Boosting Sustainability with Digital Fashion

By Suhyoung Ahn & B. Ellie Jin

Have you ever wished that you had something else, something new to wear than what you already own in your closet? You don’t feel like going shopping, so you order items online and wait for them to arrive. When clothing was delivered, have you found that either you were already weary of them, or they looked different than the pictures, or they did not fit well? Now you can choose new clothes, wear them immediately, and show off at home without worrying about the size. It is possible thanks to digital fashion and augmented reality (AR). 

Digital fashion with AR technology

Digital fashion is clothing that is not physically manufactured, including game skins, avatar clothing, and Non-fungible tokens (NFT) (Doyle, 2022). People consider digital fashion to be something worn only on their avatar or in a video game, and not in real life. With the integration of AR technology, however, the scope of digital fashion has extended even further. AR is the real-time integration of digital information into users’ environments. For instance, when using AR mode in Pokémon GO, Pokémon suddenly appear on your screen in real environments. By incorporating AR technology into digital fashion, you can view yourself wearing digital clothing through AR filters and even take images and videos of yourself wearing them. You can join a zoom meeting wearing digital clothes. Of course, you can also share your digital clothes via social media to show it off. 

What is good about digital fashion?

Digital fashion can satisfy consumers who are constantly seeking a new appearance. As digital fashion has no physical form, any garments against the Laws of Physics can be created. From basic clothes to bubbles, metal, and unique shapes, the possibilities are endless. Many digital fashion brands have been emerging since 2018 and collaborating with major fashion brands to strengthen their positions. Each of these digital fashion brands has its own brand personality and offers consumers a variety of style options ranging from unique to pioneering digital haute couture. Depending on the brand and collections, prices begin at $0.01, with the most expensive products being a $699 lace and latex shirt from the Tribute brand which was launched in Croatia in 2020. Fabricant, a Dutch digital fashion company established in 2018, aspires for digital haute couture and offers one-of-a-kind designs, whereas Dress X, an American fashion tech company founded in 2019, is expanding as a platform for diverse digital fashion items.   

With digital fashion, consumers can create more Instagrammable moments beyond their imagination. These days, young consumers seek out novel experiences and looks that grab others’ attention. It was fast fashion that satisfied this desire as new styles quickly became available at low prices. Now, however, digital fashion fulfills this role faster, cheaper, and even without environmental impact. Digital fashion production eliminates material preparation, physical manufacture, packing, and logistics, resulting in 96% less carbon dioxide emissions and zero water requirements, compared to physical clothes production (Durocher, 2022). 

Digital fashion as a sustainable alternative?

Digital fashion can be a very sustainable alternative to fast fashion, which places a significant burden on the environment due to massive overproduction and consumption. If you replace one discarded piece of clothing in your wardrobe with digital fashion, you can save 3,300 gallons of water and reduce your carbon footprint. Wouldn’t selecting digital fashion be a step to the ideal approach of digital innovation?

Doyle, M. (2022, March 2). Could digital fashion be an eco-friendly replacement for fast fashion? Ecocult. https://ecocult.com/digital-virtual-fashion-sustainability/

Durocher, Y. (2022, September 22). The sustainable side of digital fashion. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2022/09/09/the-sustainable-side-of-digital-fashion/?sh=2631dcb66002