Author: 
What is Fashion Technology?
As the world of fashion embraces technological advancements, the industry has been transformed on both the production and consumption sides. ‘Fashion Tech’ refers to the ways in which innovative technology plays a role in the fashion industry, shaping everything from design, to manufacturing, to retail, and more.
Read on to discover how fashion tech is influenced by AI/AR and transforming omnichannel sales, social media, the NFT space and more.
When Fashion Tech Meets AI & AR
As consumers turn to digital channels for product research and style inspiration, technology solutions such as AR virtual try-on technology have emerged as must-have tools to deliver personalized product recommendations in beauty and fashion. These technologies, known as fashion tech, allow brands to create shopping experiences that are immersive, engaging, and tailored to each customer’s unique needs.
While customers once had to visit a store to try-on watches, jewelry, and clothing, fashion tech solutions companies provide the new technologies such as AR virtual try-on to allow customers to digitally explore various products and styles wherever they are, all from their smartphone or laptop device. These technologies are quickly transforming the fashion retail space, with brands turning to AR tech to create impactful shopping journeys that help each customer find their perfect style.
According to Vogue Business, “As the industry embraced virtual worlds, fashion-tech was thrust into the spotlight, with new focus on digital clothing and avatars, concepts once considered more fringe to major luxury brands.” As the retail world evolves, AI + AR-powered technologies, particularly virtual try-on technology have become an essential aspect of the customer experience. Fashion tech solutions allow brands to connect with customers online, in a personalized way that ensures customer satisfaction.
Fashion Tech for Fine Jewelry and Watches
Tech solutions powered by AR virtual try-on technologies are set to transform the fashion shopping experience, particularly for fine jewelry and watch brands. As jewelry and watches are often more expensive items, consumers will take time before purchasing these items, many times researching various brands and styles before making an investment in a new piece.
The Emergence of Engagement Ring Try On
This is especially true of engagement rings, which carry a very high price tag and offer a multitude of different styles and cuts to choose from. Fine jewelry and watches are also often very emotional purchases for consumers as they often represent significant life milestones. Now, instead of physically trying on rings one by one, customers are able to quickly browse and try on different engagement rings virtually.
Experience Ring Virtual Try-On Here >
How Fashion Technology Works Its Magic in Omnichannel Sales
From the help of fashion tech solution companies, brands can integrate a virtual try-on experience directly into their website, app or in-store shopping experience.
Such technology allows customers to virtually experience how rings, bracelets, earrings and watches would look when worn with true-to-life, hyper-realistic effects. With this type of experience, a customer can browse and experiment with many different styles, all from the comfort of their home.
These virtual try-on experiences bring the in-store product try-on experience to a fully-virtual platform allowing watch and jewelry customers to understand the size, look, and feel of jewelry before deciding on a specific item. The AR virtual try-on experience allows customers to feel more confident about the style they are purchasing.
▼ Get a FREE Demo for Integrating Fashion Tech Solutions for Your Companies.
Will AR Try-On Fashion Tech Become Mainstream in 2023?
The answer is more than likely to be YES. As the AR solution provider for many beauty brands, we have the front row seat to see many beauty brands adopting AR virtual try-on experiences on a large scale. The key to the wide deployment of AR beauty try-on experiences is the maturity of the AR try-on experience for beauty products. The same progression will naturally happen in the fashion, jewelry and accessories spaces.
The AR technology in Fashion Tech took giant leaps in 2021. For example, the new generation of virtual try-on technology for watches, rings, or bracelets no longer relies on printed AR markers to recognize users' wrist or finger positions. This has improved the user experience greatly and makes it a much more viable solution to be used by online shoppers.
How Fashion Technology Can Enhance Brand’s Social Media Presence
Digital media is now embedded into every aspect of our lives, and it affects and shapes many industries, including the fashion industry. This industry is constantly evolving and changing, so brands need to find new ways to capture customers' attention and increase engagement. So, fashion brands of all sizes have turned to social media to connect with their audiences and gain exposure.
▲Users Can Virtually Try On Makeup in Instagram, YouTube, and more!
For your brand to stand out on social media it’s important to keep up with the popular virtual try-on trends. Undoubtedly, social media defines many fashion trends and with the growing popularity of online shopping via social media, allowing your customers to virtually try on products will help build strong connections and improve brand loyalty.
Most mobile devices now support AR which means users are able to virtually try on products together with their favorite Youtubers or Instagrammers as they are watching the videos, IG posts or Reels. All they need to do is simply click on the "Try Now" button, and they will instantly see how the makeup products, watches, jewelry and other items look like on themselves. Your customers can even try on their favorite influencer’s hair color!
How Fashion Technology Drive Products Sales
With AR virtual try-on, consumers can try-on many jewelry and watch styles digitally with no commitment or pressure to purchase. This personalized shopping experience allows customers to experience products before buying them.
As a result, customers have a higher degree of purchasing confidence and excitement, leading to increased sales and decreased product returns. For many brands, virtual try-on technology can drive as high as 2.5x increases in sales conversion and triple-digit increases in online customer engagement.
▼ Fashion Tech Solutions Helps to Drive Sales Increase for Companies. Get a FREE Demo>
Virtual Try-On for Earrings
Just like any other type of jewelry, earrings come in many different shapes and sizes. The right earring can be an eye-catching statement of your style and a perfect finishing touch to your outfit, but the wrong earring will have an opposite effect and can even hurt your ears.
With Perfect Corp.’s hyper-realistic AR 3D earring virtual try-on, you will easily differentiate between the right earring and the wrong one and find your ideal fit in seconds.
▼ AR 3D Earring Virtual Try-on
AR 3D virtual try-on for earring delivers an incredibly accurate product experience and increasing consumer confidence.
The AR earring 3D model supports high resolution textures, material reflections, and simulated motion physics with rigid body dynamics, so the entire experience is not only visually accurate, but also mimics the physical movement of an earring and ensures correct product positioning for extra realism.
Support Not Only Earlobes but also 13 Other Positions, Including Outer Ear Areas
What makes this technology so unique and extraordinary is that it supports earring try-on not only on the ear lobe, but also on the outer ear area.
The jewelry try-on solution enables earring try-on in 13 distinct positions across the ear. Users can mix and match ear accessories in several placements on the ear’s lobe and along the helix in real time and pick not just one, but several earrings to purchase.
Shared Materials by Strapi
*Adjust the size of images ONLY. Please go to Strapi to edit the materials info.
Virtual Try-On for Watches
Watch buying is quite a delicate and intimate experience, especially when one is looking for something luxurious and timeless. A great watch can be a fashion statement and can even be passed down from generation to generation. So, considering how significant and important a watch shopping journey can be, how can brands and retailers make it more pleasant, personalized, and enjoyable for consumers? The answer is virtual try-on for watches.
Perfect Corp.’s AR Watch Virtual Try-On solution provides an ultra-smooth and hyper-realistic 3D try-on experience, helping shoppers find that perfect watch they’ve been looking for without having to spend hours trying different options at the store. High-resolution textures and reflections deliver true-to-life virtual effects even for the most intricate and exquisite timepieces.
The try-on experience is highly interactive and is tailored to each consumer. Perfect Corp.’s innovative AI-powered fashion technology is able to determine a user’s wrist size, and enables shoppers to view a watch face, as well as a watchstrap and buckle, for a complete, 360° augmented reality watch virtual try-on.
Shared Materials by Strapi
*Adjust the size of images ONLY. Please go to Strapi to edit the materials info.
AgileHandTM Tracking Technology
Similarly to the trailblazing AgileFace® tracking technology that powers Perfect Corp.’s makeup virtual try-on experience, virtual try-on for watches is powered by the ultra-precise AgileHandTM technology, a 3D hand tracking innovation that delivers the best in class virtual try-on experience.
State-of-the-art AI algorithms deliver an unprecedented level of detail and accuracy, adding to the extreme realism of the virtual try-on experience. AgileHandTM technology maps a full range of gestures, facilitating high-performance hand tracking.
Physically Based Rendering - The Latest in PBR
PBR (Physically Based Rendering) entails using highly realistic shading and lighting models together with measured surface values to accurately represent certain materials and textures.
So, in simple terms, materials will look the way they do in real life regardless of lighting conditions.
Additionally, the Enhanced Environmental Lighting feature further improves the extreme realism of the virtual try-on experience, mimicking natural lighting and imposing realistic reflections on the AR virtual watches.
The technology behind Perfect Corp.’s AR watch virtual try-on is suitable for a wide array of skin tones and textures, as well as hand and wrist sizes, encompassing an inclusive range of personal hand differentiators and traits. Consumers can be confident that they are using a truly universal solution that works for everybody.
Virtual Try-On for Rings
AR ring virtual try-on will take the guesswork out of the ring shopping journey, helping consumers find the right size, cut, and style before making a purchase. Considering that some rings are valuable investments meant to last a lifetime, shoppers want to feel confident that they’ve found the perfect ring. Ultra-personalized, high-touch AR try-on technology will simplify the decision-making process, allowing consumers to buy the right item at the comfort of their homes.
AgileHandTM Tracking Technology
Similarly to the AR watch virtual try-on, Perfect Corp.’s virtual try-on for rings is also powered by the cutting-edge AgileHandTM technology.
With this advanced innovation, AR ring renderings fit perfectly on the user's fingers, with full hand-movement support, and without the need for external positioning markers.
The virtual try-on experience is further amplified by the ambient lighting simulations, realistic material reflections, advanced light scattering, and detailed surface textures that deliver unparalleled and hyper-realistic shopping journey.
Such level of precision, detail, and realism is particularly important when consumers are on a quest for a milestone ring such as an engagement ring, as the virtual shopping experience creates a personalized moment that feels truly unique and special.
Virtual Try-On for Bracelets
Bracelet is definitely a fun fashion statement and could be a great opportunity to express one’s personality and unique taste. When shopping for bracelets online, consumers should take into consideration such factors as bracelet style, the type of metal it’s made of, the cut of stone if any, the width of the band, bracelet’s length and clasp, and more.
These factors can be extremely difficult to gauge and evaluate without virtual try-on technology. Perfect Corp.’s AR bracelet virtual try-on creates a seamless and effortless bracelet shopping journey.
AR bracelet virtual try-on takes the luxurious online retail experience to the next level by offering an ultra-personalized, high-touch approach to bracelet shopping. The virtual try-on experience features innovative AI-powered wrist mapping that generates AR bracelet renderings that fit perfectly on users’ bare wrists, with full hand-movement support, and without the need for external positioning markers. Furthermore, AR bracelet virtual try-on delivers highly realistic textures, material reflections, and lighting simulations for the true-to-life experience.
Physically Based Rendering and AgileHandTM technology offer an incredible level of realism, recreating the physical try-on in the digital realm. By integrating AR bracelet virtual try-on into their ecommerce sites, fine jewelry brands will be able to engage with consumers in a fun and interactive way, leading to customer loyalty and increased satisfaction.
Virtual Try-On for Accessories
With Perfect Corp.’s advanced AR virtual try-on for accessories, fashion brands can enable virtual try-on for headbands, hats and more. This is an excellent addition to any fashion brands omnichannel shopping journey, allowing customers to experiment with different looks to find the item best fit for their individual style before purchasing, and Perfect Corp.’s precise real-time AI face tracking ensures an ultra realistic AR try-on experience for accessories.
NFT - A New Way to Monetize the Fashion Tech
Web 3.0 has put new digital spaces such as the Metaverse on the map, and NFTs have quickly become a new revenue stream in the beauty and fashion world.
Recently, many beauty and fashion brands have entered the enticing world of NFTs.
Gucci ran an NFT-focused auction2 in May 2021.
e.l.f. Cosmetics entered the beauty NFT space in June, with its eye-catching #CryptoCosmetics4 makeup collection.
NARS Cosmetics debuted its series of NFTs – digital artwork inspired by the brand’s famous Orgasm blush – in August 2021.
Louis Vuitton combined fashion and technology and introduced “Louis the Game”, an adventure-style game.
Fashion Tech FAQs
1. How to get into fashion tech?
As the world of fashion embraces technological advancements, the industry has been transformed on both the production and consumption sides.
Now, when you visit a store to try-on watches, jewelry, and clothing, fashion tech solutions, the augemented reality virtual try-on is able to easily helping you to digitally explore various products and styles, or, if you're at home, you can also easily try-on accessories, clothings virtually by tapping on your laptop or mobile phone.
In a simple way of describing, you don't need to enter fashion tech. We're already living in a world of fashion tech.
2. What is the role of technology in fashion?
‘Fashion Tech’ refers to the ways in which innovative technology plays a role in the fashion industry. Such technologies are now quickly transforming the fashion retail space, social media, and now even NFTs.
With brands turning to AR tech to create impactful shopping journeys, the customers are also benefited by enjoying a more delightful way of shopping.
3. What technology is used in the fashion industry?
Currently, AI and virtual try-on are the new trends used in the fashion industry. The world's largest retailer Amazon recently announced they're using artificial intelligence (AI) technology to drive eCommerce sales by debuting virtual try-on for shoes. The customers are able to visualize how the ideal pair of shoes look on them before committing.
Experience how virtual try-on works on accessories >
4. What is digital technology in fashion?
Digital technology in fashion refers to the visual representation of accessories, clothing, outfits, makeup, and other categories. The fashion industry is on the rising trend of using augmented reality technology to show how a product looks to the consumers. Doing so, it's proven to increase user engagement, customer satisfaction, and sales for fashion brands.
Experience how virtual try-on works on accessories >
5. What is the future of fashion tech?
The future of fashion tech is rapidly evolving, with such trends as augmented and virtual reality, sustainability, and 3D product configurating being the potential developments to look out for.
Discover how much more can a fashion tech solution company provide. Contact us for details on beauty and fashion tech solutions trusted by 450+ brands globally.
More Readings:
▶ Read our “Beauty Tech: The Complete Guide” to unlock powerful ROI secrets
▶ How Virtual Try-On Can Increase Sales in the Luxury Watch Industry
Sources:
https://www.e4ft.eu/what-is-fashion-tech
https://www.voguebusiness.com/technology/2021-the-year-in-fashion-tech
