Looking Back:
Fashion in 2017

The fashion industry is beginning to embrace data and AI as powerful tools to preempt consumers’ needs. No longer fearful of technology affecting the sector’s creativity, brands are actively responding to consumer demand and developing products that cater for their requirements.

In collaboration with Zalando, Google tapped into the concept of data design with Project Muze. It analysed the vast data harvested from its trends platform, which it combined with the style preferences of more than 600 fashion experts to create 3D fashion designs through machine learning.

‘Interpreting the digital technology versus craft argument as a ‘zero-sum game’ highlights a fundamental misunderstanding of the role that technology can play in the creative process,’ says Wojtek Tusz, interim director of the Digital Anthropology Lab at the London College of Fashion. ‘Technology itself does not replace craft, but rather what you apply the technology to.’

As the fashion industry continues to voice its commitment to addressing its own unsustainable business practices, little notable progress is being made as a whole. Designer Martine Jarlgaard proposed using blockchain technology to re-assess fashion’s definition of success to include sustainability, ethics and innovation.

The Provenance platform was used to log the supply chain details of Jarlgaard’s capsule collection, Fragile: a State of Emergency, on to the blockchain, with each stage of the product journey logged in real time by individual suppliers and manufacturers.

‘Blockchain-powered transparency enables trustworthy information and honesty around products and brands to circulate, helping consumers to make well-informed purchasing decisions,’ explained Jarlgaard. ‘For brands, it enables them to communicate their values and product origins by empowering them, and elevating the accountability of supply chain partners.’