Digital fashion is the answer for a sustainable world?

By Oana Orzac

Photo from @3dressmaker on Instagram

Would you want to have new outfits whose manufacturing doesn’t have a negative impact on the environment? Well, thanks to digital fashion, you can. DF is a sustainable alternative to shopping for traditional clothes. It also prevents wardrobe chaos without any waste other than data.

Some people feel the need for new clothing every time they post on social media. Fast fashion is taking advantage of this desire. Also, the fashion sector handles around 8% to 10% of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions and 20% of its wastewater.

Fast fashion

The ugly truth is that the average British consumer purchases 26.7kg of fashion products each year, more than any other European country. Kazakhstan is one of the countries that has suffered the most devastating impact from the fashion industry. In the 1960s, the Aral Sea stretched there. And today, the 68,000 square meters of water have become a desert.

Lately, there has been a change in the fashion world. The impact of COVID-19 resulted in fashion shows that have moved into the online environment. Since then, technology has undergone a wide-sweeping change affecting its relationship with fashion, from new business models, new materials, new approaches to fashion shows, and how it is used for further objectives.

Video from @3dressmaker on Instagram

“It is not saying digital fashion will stop fast fashion”

Mingjing Lin, 32, had her first degree in fashion and textile design at Tsinghua University in China. She also holds a MA in Fashion Design Technology from the London College of Fashion. She then completed a PhD in body-oriented parametric design for 3D-printed fashion and textiles. Mingjing joined the University for the Creative Arts in 2021 as a senior lecturer in MA in Digital Fashion.

Mingjing explained what digital fashion means. “It’s about applying digital-oriented techniques, tools, software, knowledge and beyond into fashion design, product and manufacturing processes. Examples include CLO 3D digital fashion design software, 3D printing, VR, AR and game engines in fashion creations.”

Being in the fashion world for so many years, Mingjing saw the change in designers’ approach to sustainability.

“Digital fashion is definitely addressing sustainability issues in the fashion industry. However, it is not said that digital fashion will stop fast fashion. On the contrary, digital fashion goes in parallel with many other existing fashion systems, such as fast fashion, haute couture, and high-performance functional fashion. Thus, it provides new opportunities and equally challenges for designers and consumers,” Mingjing explained.

Digital fashion designers play a significant part in the fashion industry

Bahar Ergul, 31, is a digital fashion designer based in London. She began her digital fashion journey seven years ago after receiving a fashion design degree in Turkey. She also sees how digital fashion helps the environment.

“The biggest part of the climate problems came from the textile. In the physical world, we continuously create clothes, and it is much easier to use cheap materials for this. Basically, with the digital fashion, you don’t have to create something real, we don’t use materials, so we not pollute.”

Photos from @3dressmaker on Instagram

Future?

It’s easy to see how digital fashion may benefit the business. The fashion world would transform completely if new technology and tactics were discovered. Physical fashion, on the other hand, would never go away. So instead, digital fashion should focus on finding methods to reduce waste, pollution, and carbon emissions.

Big brands like Balenciaga, Gucci, and Ralph Lauren, on the other hand, desire to go towards Metaverse and leave the problems that the physical industry has.

“Digital technology and digital transformation are only becoming more and more important in the future,” said Mingjing. “The worldwide pandemic has dramatically boosted digital transformation and digital fashion influences. Digital means are the most effective alternatives when we can’t physically be in touch with someone and/or tactile materials,” she adds.

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