This Supertrends interview is with product and fashion designer Flavia Bon, co-founder of Augmented Weaving, an experimental research project centered on jacquard weaving and digital forms of craft. In her remarks, she sheds light on the definition of digital fashion, its role in the fashion landscape, its target consumers, and its benefits and challenges. She also discusses the role of emerging technologies in the fashion industry, such as augmented reality (AR) and AI.

Interview Transcript

Supertrends: Today my guest is Flavia Bon, a traditionally trained tailor and a fashion and product design graduate who has decided to move from traditional fashion design into digital fashion. Welcome Flavia, and maybe let's start by explaining what actually is digital fashion.

Flavia Bon: Hello. Digital fashion? Well, it's a wide field, I would say. But to make it short, it is fully virtual or digitally produced and visualized fashion pieces or full outfits.

Supertrends: What is the place of digital fashion in today's fashion landscape? Is this something separate from traditional fashion, or do we observe already, to some extent, a mixing of the two worlds?

FB: I guess it depends a little bit on the perspective from which you are looking at it. For some people, digital fashion doesn't exist at all. But for others, it's a daily topic that they constantly talk about and work in it. From my perspective, since I also work in the fashion and textile field, it has become more and more of a daily tool and a way to express and showcase ideas and products.

Supertrends: Who is the end consumer of digital fashion?

FB: I would say there are two groups. Firstly, there are all the product developers, who are definitely one of the biggest targets when it comes to digital fashion and creating fashion— because it's the new tool through which we can make our ideas come into shape and get textured, in a way. But then, also, when we think a bit further, where does this then end up? I guess it's the big idea behind digital fashion that it should become a part of everyone's life one day. Of course, there are also right now people who, especially on social media, use it a lot to dress themselves in fully digital outfits; for example, on Instagram, or in virtual worlds, or even in gaming.

Supertrends: Taking into consideration the current state of technological development and advancements, the main consumers of digital fashion would likely be individuals who are active on social media and wish to express themselves in the metaverse, as well as gamers. Is that correct?

FB: I would say so, yeah, I would agree.

Supertrends: How do you actually convince people to buy something that does not physically exist? How would you convince somebody who is not involved in gaming or is not so active in social media?

FB: I think this is also one of the big walls that we have to overcome when we go into digital fashion: how can we bring people on board when it's not very obvious for them from the first moment? I have to think about how I convinced myself back then when I got into digital fashion. I really started to question myself: “Do I need all the clothing that I have in my closet? Do I need more? What kind of clothing do I want?” And I — myself working in the fashion industry for many years — became more and more of a minimalist. From a fashion student who went with crazy outfits to just black, very minimalistic styles. But at some point, you still want to express yourself, and digital fashion gives you the option to do so. You can be a very minimalistic person, but then when you go into virtual worlds, the metaverse, or on socials with augmented reality, you can fully explore new ways to express yourself. I think this is where it's a tempting case for many people to start playing around with this new technology.

Supertrends: We started to touch on the topic of the advantages of digital fashion, like, for example, that you can unleash your creativity. But what are the other benefits of digital fashion? What about sustainability, for example? I guess this is something which is really associated with the transformation of the fashion industry.

FB: Yes, absolutely. I think this is also the main reason why I got more and more into digital fashion. When we delve into production and development, there is so much waste. You're asked to produce so many collections every year, and some designs are produced but never really find an owner. Digital fashion definitely helps to reduce this waste massively. With digital product creation, which is now becoming more and more part of big brands as well, it's also possible to be more efficient and work in different setups of teams. Previously, this was challenging because manufacturing often occurred in Asia, requiring shipping prototypes back and forth. However, this is no longer necessary since everything is done fully digitally. Additionally, for designers especially, it's a new way to explore creativity and find new and interesting solutions for clothing, which previously required intense labor and physical materials. This can now be evaluated much quicker. So, going back to being more efficient but, also at the same time, more creative.

Supertrends: Talking about the process of creation of digital items, do you still have to follow any rules or are there any limitation to it?

FB: Well, it really depends on where you want to go with it. I don't think there are limitations, to be honest. With digital fashion, we can now have interactive clothing, clothing that is physically just not possible. And that obviously has reduced the limitations a lot and made a lot more possible.

Supertrends: What about the impact of digital fashion on the democratization of fashion? Do you think that digital fashion helps to make fashion available to more people?

FB: Definitely. It helps with democratization. It opens up the market massively, also for contributors. I also see that more and more since you're not really bound to a place; you can work anywhere in the world. You can be on top of a mountain if you like. As long as you have Internet, most likely, you can work on digital fashion and in a team. So it makes it possible for many people who had, before, absolutely no way to contribute to do that. Also, from my own experience working together with people from Africa, for example, for them it was always the goal to go to Paris, New York, or London, and it was not always possible or it just didn't make sense, actually. So for them, it's definitely a way to be included in that system, and that goes for any remote location. We don't even need to go so far away. Even within Europe, it is possible to have meetings that were not possible before.

Supertrends: One other advantage that comes to my mind when I think about digital solutions in fashion is personalization and customization. I believe it is easier now to make things fit perfectly for any person. Is this right?

FB: Yes, definitely. Actually, in making it, it probably helps a lot. Also to do it in a more democratized sense. Back in the day, people went to a tailor and made made-to-measure garments. But you needed to have a tailor close by. Since digital fashion can happen fully just online, on the Internet, it's also easier to reach people who offer that service, even though you're not in the same city. So that makes it easier. Then, when it comes to technical solutions for making customized or made-to-measure pieces, it's definitely helpful to use algorithms that measure your body and the proportions properly, that generate already really good patterns for making clothing. Moving to personalization, when it comes to coloring or prints, if we're just fully digital, we can add to our clothing whatever we want. If we want to have it burning, then it shall burn. So, it is easier. But, obviously, when it comes to brands offering made-to-measure clothing, the system is lacking and needs to adapt to these new trends, because made-to-measure means usually that you make one piece of one garment. To produce it somewhere for an affordable price, that's still not possible. You always have the minimum order quantities that need to be met— and with one-off pieces, you literally can forget about it to use the same manufacturers that you use for your mass production. So it needs, also, new thinking in these workflows or these pipelines in the production. And I think that's probably the hard part, when it comes to it.

Supertrends: We have, in a way, touched on the subject of prices. Let’s look at prices in a more general sense. In traditional fashion, I can imagine that the price depends, at least to some extent, on the cost of the materials. So how does it look in digital fashion? What is the base for pricing in digital fashion?

FB: Definitely, it makes it more accessible, because obviously there is a reduction in price since we don't use materials. What I also sometimes notice is some people assume you don't need materials, so it's then also costs less. But there is still a lot of labor included in producing digital fashion, and that very often is a topic that gets forgotten or is not really considered as it should be. Therefore, yes, it does get cheaper, but it still has value because people put their brain cells into creating it and their time.

Supertrends: We have talked quite a lot already about the benefits of digital fashion, but let's move maybe now to the challenges that we have to face if we would like to make digital fashion mainstream.

FB: I think we touched on this already a little bit before, and it's about recognizing the labor or the craft behind it. And yes, we can save costs, but the amount of work kind of stays the same in the production of clothing. We should, actually, use this as a moment to make it more equal again, so the people who – before, in the fashion industry – were not earning enough, that they at least get more now. Because the work, the knowledge, the experience is still the same, needed. Nothing has changed there. Actually, we even need to know more. There is now also the digital knowledge that you need to have, all the software that you need to learn. All these people in the industry, they have to upgrade and they put a lot of effort into it, and this needs to be also measured in terms of labor.

Supertrends: The digital transformation in fashion sounds like a huge challenge.

FB: Exactly. I think that in a fast-paced industry like fashion and textiles, it is probably one of the hardest challenges to really do this upgrade in a way that it actually works and companies can continue doing their business. But I see it very often that the industry is too fast, and the required time to learn these new workflows very often just gets distracted because we have to deliver now. So there is no time, and this is really the tough one, I think.

Supertrends: Talking about this transformation of the fashion industry, do you have any examples of situations where the big fashion houses, big fashion brands, have started to implement digital fashion items or elements into their workflows?

FB: I haven't experienced it myself where I was directly involved. But, I mean, you hear more and more about it when you're in this field, what's happening, and it's a lot of experimentation. I think that's the current mood. We experiment with new ways to use this technology, and there are obviously also big players like Hugo Boss who have been investing massively for many years in digital fashion. You can also see, now, the fruits that they're reaping from this investment, obviously, because slowly this machinery is really working efficiently and offering new, better opportunities.But in general, I think when you listen to the people working in the industry, it's experimentation. It's trying new things. You can see a lot happening in Web3, playing with NFTs, or releasing collections that are backed on the blockchain. Also in visualization, a lot happens— augmented reality, using augmented filters to showcase fashion pieces and also for the users obviously to enjoy them. But I think really settled workflows or the use of it— there are not really patterns yet. I think right now it's rather like just going in all directions.

Supertrends: In the first part of the interview, you mentioned some technologies that are used in digital fashion. What in your opinion are the technologies that are necessary to make digital fashion mainstream?

FB: For me, I'm betting most of it on augmented reality. And you can also see how fast it actually evolves. When I got deeper into digital fashion three years ago, augmented reality was more like a fun way to communicate. We used it on social media, like on Snapchat. The technology wasn't that convincing yet, especially when it comes to clothing, because we always had a reference to the real world. If all of a sudden a jacket that you wear is constantly moving, you find it weird, and obviously that’s not really what you want. But this technology is really evolving very fast, and within these three years, there's so much improvement happening, and it’s become really convincing by now. In certain cases, you don't even know anymore what is real and what is not. And I think this will just improve no matter what. I think that in 10 years, definitely, we will have only a nice pair of glasses where we see through them, everything around, augmented reality. I think this is the way where we are going right now. Also, with spatial computing that is heavily advertised by Apple, with the Apple Vision Pro, this becomes, obviously, also on a new level, and people really see the quality in these environments where mixed reality is happening. You have real and unreal, and you don't really know anymore where you are. I think once this is really at that spot where you cannot see the difference anymore, then there are no limitations anymore, and it just makes sense, actually, to wear digital fashion. So maybe we're all going to wear our black catsuits and we just augment ourselves with crazy outfits or whatever we would like to wear. But obviously, you want that with AR that works better. I mean, right now you have to wear a headset that is massive. Not everyone wants to walk around like that. But maybe — we both wear glasses — maybe there will be a way to see it just like this? Or even, some people say we will wear lenses where we see it, so who knows.

Supertrends: So AR would be the way to connect the virtual world with reality. What about purely virtual worlds like the metaverse? Would it be easier to make this mainstream?

FB: If it's easier? I don't know. There are different difficulties, I guess. For some people, it's just difficult to enter such fully virtual worlds, or the metaverse, and to stay for a long time in there because we are still kind of isolated in that world. Even though we get access to a lot more on the other side of the screen, we're still alone there. I think this is still an issue for many people to really invest more time into the metaverse.

Supertrends: Could it also be because of the fact that with the metaverse, we are not ready there yet? I mean, we have a bit of virtual spaces here or there, but the metaverse, as such, is not here yet?

FB: Well, actually, no. I mean, I think it depends on how you define the metaverse. The metaverse, in its original conception, includes all kinds of layers of virtuality. So even what we are doing here is also part of the metaverse, because we are here in a virtual room where we talk to each other. If I'm immersing into a fully virtual environment, that's obviously a different way to do it. But I think we already have the metaverse in all kinds of ways, not just the fully immersive virtual one where we can really live, day and night. I think that is still to be achieved.

Supertrends: If you would have to name just one technology that you think will disrupt the sector, what would it be?

FB: I still think it is augmented reality. I mean, when it comes to the use, but also to immerse in and experience digital fashion, I think this is the best way to do it. Obviously, there are also other topics that we haven't even talked about. There is AI as well. But that is a different story. It really depends on what you want to achieve. But I think that to truly live with and experience digital fashion, augmented reality is necessary.

Supertrends: And what about artificial intelligence?

FB: I do play around with AI, obviously, and also slowly form an opinion about it. We shouldn't see it as something frightening. It definitely will become a new tool. For me, AI offers so many new tools to explore our world in a way that we haven't experienced yet. It will also make our work more efficient. It will probably take away the work that we don't like, which is already happening these days. When it comes to creative use, yes, of course, AI seems to be influencing our creativity and how we create stuff. But on the other hand, it's still us who has to decide how far it can go. We are the guide and the leader in this. So that's why I think there is not one way to go. There are millions of ways, and each person has to individually figure out how to play and to live with these new tools.

Supertrends: Let's talk now a bit about the future. I mean, I know that the whole conversation we're having is about the future because we're discussing emerging technologies, but could you name some of the latest emerging trends in fashion in general and in digital fashion?

FB: There's so many, but I definitely think it's AI right now. I was just listening to an emerging brand recently that is designing fully in AI, but also brings collections back into the real world using it. What else? I think that digital fashion is actually a trend itself — the use of digital models, for example, or avatars that are replacing regular models. Also, the use of digital fashion in fashion presentations, like holographic presentations of collections. I think this is one of my favorites— how we can present fashion. Is fashion week really still necessary, or is it time to move on and find new ways that are more inclusive so that everyone can attend? I think these are trends that I am personally interested in.

Supertrends: Imagine that we are now in 2050. What are we wearing and what does the fashion industry look like? How do you envision the future of fashion industry?

FB: My wish for fashion in 30 years — or anytime in the future, actually — is that we really consciously produce what we have physically to find the right balance between physical and digital production. And, to educate consumers on how to express themselves and consume fashion in new ways that are not so wasteful. Obviously, waste also has to do with workflows, how fashion is produced in general within a brand, but also definitely how we consume it. This is also where opinions often diverge and where it gets super interesting. How can we change the way we consume? I hope for more conscious consumerism, less waste, but still, being able to express ourselves as we like. I think that would be my wish.

Supertrends: Are there any misconceptions about digital fashion that you would like to address?

FB: Misconception? Well, I think that very often you hear from the older generations that digital fashion is something only for younger generations — like kids who grow up with gaming, the Internet, and social media — that this is only a thing for them. But actually, I think that is a misconception. Because if we want to achieve such a future where we consume better, where we have less waste, this is a topic that everyone should question and have conversations about: how we can use these new tools to actually become better at what we're doing. So, yes, if I have to name one, that is the one that comes to my mind right now.

Supertrends: Do you have any examples of older generations using digital fashion or experiencing digital fashion?

FB:The use of digital mirrors in certain shops or exhibitions is awesome, and maybe that's also a trend that is popping up more and more. People have these screens where you can stand in front of them, and then with the use of augmented reality, you see certain designs on yourself. I also had that experience with an exhibition where we had such digital mirrors, allowing people to wear digital jewelry. Surprisingly, it was the older generations that asked the most questions and were really fascinated. I thought that was really nice. At this exhibition, you had all kinds of generations. You had the very young ones; you had children dragging their parents in front of it and having their fun. But by surprise, it was the older generations that actually went deep into conversation. So, the digital mirror does something, and they see the potential in it. Obviously, it's just easy with digital mirrors. You don't need to do anything. You don't need to hold your phone or log into any account. You just stand in front of a mirror, and it happens.

Supertrends: So you didn't encounter any strong resistance?

FB: No, not at all. If it's easy and there are no technological barriers, then the interest is there.

Supertrends: Finally, do you have any good advice for someone who would like to enter the digital fashion industry, either as a designer who would like to move from traditional fashion to digital fashion, or as an entrepreneur who would like to enter the digital fashion industry?

FB: I got interested in digital fashion because I was myself part of the system in manufacturing and developing products. I just saw the dark side of it, or how it works behind the curtain. And for me, I started to question a lot of things, if that is actually necessary. At the same time, I had, always, a big interest in new technologies and was very much into experimenting with that. In combining these, obviously, it felt very easy to enter this field. For other people that are trying to find an approach— for the designers that have, already, the skills to make collections or clothing— just learn the tools. I think that's the best way because you will immediately connect— you will adapt your physical knowledge of making things to the digital way. You will find the use of your knowledge that you have from the physical world, and this is anyway obviously the connection that you need to build up. And I think curiosity will just grow no matter what.That also means you have to invest time. I think that's something I would recommend to anyone who's interested: really reserve a certain time for that and maybe also put some financial investment into it because it's not done very quickly. It really has several layers of learning, this new world. And then, be open to experiment — it is a thing in social media; you see it all the time with augmented reality, with the face filters. Play around with what is possible and also analyze what doesn't work, what works well, what is kind of weird, or what is just brilliant. And slowly, circle around until you think, “okay, this could be my thing.” Then go further.

Supertrends: Thank you, Flavia, for this insightful discussion. It was a pleasure to have you as a guest.

FB: Thank you for the nice talk.

The text is a transcript of an interview conducted on 11 March 2024. The interview was conducted as part of Supertrends “Interviews with Experts” series. Please note that the transcript may have been lightly edited for editorial reasons.