Rewiring the Fashion Industry

Within the last few months, the fashion industry has struggled to maintain itself. Brands faced numerous challenges as they faced store closures, bankruptcy, and failing sales. However, in response to the disaster, many members of the fashion world have gotten extremely creative when it comes to sustaining the industry. Some have even gone as far as releasing collections to the popular Nintendo game, Animal Crossing.

One of the biggest trends to come about from the pandemic is the rise of digital marketing and sales, especially the interactivity that takes place. This past June, the Russian Fashion Council and Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Russia launched the first Global Talents Digital project, known as the “world's first international hybrid fashion project that brings together designers and technology.”

The project featured over 50 designers from 20 different countries presented collections in the format of augmented reality, digital clothing, and virtual models. The presentations were streamed over the course of two days on over 100 international websites. During the shows, viewers could scan QR codes directly to purchase items they saw. TikTok Russia even started a personalized hashtag for viewers to follow along with the events. ##перезагружаюмоду (translated from Russian as rewiring fashion) has over 30 million views on the most popular social media channel this year.

Following the massive success of their first debut, the Project has already begun preparing for a September showcase. This time around, the project will focus solely on sustainability and fashion. Designers can submit applications until August 7th.

It will be interesting to see how the project grows and the innovation that springs from it. Whether virtual models and AR are the future of the fashion industry is still being tested, however, it has proven to be useful especially during the coronavirus pandemic.

By: Staci Soslowitz