Fashion is having a technological movement, and laser cutters and 3D printers are just the start of the change. From the forefront of design to production, technology is making headway in the industry, and Midwestern fashion schools are on it.
Fashion technology isn’t a new idea. According to Ann Thye, Iowa State Professor and Academic Advisor in Apparel, Events, and Hospitality Management, it’s been on the backburner for quite a while.
“There are companies really doing something with it [fashion tech],” Thye says. “And that’s exciting … we’ve had this technology for quite a while now, but people are doing something about it now.”
Not only are companies like Levi’s and Target utilizing innovative tech for things like sensory-friendly clothing and touch and gesture sensitive jackets, but so are fashion students. At Kent State University’s Fashion/Tech Hackathon, two Midwestern students teamed up to create a transformative dress with technology. Jessica Woodard, a fashion marketing student at Kent State, and Carolyn Simon, a fashion design student at Iowa State, joined forces with a computer science student to design a dress with a hem that changed lengths.
“We were interested in the idea of clothing that could change,” Woodard says. “So you could have multiple looks with one garment, essentially.”
The three used motors in the dress to make it move. They designed pockets for the motors to fit into and used layers of material to make them stay in place. “We had two motors on each side, and we had a string going down to the hem,” Simon says.
The fabric cinched at the waist as the hem moved up, revealing another color hidden underneath. Simon and Woodard named their silhouette dress creation “Dress Up.”
Making transformative garments possible is just one way technology is changing the fashion industry. The possibilities go beyond fashion-forward garments; some designers are using the fashion technology to make a difference in their clothing creations. With the help of a body scanner, designers can create exact measurements of a person for custom-made pieces that fit the wearer’s body shape like a glove.
“Most companies can’t afford that big of an investment, but it might be worth it if they could get more people in the store or provide more of an experience.”
“It can be used so many different ways. It can be used so that you can have a pair of jeans that fit you just perfect, because it’s actually the measurements from your body,” Thye says. Perfect-fitting jeans may be a reality soon, but the body scanner booth is also making a change for people with physical disabilities.
“If there was a person who had some type of physical challenge where their shoulders weren’t even, or maybe they needed special types of clothing to help fit them correctly, that would be another great way to use it,” Thye says. “We’re seeing lots of movement in the industry that way.”
This forward thinking leads the future of fashion technology. Though some designs are being used on the market, it’s not all out of the research stage yet. Ideas are still taking form, like apps that connect to clothing and even solar panels on the backs of jackets to recharge phones. “Some of it’s starting to take hold, but I still think it’s more aspirational than actual,” Thye says about the solar panel jackets.
There is potential for some of this technology to gain popularity, but there are various factors to take into consideration before bringing it to the market, like the usability of the garment. Wearers need to wash their clothes, after all. Finances are also a big concern for fashion retailers. “Most companies can’t afford that big of an investment, but it might be worth it if they could get more people in the store or provide more of an experience,” Thye says. “[Fashion is] just changing so fast right now, because of e-commerce, sustainability, [and] the way people are looking at clothes.”
In an ever-changing industry, technology is just one more part of the revolution.
