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Digital Fashion Case Study

The case of DressX: Digital Fashion Innovation for Gen Z.


Introduction

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Fashion is continuously undergoing rapid transformation, and lots of these changes are promoted by the advancements in technology (Hoang, 2017). In fact, The State of Fashion 2020: Coronavirus update report by the Business of Fashion and McKinsey & Company’s (2020) highlights digitization as one of the imperative trends for 2020. As technology has always been a driver of innovation, it is possible to see it intertwined with fashion, especially considering the reality imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic. Nowadays, there is a focus on immersive technology allowing people for interconnectedness and storytelling within the digital realm (Mcdowell, 2020a). However, the focus on technology is not meant to separate people from real life, but to develop digital platforms in ways that have not been done before.


The use of immersive technologies is here to satisfy the needs of a newer audience and their interest in virtual fashion to explore ways of dressing online, which was catapulted by the pandemic, according to the digital fashion designer Amber Jae Slooten (Fairs, 2020). Thus, digital fashion comes to serve the needs of virtual experience, creating the possibility of implementing innovative technologies into various (or all) stages of the supply chain of fashion products and experiences, going from product development and planning to creating fully produced online garments, presentations and fashion shows (Clo, 2020). Nevertheless, this innovative paradigm of fashion does not yet have an academic corpus, which makes it of utmost importance for research as it can represent a more creative, unrestricted and sustainable environment to produce fashion. Therefore, the aim of this essay is to delineate the current developments of digital fashion and its application, focussing on the example of DressX.


DressX is a Los Angeles based startup that commercializes digital clothing allowing users to upload the pictures where they want the desired digital garment and this is adapted for them to wear it in no more than 2 days (Roberts-Islam, 2020). This short paper will answer the following research question: How does the brand DressX showcase the advances of digital fashion and targets digital fashion consumers?. The essay is constructed based on a literature review presenting the academic and social background of this new phenomena, and a case study discussing its application and finally, conclusions are presented along possibilities of further research.


Literature review

Satisfying digital experience needs


The ubiquity of digital technology changed exponentially the cultural panorama and how humans communicate, produce and design (Santos, Montagna & Neto, 2020). People integrate technology in their lives, generating a duality of the individual was generated creating two simultaneous planes of existence: Physical and digital. Digital fashion appears as an example of a nowadays cultural product, following Thorsby’s (2001) characteristics of creative production and symbolic meaning and having intellectual property based on the designer and creator of the virtual garment, created to satisfy the need for a new form of expression (Santos, Montagna & Neto, 2020).


As digital culture solidifies, the consumption for the digital experience creates different opportunities, and technology becomes intrinsic in mediating new products (Santos, Montagna & Neto, 2020). This can be evidenced in the article of Pitcher (2020) where the journalist explains that social media such as Instagram, promote the idea of fashion to be disposable and as trends of posting pictures of outfits rise, Instagram popular brands such as Fashion Nova, master the art of mass-producing styles with the sole purpose of photographing and later discarding them. As a response to fast-fashion and the mainly digital consumption of these outfits, products grounded in digital fashion technology appear as sustainable solutions, in order to lower the rate in which people are consuming and discarding outfits while still meeting the demand for new fashion (Pitcher, 2020; Mcdowell, 2020a).


Digital fashion consumer: Gen Z


As technology and social platforms redefine the way humans communicate and interact, the younger generation, Generation Z, looks for new avenues to explore and create a personal identity in the digital world (Vitelar, 2019). Social media platforms are a perfect instrument for young adults to showcase their personalities. As the distinction of physical and digital fades, Gen Z, the generation born between 1995 and 2015, looks from virtual experiences that are mediatized and shareable online (Jacobsen & Barnes, 2020; Francis & Hoefel, 2018). The 74 million of young adults are the first truly digital generation and as Amber Slooten and Adriana Hoppenbrouwer from the digital fashion house The Fabricant explain, they are looking for ways of expressing themselves in their digital reality (Schragger, 2020).


Instagram already allows for users to change their make-up and even physical features with AR filters, but changing garments is still not a possibility (Schragger, 2020). Besides, one of the striking qualities of nowadays retail, is that a huge portion of the clothes sold online and returned, are actually just purchased to take Instagram pictures and return due to the availability of free shipping and return (Ritschel, 2018; Schragger, 2020). Whereas demand in the fashion world is uncertain and unpredictable (Caves, 2000), newer generations seem to be increasingly prioritizing experiences rather than belongings, and that can be seen in the rise of virtual purchases for skins for video games like Fortnite, which allow the user to buy a different look for their character than those that are provided in the game (Goldman, Marchessou & Teichner, 2017; Tassi, 2020). This can further be observed in the use of digital fashion for Instagram pictures and the use of CG Influencers, as the platform uncovers new pressures of showcasing an unreal and perfected version of their virtual selves (Pitcher, 2020; Jacobsen & Barnes, 2020).

Sustainable possibilities


As it is mentioned above, due to the boom of the Instagram trend of showcasing daily outfits, there is a shift towards online retailing and fast-fashion production (Marroncelli & Braithwaite, 2020) which has negative consequences for the environment creating pollution and waste. Therefore, Digital fashion comes as an alternative for this copious consumption since it has been proven that one of the main reasons for it is the online portrayal of the outfits (Pitcher, 2020; Marroncelli & Braithwaite, 2020; McDowell, 2020a). The carbon footprint of a digital garment can be as low as a 10th of what the one of a real one, appearing as a valuable alternative when considering the harms of fast-fashion to the environment and workers (Schragger, 2020).


There are many fashion houses implementing digital fashion in different parts of the design and production process. For example, Tommy Hilfiger will only use 3D designs in the planning of their collections from Spring 2022 onwards (Mcdowell, 2019). Whereas this adoption of digital fashion is not as radical as in DressX, it is still a step towards a decreasing waste (Mcdowell, 2019). Moreover, there are other designers that choose for digital fashion to mitigate the costs and waste of producing real-life garments such as the Croatian brand Price on Request, using digital fashion for the planning and designing of the garments and later creating them in real life using recycled and reimagined surplus stock of her mother’s fashion label archives (Radin, 2019). Even though digital fashion is one of the most sustainable practices in fashion, it is difficult to estimate the lengths of its adoption in the future due to the difficulties of adapting the creations to the bodies of the consumers with the current technology (Roberts-Islam, 2020). However, developments like 5G hint different possibilities and advantages for AR and digital fashion due to its speed and better quality (Semic, 2019; Mcdowell, 2020b).


Case study

DressX


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The founders of DressX, Daria Shapovalova and Natalia Modenova, expressed on an interview with Forbes (Roberts-Islam, 2020) that based on their experiences, they could see a significant demand of consumption for content creation which goes in hand with the paradigm proposed by Santos, Montagna and Neto (2020) regarding the shift towards a double identity, composed by real and virtual existence. To cater to the needs of digital experience, DressX offers a retail experience of multiple brands and their digital collections that is based on the principle of creating new content for online personas (Roberts-Islam, 2020). The online retailer of digital fashion has designs of over 20 designers including The Fabricant (DressX, n.d.). As a cultural good, the products of DressX have a symbolic value that is rooted in the experience that they provide for the virtual life of their consumers. However, it is far too early to understand the consequences of the adoption of digital fashion, since the demand is not as high as for its counterpart, fast-fashion.


The consumer envisioned for DressX is the same as for the previous venture of Shapovalova and Modenova, a photography and content creation studio which allows visitors to dress up and take pictures and videos in their locations for their social media. Their ventures support the behaviour of Gen Z of newness in their online persona (Roberts-Islam, 2020; Vitelar, 2019; Jacobsen & Barnes, 2020). In the case of DressX, it moves past the need of physical clothing, since the only use of it is the virtual product that the consumer will share on their social media. However, the change of taste and the subsequent adoption of digital fashion is not as feasible due to the nature of taste changing in an incremental and not radical way (Peltoniemi, 2014). Thus, digital fashion will have to develop and allow people to familiarize themselves with the concept for it to be adopted by the masses, and as this is not a direct alternative from real life clothing, it cannot have the same use in social life.


Finally, one of the most interesting principles of digital fashion that can be observed in DressX is the possibility for sustainable practices. By offering an alternative to the online purchasing behaviour that ends in returns and overstock of fast-fashion inventory, DressX poses a sustainable approach that diminishes carbon footprint and eliminates waste and chemicals (Roberts-Islam, 2020; DressX, n.d). If digital fashion creates a change in behaviour to act in a sustainable way, it would significantly decrease demand and production of fast-fashion and would have a positive impact on the environment. The message of DressX is “don’t shop less, shop digital” and englobes the feeling of digital fashion as a sustainable alternative for fast-fashion that would significantly change the drastic effects that the current landscape of fashion is causing the world (Roberts-Islam, 2020; Pitcher, 2020; Mcdowell, 2020a).


Conclusion


Digital fashion is a new phenomena grounded in technological advances and a paradigm that favours sustainability and has the newer consumer generations in mind. However, there is not a great academic corpus investigating its possible ramifications and consequences in its application. This essay compiled different theories based on digitization and technology and applied them to the different journalistic articles and to the case of the DressX startup.


While it is impossible to say how digital fashion will develop in the coming years, the new venture is supported by the shift towards digitalization that Business of Fashion predicted for 2020. Digital fashion is now in its infancy. As explained by Roberts-Islam (2020), technology and AI algorithms do not support mass-market scaling of digital fashion at the moment, making the adaptation of each garment to the picture of their customer a task that requires hours of design. Nevertheless, the possibilities that 5G can bring in terms of speed and new technological developments can be of future use in the realm of digital fashion, providing users with the possibility of fitting the clothes themselves with their cameras instead of adapting them to pictures (Semic, 2019; Mcdowell, 2020b). These developments would serve DressX immensely, as right now the time between purchase and the adaptation of the garment to the picture takes work and is delivered in two business days (Roberts-Islam, 2020).


Consuming digital fashion as an alternative to fast-fashion is an idyllic response to the environmental problem generated by the industry. Although it would not be possible to envision a world with only digital fashion, it might be possible to be a new development and adaptation of the segment of fast-fashion that is currently being consumed for its portrayal in social media. Likewise, the pandemic is posing an incredible challenge to companies and shows the importance of digitization, and consumers are responding by embracing digital solutions (Business of Fashion & McKinsey group, 2020) and digital fashion could help brands stay relevant and provide entertainment and goods.


Further research regarding the implications of digital fashion should focus on the adoption of the new methods in the different stages of production of fashion, as it is shown that it can dramatically decrease waste even when the final product is a real life garment, as Tommy Hilfiger and Price on Request (Mcdowell, 2019; Semic, 2019), to ensure the possibility of other brands adopting the same techniques. Besides, the consequences of digital fashion adoption to the different sectors of the fashion and textile industry should also be a topic of conversation, since it could potentially damage the livelihood of workers that are normally women in difficult situations. All in all, digital fashion presents a novel alternative for the current situation and could represent a shift of fashion in the future especially for the newer consumer generation.


References

Pictures from: https://dariadressx.medium.com/, Founder of DressX

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