How does fashion look like in the future? Has the 'future' of fashion ultimately arrived? The answer is yes! In this presentation for Archidex 2019 (part of Kuala Lumpur Architecture Festival), Najah presents how technology will play the biggest part in progressing towards a more sustainable fashion industry.

1. KLAF // ARCHIDEX 2019 // 6 July
Fashion, Transparency,
and the Future
Najah Onn

2. IMAGINE

3. Digital Stylists
Echo Look by Amazon
Voice-activated personal style assistance, $99.
Includes a Style Check function that can give
you a second opinion on your outfit, based on
insights from “the best in machine learning
plus advice from fashion specialists.” The
Echo Look smartphone app also suggests
items that “pair well with clothes you already
own to help you get more out of your closet.”
The recommended items are available for
purchase via Amazon.com.
Retail & Visual Merchandising

4. Let’s Go Back in Time
The early humans used clothes:
• to protect themselves from the cold (mainly fur coat)
• to compensate for hair loss (they used to be hairier)
• to add-on to religious or spiritual traditions — afterwards,
clothes became symbolic
Now, we wear clothes for practical purposes:
• to identify yourself: culturally, religiously, occupation
• activity specific: sports, comfort (e.g. lounging at home)

6. ..and then came Fashion
Now we wear clothes
• to show off wealth
• to reflect personal style
Fashion
• Originally 2 seasons/year
• With technology, we are no
longer constrained by
seasons

7. The Rise of Fast Fashion
Fast fashion says we have ‘trends’ to follow every week. Mass
production. Consume more. Cheap clothes. Copies styles from
runways in record-time.
• Bad for the environment.
• Bad for the workers and women and girls.
• Bad for our ethics.
• Bad for our future.

11. Redesigning the Future of Fashion
Take-Make-Dispose is the root cause of fashion’s environmental
problems and economic value loss.

14. Fashion of the (Immediate) Future

15. 1) Subscription boxes
• Convenience and personalisation
• Curated items to match each customer’s style on a regular basis
• Customers keep and pay for the items they want and then send
back what they don’t want.
• Stitch Fix and Rocksbox
• AI and algorithms

16. –Social media fashionista
“I can’t be seen in the same outfit twice.”

17. 2) End of ownership
• Usership — think Netflix and Spotify for clothes
• Fulfils variety, sustainability, and affordability: the average
consumer today buys 60% more items of clothing than they did 15+
years ago — but consumers keep that clothing for only half as long
as they used to
• Big environmental benefit — keeps existing apparel in circulation
longer
• Rent the Runway (11 million membership, $1B+ valuation, March
2019), Gwynnie Bee, YCloset (China)
• Children’s clothes: Vigga, Belles and Babe, Mia Bella Babies

18. 2) Experiential showrooms
• Brick-and-mortar stores aren’t dead, but the few that’s left must be
there for a good purpose
• Using physical spaces as a way to showcase items, offer extra
services and build relationships with customers, not for stock
inventory
• ‘Complementary’ avenue for existing retail and marketing channels
• Example: Nordstrom Local stores don’t sell any merchandise
themselves, but instead serve as a place for customers to pick up
online orders, get clothing tailored and enjoy a spa treatment

19. 3) Direct to Customer (D2C)
• Online-first strategy — purely based on technology
• Growing loyal followings of customers and leveraging effective
SEO, social media, and online marketing strategies
• Highly visual platforms (see now buy now), made to order, luxe
packaging — drives engagement
• Pop-ups and kiosks/booths — secondary
• Eliminates waste, reduced supply chain complexity, retains brand
control, full control of user data, higher sales margin
• Example: Everlane, Bonobos, Allbirds

20. Fashion of the (Medium) Future

21. 4) Wearables will get better
• Wear OS, Google’s smartwatch
operating system — Michael
Kors, Tag Heuer, Montblanc,
ZTE, Asus, Huawei, Fossil,
Diesel
• Swarovski and Misfit
Wearables — “activity crystals”
— track sleep patterns
• Baubax — phone charging
jackets (e.g. with solar)
• Levi’s® Commuter Trucker
Jacket with Jacquard™
by Google allows you to answer
your smartphone by tapping
on your jacket’s sleeve
• Digitsole — autolace and
autoheat
• Self ventilating garments —
Ralph Lauren equipped Team
USA with app-controlled,
heated parkas at Pyeongchang
Winter Olympics

23. 5) AR/VR tests for us
• Try on clothes virtually with augmented reality
• Experts predict the market could grow to be worth $130 billion by
2020
• Smart mirrors that allow customers to test different outfits without
having to change their clothes
• Amazon — patent pending on AR mirror technology for home use
• Could form part of the experiential showroom

24. 6) Streamlined Inventory
Tech makes inventory transparent & traceable
• RFID for verification, automation, & online integration

25. 7) Transparency in Supply
• Blockchain
•

26. 8) AI rules
https://technode.com/2019/04/23/an-ai-designer-just-won-runner-up-in-a-major-fashion-design-competition/
The next era of fashion is all
about personalisation and pre
diction. With more and more
data, algorithms will become
trend hunters — predicting
(and designing) what’s next in
ways that have never been
possible
• AI becomes the designer —
DeepVogue

27. Fashion of the (Future) Future

28. 9) Materials and Fabrics
Innovation in materials, textiles, including from biology
• Leather alternatives: Myelium (MycoWorks, MuSkin), Pineapple
(Pinatex), Orange Fiber, seaweed (SeaCell), cork (Cork Leather)
• Lab-grown leather: Zoa (Modern Meadow, Inc.)
• Exoskeletons and hi-tech wearable bodysuits — accelerate healing
• Ink that reacts to certain data. Example, pollution levels. The Unseen, UK.
• Bubelle dress that changes colors depending on the wearer’s mood. Made
in collaboration with Phillips. Studio XO, UK.
• Nanotechnology — IRONMAN!

30. The Future Will Be Great for Tech

31. But the Future Has to Come Now

32. 10) Mindful Living
Slow Fashion, Slow Food, Slow all of it down…
• Reject mass consumerism
• Grow our own fabric, food, make our own energy
• Use machines (3D printing) alongside humans (back to craft)
• Plant-based and organic resources to counteract synthetics and
degradation issue
• Restore, consume, and regenerate — circular principles
• Biomimicry

33. 5 Rules of Slow Fashion Adoption
STOP BUYING
REPURPOSE OLD CLOTHES
RESCUE stuff
SWAP, RENT, or buy SECOND-HAND
SUPPORT LOCAL and ARTISANAL products

34. 1) STOP buying
Love your existing clothes
• Stop buying new clothes
• Wear as much as possible
• Use, wash with love and care
• Repair or mend any holes or
rips
• Get some tips on styling on how
to wear what you already own.
For example, capsule wardrobe
— rotate every three months. Source: miniaturerhino (Instagram)

35. 2) REPURPOSE/UPCYCLE
..old clothes into something
else you can use
• Do-it-yourself: Recycle into cloths,
cushion fillers, rug, bathroom mat
• Upcycle: OLD clothes becomes
NEW clothes!
• Donate: becomes cleaning rags,
insulation material in industrial
settings, processed and recycled
into yarn again to make new
clothes, or burned for energy Source: mindful_mending (Instagram)

36. Source:
kare_design
(Instagram)
Source: ZWD (Instagram)
Source:
wildrootz.rocks
(Instagram)
UPCYCLED fashion

37. 3) RESCUE materials
Make your own clothing &
accessories
• Rescue (reclaim) things that are
going to be thrown out and
turn them into something
really cool!
• The reclaimed material could
be already used, or never been
used
• You can also reclaim trash
Source: Flip & Flip (Instagram)

38. Source:
VintageRetravaille
(Etsy)
Source: Biji Biji Ethical Fashion
Source:
loveandsalvage
(Instagram)
Source:
Biji
Biji
Initiative
RECLAIMED fashion

39. Source: Adidas Parley for the Oceans collection
RECYCLED fashion
From this…
To this!

40. 4) SWAP, RENT, BUY PRE-LOVED
Only if you need a wardrobe refresh!
• Buy something to wear at least 30 times (#30wears)
• Don’t over wash — use the right amount of detergent and wash in
full load only (#lovedclotheslast)

41. 5) BUY LOCAL, ARTISANAL
Support local, traditional, artisanal products with people
welfare in mind
• Buy quality, not quantity.
Source: earthheir (Instagram) Source: nysakapas (Instagram)

42. IN CLOSING

43. Get in touch!
THANK YOU
LinkedIn: Najah Onn
Email: wardrobetruths@gmail.com