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The Fashtech Ecosystem
Fashion Technology: Innovation in Fashion Retail
The objective of the Fashion 4.0 or Fashtech series was to simply describe what technologies and how digitization are disrupting the Fashion Retail industry, but also how they are transforming our daily lifes.
What is Fashtech?
Fashtech is the intersection of Fashion and Technology in the era of Digitization.
Digital technology has radically altered society and business. Music, Media and Retail were the first industries to feel the impact of the digitization, the long tail effect and omnichannel or phygital (e.g. Netflix, Spotify, Amazon). Today, digital technology is disrupting traditional operations and now every business is a digital business. Fashtech is about the impact of new technologies and innovation in the fashion industry.
Businesses, enabled by technology, have changed the way fashion retailers design, source, move, stock, deliver and service products. Today, every Business is a Digital Business.
On the one hand, Artificial Intelligence, Augmented and Virtual Reality, 3D Printing, Blockchain and Internet of Things are some of the technologies that are changing the way customers shop, interact with the product and brand. On the other hand, those technologies are adopted and implemented by companies, for example, to have better and more accurate inventory visibility and traceability, real-time data and analytics to better forecast or allocate, while keeping track of their omnichannel customers. Businesses, enabled by technology, have changed the way fashion retailers design, source, move, stock, deliver and service products.
Mapping of the Fashtech Ecosystem
The Fasthech Ecosystem
Fasthech Ecosytem overview – Companies and startups leading Fashion 4.0
Digital technology has revolutionized almost every business. Every industrial revolution sees losers and winners. Entire industries are disrupted by new entrants and new business models, in this case, digital pure players, while more and more companies are at risk of extinction. In the fashion retail blog, or The Fashion Retailer, we mentioned many of them like Farfetch, Birchbox, Reformation, Everlane, Rent the Runway, amongst others. These “millennials”, born-digital companies, are understanding the Experience Economy and individual segmentation (The i-Segment), creating business models that respond to new shopping behaviors, also enabled by technology.
Digital transformation must be a high priority for CEOs, not only in fashion retail. But acquiring new systems and technology is not enough. The transformation should start from a new vision, aligned with the strategy, defining future capabilities, a new organization (analytics capabilities, uberization of the workforce, platform ecosystems for logistics, manufacturing, etc), a new operating model…
We are living an incredible disruption in Fashion Retail, an industry that innovated the way to manage supply chain to reduce seasonality risks (uncertainty of demand, overstocks, low-cost manufacturing versus lead times, postponement). Nowadays, Fashion retail, again, is the example for other industries that need to transform their businesses in the digital era. Online is impacting the way traditional businesses understand retail expansion and market approach. Many fashion retailers are reducing their expansion plans based on brick-and-mortar, while others are closing stores and even closing their business. Zara, Amazon and other behemoths are taking part of this revolution, but long tailers, niche pure players, are the ones fueling it. And again, it´s the most adaptable that will survive, not the strongest.
Don´t miss the post series about Fashtech, Fashion Technology, summarized in the Fashion Retail 4.0 Ecosystem picture above (Mapping of the Fashtech Ecosystem):
Artificial Intelligence in Fashion Retail
What is AI and how the fashion retail industry is using it? What are the Benefits for Fashion businesses? What are the companies already implementing Artificial Intelligence for Fashion retail? What are the companies and startups specializing in AI for Fashion?
Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality in Fashion Retail
Fashion Retail is evolving and adapting to digitalization or the Phygital. What is AR and VR? What is the impact in the Fashion retail industry and what are their benefits? What are the companies and startups that are winning the race for AR/VR? Zara is, again, a best-in-class.
3D Printing in Fashion Retail
How is 3D Printing (Knitting) disrupting the Fashion industry? What are the benefits for companies and what are the ones leading this revolution? Design, manufacturing, logistics, in short, the value chain is already shaken up and new niche digital players are taking advantage in the Digital era.
Blockchain in Fashion Retail
Blockchain is more than just a cryptocurrency infrastructure. See what Blockchain is changing in the Fashion Industry, from smart contracts to fraud prevention and real transparency. What are the benefits for customer and fashion businesses? What startups and companies are leading this digital transformation?
IoT in Fashion Retail
Connected Economy, IoT, wearables. How is the Internet of Things, with Artificial Intelligence, transforming the sports and fashion retail industry? What are the benefits for fashion retail customers and companies?
Read the complete series about Fashion retail 4.0 or Fashtech in The Fashion Retailer: