Virtually all fashion start-ups have a new partner… Digital Technology. It’s changing nearly every aspect of the fashion industry. When applied effectively, it can improve manufacturing, inventory management, revenue, and even your customer’s satisfaction and brand loyalty. Here’s why…

Meet your new silent partner if you’re a fashion start-up. Digital technology is transforming nearly every aspect of creating a fashion line and successfully launching it. It can help improve, streamline, and manage traditional time-consuming and costly processes from conceptualization through consumer purchases. It’s time to look beyond old-school ways of creating and launching a fashion line and let digital technology help you do them faster, more affordable, and better. 

In this blog, we will explore some of the major areas that digital technology is transforming the fashion world and examine how you can apply it to get to the market faster and sell more products.

Targeting & Conception:  

Recently, established brands and fashion entrepreneurs have been using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to identify their niche, target specific potential customers, and even assist with concept development. AI can improve product development and targeting by analyzing customer data and market trends. 

It can analyze customer feedback about your designs and samples and suggest changes that could improve the customer experience. AI can also analyze market trends to identify popular styles, fabrics, and colors, which can improve the design process and sales volume.

Development, and Manufacturing:

Digital technology and AI is streamlining the once tedious, time consuming tasks of pattern making, sample creation, generating tech packs, and even sourcing fabrics and materials. Fashion startups can now input the design specifications and measurements, and the software can create a 3D rendering of the garment. This not only saves time but also enables fashion designers to visualize the garment in a more accurate and efficient way.

With the rise of the digital online marketplaces start-ups can find and purchase high-quality materials from around the world. This makes it easier and more affordable for start-ups to create unique and high-quality products that stand out from the competition and appeal to their niche target audience. 

Inventory management:

Managing inventory is one of the most significant changes digital technology is pioneering in the fashion industry.  Start-ups can use automated software and tools to more effectively and cost consciously manage inventory. This can help avoid overstocks or understocks. These software driven solutions can more accurately forecast. Better forecasts lead to more efficient and profitable production runs. 

The fashion company, Rent The Runway, uses data analytics to forecast demand and manage inventory. Their algorithms analyze previous customer behavior to predict future demand. This helps them stock the right amount of inventory and reduce waste.

Predicting and managing inventory can have a huge impact on the bottom line, especially for a cash strapped fashion start-up. Software assisted solutions and AI can help make this process more accurate and less costly.

Ecommerce platforms:

It used to be that to sell your fashion line, you were at the whim of the retail buyers. If they liked your brand that was great, but if not, they may not carry you. The digital ecommerce marketplace has removed that barrier and made it possible for start-up fashion lines to sell directly to the consumer (DTC). This allows a fashion entrepreneur to clear a previous hurdle that could affect the success of a product line.

Ecommerce platforms like Shopify, Square Space, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, and more have made it easy for startups to set up an online store. These platforms offer various features like customizable templates, payment gateway integration, and shipping management. This helps startups to start selling faster and easier than before. It also frees a fashion entrepreneur to focus on their core business rather than traveling to and selling to buyers at retail outlets. 

One of the most significant advantages of ecommerce platforms is that they immediately provide startups with a global reach. With the help of these platforms, startups can sell their products to customers worldwide. This helps fashion startups to grow their business faster and reach a larger global target market..

Marketing and Customer Service:

Digital transformation enables fashion startups to provide a more personalized fashion buying experience to their customers. Personalization is essential in the fashion industry because customers want to belong, feel unique, and stand out from the crowd. With the help of digital technology, startups can provide personalized recommendations to their customers based on their preferences and previous purchases.

One example of a startup that leverages personalization is Stitch Fix. Stitch Fix is an online styling service that provides personalized recommendations to its customers. The company uses data analytics and machine learning algorithms to understand its customer's preferences. It then suggests products that match each individual customer’s style. This helps the company provide a personalized buying experience to each of its customers, which increases customer satisfaction and brand loyalty.

Virtual Try-On:

Another way that digital technology is helping fashion start-ups is by providing virtual try-on solutions. Virtual try-on solutions use augmented reality technology to allow customers to try on clothes virtually. This helps customers to see how a particular outfit looks on them without having to physically try it on.

Virtual try-on solutions provide many benefits to fashion startups. Firstly, it reduces the need for physical inventory. This helps startups to save money. Secondly, it helps customers to make better purchase decisions, which reduces returns and increases customer satisfaction.

One example of a startup that leverages virtual try-on solutions is 3DLook. 3DLook uses computer vision and AI to provide accurate body measurements to customers. This helps customers to find clothes that fit them perfectly, which reduces the need for returns and exchanges.

Social Media Marketing:

Digital transformation has also enabled fashion startups to leverage social media for marketing. Social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok have made it easy for start-ups to reach a wider audience. These platforms allow start-ups to showcase their products and engage with their customers directly.  Instagram and Facebook actually enable you to sell directly from their marketplace so that your customer never has to leave their platform.

Social media marketing provides many benefits to fashion start-ups. Firstly, it helps startups to find and connect with a target audience, increase brand awareness even before a single item is manufactured, and build a bond with the people in its audience.  This personal connection with the customer is essential for start-ups that are trying to establish themselves in their specific niche market. Secondly, it helps start-ups to engage with their customers directly, which improves customer loyalty.

Start-ups are also using chatbots and other artificial intelligence technologies to personalize the shopping experience and improve customer service.. Chatbots can provide customers with personalized recommendations and help to guide them through the shopping process. There is less need to hire live customer service agents to answer questions and address common concerns in real-time. 

By using digital solutions to provide a personalized and interactive shopping experience, start-ups can increase customer satisfaction and loyalty. They can also reduce the time and resources required to provide customer support.

Digital technology has had a revolutionary impact on the fashion industry. It’s  providing new opportunities for start-ups and transforming what customers expect and how they shop. By leveraging social media, e-commerce platforms, AI, and on-demand manufacturing, start-ups can quickly and easily reach their niche customers and create high-quality products that appeal to them.

Perhaps most importantly, technology enables start-ups to personalize the shopping experience for customers. By using data and analytics to create personalized recommendations and virtual try-on technology to help customers visualize how clothing will look on them before they make a purchase, digital technology is making online shopping easier and more satisfying.

With the continued evolution of digital technology and the rise of new innovations like augmented reality and AI, innovative designers and fashion entrepreneurs can improve their fashion line, enhance the customer’s buying experience, and create fierce brand loyalty.

What’s your breakthrough fashion concept? If you feel you have an idea that may have some promise, schedule a free strategy call and let's talk about it. You may have discovered a niche and a fashion product that could become a successful start-up and the fashion business of your dreams.

Stuck on product Production? At V.Mora we can help you through the entire production process from designing, to sourcing and so on through our Production Development services. If you are in need of the following Development and Production services: 

• Sourcing 

• Technical sketches   

• Pattern Making

• Prototype making 

• Sample Making

• Fittings 

• Digitizing and Grading

• Marker Making

• Manufacturing

Please contact us at: vmorainquiry@vmora.com

About the Author

Fashion expert, Allison Howmann, graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology where she majored in Fashion Design and Minored in International Trade and Marketing. She has spent over 6 years in the NYC Fashion Industry utilizing her Design and Marketing skills. Allison has worked with several successful brands to help create their winning fashion development, small business operations, and sales and marketing strategies. You can find her creating original content on the V.Mora blog and the V.Mora Instagram.