Digital fashion
Digital fashion is the interplay between digital technology and couture: a distinctive way to manufacture fabrics and bridge personal and digital realms to reach customers using technologies via desktops and smartphones. Fashion designers model the fusion of creativity with digital avenues to bring in more polished reach with cost benefit for both designers and customers. New technology makes it easier for designers to develop a large variety of prints making it the fastest production to distribute new fashion.[1]
This provides methods are created for merchants to reach and satisfy online customers, methods that measures customer dimensions and creat personalized on-screen avatars to digitally “try on” clothes.[2] Parham Aarabi, CEO of ModiFace quotes, Until now, only certain makeover possibilities and technology options have existed, but now providing the complete head-to-toe — web, tablet, kiosk, mobile — makeover experience to consumers and partners. Page text.[3]
Digital Textile Printing
Digital printing is a process in which prints are directly applied to fabrics with printer, reducing 95% the use of water, 75% the use of energy, and minimizing textile waste. The main advantage of digital printing is the ability to do very small runs of each design (even less than 1 yard). Page text.[4]
Digital Textile printing is “probably the greatest innovation of 21-st century fashion, “ Christina Binkley declared in the Wall Street Journal. The “vastly improved digital printing technologies allow designers to innovate while beefing up brands, “Christina says Page text.[5] Brand such as Prada, Pucci or Jil Sander are using this technology to invent their design ideas on fabric.
Mobile and tablet applications
This technology now allows shoppers to skip fitting rooms and cosmetics counters, and instead virtually see how they look in specific outfits and makeup via in-store kiosks, mobile phones or tablets. Page text.[6] Modiface is a web application that anyone can use to give them a virtual makeover. Customers can give any look and decide on what to suits and buy products.
Sephora, the beauty specialty retailer, and ModiFace, an augmented reality virtual makeover technology provider, today announced the launch of a 3D Augmented Reality Mirror that can simulate cosmetics on a user's face in real-time and in 3D. The new patented technology, created by ModiFace, tracks the precise location of a user's facial features and applies eye shadow colors directly on the video feed from a camera. Page text.[7][8]
Virtual Dressing Room
A virtual dressing room (also often referred to as virtual fitting room and virtual changing room malthough they do, on examination, perform different functions) is the online equivalent of the near-ubiquitous in-store changing room – that is, it enables shoppers to try on clothes to check one or more of size, fit or style, but virtually rather than physically.
The multimedia communication company Eyemagnet developed the Virtual Dressing Room for the Hallensteins menswear chain. The changing room is transformed to a single panel which reflects the user. These users can then use simple arm and hand gestures to ‘try on’ any apparel in the store, take a photo of any selected outfit and have it sent to their mobile phone. Newer versions of the technology eliminate the arm-waving altogether.[9]
Fashion retailer Topshop installed a Kinect-powered virtual fitting room at its Moscow store from May 5–8. Created by AR Door, the Augmented Fitting Room system overlays 3D augmented reality clothes on the customer. Simple gestures and on-screen buttons let users "try on" different outfits.[10]
Oftentimes beauty retailers will feature virtual fitting rooms to allow users to experience the look of their product before committing to a purchase. Some examples are color contact retailers Freshlook, which allows users to simulate contact lens wear in their color contacts studio before purchase.[11] Colorful Eyes also offers a virtual color contact lens try on room. [12]
References
- ↑ Fashion Marketer
- ↑ LA Times on virutal dressing room
- ↑ Retail Customer Experience article
- ↑ Fashion Marketer
- ↑ Digital Printing and fashion
- ↑ Retail Customer Experience
- ↑ ModiFace
- ↑ CNBC: “Sephora brings augmented reality to real-life shop”
- ↑ Trendhunter - Virtual Dressing Room
- ↑ Huffingtonpost - Kinect Dressing room
- ↑ "Freshlook Color Studio".
- ↑ "Eye Color Changer".