WHAT'S THE STORY
ONE SIZE FITS ONE
W e lc o m e B e yo n d
Digitisation is the magic formula that will get the fashion industry back on track after its corona slump. However, the future vision only becomes perfect when digitisation is married with personalisation. Text: Martina Müllner-Seybold. Illustrations: Raevsky Lab, str33tcat (stock.adobe)
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hat an impertinence the first ready-to-wear clothing manufacturers had! Instead of relying on individual tailoring, as had been customary until that point, their business revolved around mass-producing products in standard sizes. The pamphlets of bespoke tailors protesting against this revolution of the late 18th century read remarkably familiar – for they sound so similar to the progress-deniers of today! The bogeyman is the same then as now: once the new technology took over, everything would be nothing but a predictable mess, devoid of any spark of creativity and individuality… PROGRESS IS HUMAN
Painting a gloomy picture of the future did, however, not stop progress – even back then. The fact that fashion production grew from a craft to an industry based on the division of labour has transformed a marginal branch of the economy into a global industry that nourishes micro-enterprises just as much as mega-corporations. They have all perfected ready-to-wear clothing in all its varieties; custom 120
style in progress
tailoring has become the rare exception. Now the next dawn is breaking. WHERE IS THE (DIGITAL) JOURNEY HEADING?
A look back at the history of fashion can illuminate the path in this twilight. Whereas the detractors of ready-to-wear used to argue that human jobs would be lost, today the exact opposite is the case: one in three jobs worldwide is directly or indirectly linked to the textile industry. Globally speaking, fashion is one of the biggest growth drivers, even the corona pandemic could not stop the upward trend. According to Statista, turnover in the apparel segment alone is expected to reach around 455,287 million Euros globally in 2021 and is expected to grow by 7.3 percent every year. SOLVE THE PROBLEM FIRST
This impressive upward trend, however, comes with untold downsides. Only 0.4 to 1 percent of the global average cost of a garment is spent on paying the people who manufacture it. The environment is paying a devastating price for clothes that
