the other famous brands too.

9. One Size Fits All.

Designer Ryan Yasin introduced first the clothes who grow with the babies and kids who are wearing them.

Parents were waiting with excitement those clothes, because as their toddlers were growing up even a little, then
they needed to buy new clothes for them, but not anymore. Those clothes are made from plated lightweight

fabric and can be expanded up to seven sizes, which are the sizes of most kids grow in their first two years of

age. Those clothes are waterproof, machine washable and recyclable. This innovation saved the money from

parents, but since they are recyclable it also saved the environment, here including the throwaway too.

10. Biodegradable clothes

Algalife Company has created textiles which are biodegradable and can be turned into eco-friendly dye. The

company used its innovation in H&M and with those products they were finalists of the 2018 Global Innovation

Awards. The fibers and healthy pigments are from the algae microorganism and they affected positively both

the human skin and the environment. With this innovation, company states that they have gone from the

negative to the positive regarding the health properties, water reduction on production and solar system used.

Those products are 100% chemical and pesticide free, fully biodegradable and zero waste for producing but also

even if those clothes are thrown away, it is still zero pollution, benefiting both the company/customers and the

Mother Nature.
Conclusion

In conclusion, those innovations have positively affected businesses and most importantly the customers.

Thanks to the development of the technology, even the fashion industry and customers’ processes have been

easier than before. The buying and selling process have been simplified and the materials used on the

production have started being more eco-friendly in the focus of zero waste. The time of the customer has been

saved, but their levels of purchases have been increased by which the businesses in the fashion industry have

been increasing their revenues too. Except the first innovation included in the paper (Online Shopping/Selling),

all the other innovations in fashion industry which were mentioned are from the last 5 years. With the further

development of the technology, I strongly believe that other innovations will arise in this respective industry.

References:

Britannica,. (2020) “Fashion industry”. Retrieved on 17 November from

https://www.britannica.com/art/fashion-industry

DatFeed Watch,. (2020) “The Importance of eCommerce to the Fashion and Apparel Industry” Retrieved on 18
Noember from

https://www.datafeedwatch.com/blog/ecommerce-and-the-fashion-industry

Springwise,. (2019) “7 Innovative Ideas Changing The Fashion Industry”. Retrieved on 18 November from

https://www.springwise.com/innovative-ideas/fashion-week-innovations

TeachPaker,. (2018) “Top 10 Fashion-Tech Innovations of 2018”. Retrieved on 19 November from

https://techpacker.com/blog/design/top-10-fashion-tech-innovations/

Quartz,. (2017) “A new t-shirt sewing robot can make as many shirts per hour as 17 factory workers”. Retrieved
on 21 November from

https://qz.com/1064679/a-new-t-shirt-sewing-robot-can-make-as-many-shirts-per-hour-as-17-factory-workers/

Algalife,. (2020) “The Algalife Revolution”. Retrieved on 21 November from

https://www.alga-life.com/