The Link Between the Digital World and Fashion

With emerging technologies fast-tracking shopping experiences for consumers globally, it's hard not to notice the impact the digital world has on the fashion industry.

Have you noticed over the past few years that nearly every time you open a social media app, email or browser you're bombarded with marketing from various fashion brands? One minute you're innocently browsing online for a new pair of denim to replace your favourite well-worn pair, and next thing you know denim ads are all you see for the next 5 days? Welcome to the world of digital!

There's absolutely no denying the digital and fashion worlds have well and truly collided, and along with it comes a variety of trends and opportunities. I for one first found the data mining concept a little too close for comfort, why do brands need to know everything about us? However, I also see the enormous value this data holds for brands when preparing themselves for the future (as long as the data is used morally that is! Looking at you Facebook).

In their yearly report The State of Fashion 2022, which can be downloaded here, The Business of Fashion (BoF) forecasts numerous trends and shifts in the fashion industry in 2022 directly related to tech and the digital world. Below is an excerpt of the BoF report, where you can see that 4 out of the 10 predictions relate to tech and the digital world.

Source: The Business of Fashion (BoF)

"37% of fashion executives cited social commerce as one of the top three themes that will impact their business in 2022." - BoF

From this alone it's clear what a large impact the digital world has on the fashion industry, and as it shows no signs of slowing down, I suspect this trend will only continue into the future.

With the COVID-19 pandemic accelerating the digital trend and halting in-person events, luxury fashion houses such as Chanel, Balenciaga and Dior even found themselves producing digital shows for the Fall-Winter 2021/22 season. Each had a short-film like aesthetic and were streamed online on platforms such as YouTube and Instagram. As someone who has never attended the live shows (a girl can dream right?) I actually preferred watching these short-films over the standard 'runway' videos, my favourite for the season was Chanel's Fall-Winter 2021/22 Ready To Wear Show. You can watch it for yourself here.

Concluding thoughts

If a fashion brand expects to be successful in the current climate, no matter how big or small, there's no room to ignore the digital trend; I believe it should be embraced in all parts of the business from marketing to sales and customer communications. Those who choose not to be up to date in the digital realm will simply be left behind.

Leave a comment below to let me know your thoughts on how the digital world is disrupting the fashion industry.

Until next time,

- Sarah

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