Author: sopio.archilia

Since people are tired of the usual online ads, an essential shift is happening. AR is now used for more than fun effects, as it supports marketing that relies on presence, relevance and people’s connection. The future of AR marketing is focused on changing the way brands interact with the physical world instead of only adding digital elements to it.

Here, I discuss the next important things happening in AR marketing such as ambient AR and campaigns affected by emotions, as well as real-time personalization.

1. Background Marketing: Ambient AR consists of Interactive Elements

Ambient AR refers to information or objects that appear in the physical environment around someone, depending on their location, the time or even the mood they display. With ambient AR, you can receive information or experiences without having to aim your device at anything or use the camera.

Just think that as you walk into a store, your AR glasses will highlight items that mean most to you based on your past and present interests. Perhaps it’s a public sculpture that tells a relevant story from the brand as you walk by. Marr (2019) stated that the next important shift in marketing will be hidden tools that make it more convenient for people without demanding attention.

They believe that these campaigns will be integrated into our lives, helping us rather than causing disruptions.

2. Emotionally Responsive AR: Marketing That Feels

With today’s technology, marketers have more ways to sense when customers are not happy or satisfied and can respond.

Marketing is being transformed by the way AR blends with affective computing which is able to gauge feeling from a person’s face or other signs. When AR is used, brands are able to react instantly to what a user is feeling.

A fashion retailer can use AR mirrors to determine if a customer is upset or happy and react appropriately. If a person seems tense, a skincare brand may guide them through visualisations to help relax. Since the brand responds so quickly, marketing shifts from promotion to sympathy.

Kotler, Kartajaya and Setiawan (2021) state in their book that the upcoming trend in marketing calls for machines and humans to work together. Emotion-aware AR prepares to do just that.

3. AR Spaces That Last: Digital Twins Are Increasing

Businesses are beginning to design AR spaces that mirror actual places and keep updating with the real world. Thanks to Niantic and Snap’s platforms, companies are able to set up multi-user AR areas where clients interact with various things such as products, over a period of time.

Envisage a sneaker brand where you could use AR to access its virtual flagship store, join drop events, meet others in real time and share your brand avatar. They shouldn’t be mistaken for simple campaigns; they’re meant to last.

Craig mentioned before that with AR, we will experience more lasting environments that matter for a period of time.

4. Hyper-Personalisation Through AI and Spatial Data

AI allows brands to examine AR data to personalise their offerings for every individual. Based on someone’s interactions and tastes, a tourism company could develop an AR walk in real time. A fitness company could advise you on appropriate exercises based on your schedule when you enter a gym. ( which is already can used as an app)

Pires and Stanton (2015) explain that real-time flexibility is crucial in today’s marketing which incremental AR provides with accuracy.

5. Storytelling for the Sustainable Use of the Environment

Many consumers hope that brands can be more transparent and environmentally friendly. AR lets you present eco-information by visualising the process behind a product on its packaging or in stores.

For example, Rothy’s has introduced AR experiences that explain how used plastic bottles are made into shoes. When customers perform a scan, the sustainability statements are immediately visible.

Deloitte highlights that AR creates transparency, turning regular CSR efforts into experiences that engage consumers.

6. WebAR and 5G are helping to get rid of the barriers.

Over the past few years, using AR in marketing was restricted due to the requirement for users to download an app and the lack of enough bandwidth. However, WebAR enables AR to be accessed via web browsers and with the introduction of 5G, these problems are no more.

Nowadays, brands can design interactive campaigns using a link or QR code. Because it takes little effort to log in, the platform will attract more users, encourage them to spend more time there and reach a wider audience. When Starbucks switched to WebAR for their seasonal offers, they reported a 62% increase in the way customers engaged with the campaigns.

In Conclusion: From Something New to Something Essential

The best part about AR in marketing now is its potential, rather than what it is today. Today, AR is more than a clever tool or a trend; it is expected to be the main form of brand communication. There will be a shift in AR marketing from advertising to offering experiences so realistic that people barely notice it.

It is evident that the brands that succeed in being less visible, yet present, will guide the future market.

Reference List (Harvard Style)

Craig, A.B. (2013) Understanding Augmented Reality: Concepts and Applications. Waltham, MA: Morgan Kaufmann.

Deloitte. (2024) Augmented Reality: The new front line of digital marketing. Available at: https://www2.deloitte.com

Kotler, P., Kartajaya, H. and Setiawan, I. (2021) Marketing 5.0: Technology for Humanity. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

Marr, B. (2019) Tech Trends in Practice: The 25 Technologies That Are Driving the 4th Industrial Revolution. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

Pires, G.D. and Stanton, J. (2015) Interactive and Dynamic Marketing. London: Routledge.

Scholz, J. and Smith, A.N. (2022) Immersive Marketing: How Technology is Shaping the Future of Customer Experience. London: Routledge.

Starbucks. (2024) Seasonal AR campaigns: A case study. Available at: https://stories.starbucks.com

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Grammar and formatting support provided by ChatGPT.

 AR and Personalized Fashion Recommendations

For me shopping online always been easier than in shops. But unfortunately even now for me classical methods of shopping more often involve the use of general size definitions and style groups that may not in the best possible way for the specific needs of each customer. This is where AR comes in, because it allows brands to provide the customers with fashion suggestions that are more relevant by taking into consideration the customer’s body type, favorite articles of clothing, and even previous orders. AR technology allows customers to use their cameras or in-store screens to see how the clothes will look like on them in the near real time.

Zeekit’ app

Zeekit’ app (purchased by Walmart) suggests body metrics. With these technologies combined with the use of machine developing,learning algorithms, brands can now suggest styles that would fit the customers’ body shape much more effectively, making this a very personalized experience for the customer . Besides, AR can also identify colors ( pattern to match ) , the time of the year, and other preferences of the customers to give recommendations that are not limited to resizing, but also to the style and the current trends on the market.

Moreover, all these large accounts for(encoded) data such as social media habits and personal shopping histories can be checked and analyzed to provide the best styling. Customers, therefore, did not have a simple choice between what was so wishes on a rack or a website but got to choose from what is decided on the basis of customers’ individual characteristics. Such a level of customization is capable of minimizing returns and level of dissatisfaction among customers, and at the same time promoting customer loyalty and brand uptake.

Custom-Tailored Virtual Outfits: The Role of AI and AR

Among all the features that AR and AI bring to the fashion industry, the most striking one is the personalized virtual clothing try-on for customers. AI can know their individual style preferences from different sites (outlet, yoox and more) or what they have been searching for in the past and what they like sharing on social media. Together with AR this technology creates perfect experience for fashion consumers.

For example, Amazon and H&M contain AR options in the applications of smart phones through which customers can design clothes and virtually try them on. Exclusively, artificial intelligence algorithms operate in the background, making the appropriate recommendation based on a customer’s past selections ,which is already now new technique with regard to clothing. With these data points, AI brings not only fashion relevance, but much more skin to skin experience (Hoffman and Zhao, 2022, p.56).

AR increases the overall diversity within fashion domain as well as the reach of the industry. Specific types of clothing can be suggested to any consumer based on their shape, size, or physical possibilities. So AI algorithms consider each individual’s body shape in order to give them suggestions that they feel alright about themselves. This strengthens the talk of how technology is closing all the gaps in the fashion world, making shopping on individuality a reality across the world.

 The Future of Hyper Personalized Shopping Experience 

AR hop and AI technologies are not standing still, and so the next stage of personalized shopping may not be far away.

AI can anticipate suitable clothing based on the weather forecast for the week, important events that might be scheduled for the week or even changes in the social media trends.

AI weather fashion combines data from several weather APPs, behavioral analytics, and intelligent recommendation offer real-time clothing suggestions. When these systems detect a cold front in your area, for example, they can highlight cozy knits, boots, or scarves in your app or feed. 

Glance can be as your adviser from now one. Glance use contextual knowledge with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) to provide customized outfit suggestions based on location, preferences, and the current weather.

Furthermore, as more appealing wearable AR devices get introduced to the market, the rationale of the digital and physical world’s shopping differences evaporates. Augmented reality on wearables such as glasses may act as a tool whereby the customers are able to engage with the items of clothing in a different way. These customers could ‘place’ entire wardrobes with accessories in a store while observing the assortment, or they could ‘purchasing from their living rooms, and at once look and feel the garments (Johnson, 2024). Consumers’ physical and digital experiences, known as ‘Phygital’, are held to reinvent the consumer-brand touchpoints.

Hyper-Personalization is also going to hit sustainability by the end of shopping. Thus, AI and AR help with the more precise clothing recommendations, and this approach decreases returns, which cause waste. Virtual showrooms also eliminate the extra requirements of clothes in stock, making the production line cater to the consumers’ market better (Evans, 2023).

Conclusion

The combination of AI and AR in fashion is here. This means that despite body type, style and trends, people can be given recommendations on what season’s fashionable for them and where to find it as it has become possible for fashion and tech to amalgamate thus changing the retail landscape.

References

https://corporate.walmart.com/news/2022/03/02/walmart-launches-zeekit-virtual-fitting-room-technology

Evans, L., 2023. Sustainable Fashion and Technology: The Role of AR and AI in Reducing Waste. Fashion Technology Review, 14(2), pp.30-41.

Hoffman, J. and Zhao, Y., 2022. Virtual Try-Ons: How AI and AR are Revolutionizing the Shopping Experience. Retail Science Quarterly, 9(4), pp.67-82.

Huang, W. and Liao, Z., 2023. Personalized Fashion with AR: Body Types and Style Preferences in the Digital Age. International Journal of Fashion Studies, 7(3), pp.112-126.

Johnson, M., 2024. The Phygital Future: How Wearable AR Will Transform Shopping. Retail Tech Today, 15(1), pp.54-63.

https://glance.com/us/blogs/glanceai/ai-shopping/ai-weather-fashion-shopping

How Hard Is It to Create Your Own VR Clothes?

Virtual fashion has experienced explosive growth because virtual reality (VR) worlds now allow people to express their personal style. Developing VR clothing presents an adventurous creative path for your gaming avatar meetups and digital socializing purposes. Virtual fashion dream translation requires what level of difficulty to execute? Let’s break it down.

As a starting point we need to grasp basic principles of virtual reality clothing

The digital garments of VR are virtual garments which attach to digital avatars. VR clothing design happens through software which enables the production of virtual fabrics alongside textural effects plus motion attributes. VR clothing bypasses traditional fashion limitations through its ability to design unconventional designs with no physical boundaries. Designers obtain full creative freedom because they can experiment with no boundaries.

Virtual fashion design needs proper attention to form elements as well as avatar compatibility and natural movement in addition to technical execution. Inadequate design of clothing products may cause items to penetrate the user’s body structure or create abnormal movements thus interrupting their VR experience.

Essential Tools You’ll Need:

• 3D Design Software: Programs like Blender, Marvelous Designer, or Clo3D are popular for creating realistic clothing simulations. These platforms provide flexibility in shaping garments and adding details.
• Texturing Tools: Substance Painter and Photoshop help add colors, patterns, and textures, enhancing the garment’s realism.
• Rendering and Animation Tools: Software like Unity and Unreal Engine allows you to animate the clothing, simulate realistic physics, and visualize it in a VR setting.
• VR Platforms: Platforms like Decentraland, Roblox, or Meta Horizon Worlds provide spaces to showcase and sell your designs.

The Learning Curve

VR clothing creation poses distinctive challenges especially to new users who start this process. Substantial creative design along with technical abilities create the productive basis of this process. Learning 3D modeling and UV mapping alongside rigging mechanics for avatar garment attachment and creating textures which resemble reality proves difficult until one gains sufficient practice.

• For Beginners: The initial learning curve might feel steep, particularly when learning to navigate 3D design software. However, countless online resources, tutorials, and communities can help guide you through the process.
• For Intermediate Designers: If you have experience in graphic design or fashion design, the skills transfer well. Marvelous Designer, for instance, simulates real-world fabric behavior, making it intuitive for those with garment construction knowledge.
• For Advanced Users: Professionals can experiment with complex materials, intricate textures, and dynamic simulations to push the boundaries of VR fashion.

Pro Tip: Start with simple projects like t-shirts or jackets to understand the basics before advancing to elaborate designs.

Designing Your First VR Garment

Typically design processes require these sequential phases:

1. Begin by creating sketches or digital representations of clothing designs during conceptualization. Next evaluate how the design will function and react against the avatar’s body structure.
2. The base shape creation happens through the use of software such as Blender. Virtual fabric simulation on avatar models works best through the tool known as Marvelous Designer.
3. Texturing provides the method of applying colorful designs with patterns to finalize the visual creation process. By using Substance Painter users can produce realistic material textures.
4. Through rigging enable your garment to link up with avatar skeletons then it will follow their motions naturally.
5. Virtual testing enables designers to position their creations through VR for required modifications.

Experimentation and Creativity

Virtual reality fashion allows creators to transcend physical limitations by developing designs that challenge classical dynamics of physics. Virtual fashion designers craft their designs through excellent ideas such as responsive garments which alter with user movements and through outfits made of glowing dresses or fluid metallic materials. You gain full creative freedom to design nonrealistic concepts and futuristic designs without boundaries.

The virtual fashion marketplaces of several platforms make their appearance to users. Developing a personal commitment to digital fashion allows you to turn your designs into income through digital fashion items as well as NFTs and game skins.

Creative Ideas to Try:

• Gravity-defying capes
• Interactive garments that change color
• Transparent holographic outfits
• Cyberpunk-inspired metallic suits

Challenges You Might Face

The liberating element of virtual fashion brings both strength and obstacles to users. Some common difficulties include:

1. Proper avatar compatibility and rigging procedures prove to be technical problems during the process.
2. The large file size of VR clothing creates management problems which impacts system loading speed and operational performance.
3. Clients may have to dedicate time and professional skill to reach precise fabric simulation results.
4. Continuous practice together with persistence enables major improvements in most cases. Designers who work in communities often share their procedures along with offering support to other members.

Conclusion: Is It Easy or Hard?

The process of making VR clothing becomes easier after acquiring experience and learning how to design with the right tools matched to your creative ambitions. The technical complexity initiall Beginning simple projects and increasing practical work and trying diverse styles helps both new and experienced users develop their skill level and confidence.

VR fashion provides unlimited opportunities where personal designers can build their creativity toward establishing a virtual presence including the market. All expert fashion designers began their journey at the beginner level thus becoming experts by starting first.

Fashion designers encounter multiple hurdles while developing virtual reality apparel which results in significant challenges during the design process.

New technology in Virtual Reality fashion completely changes our approach to wearing clothes. The fashion world uses virtual reality garments along with virtual avatars to let users express their creativity through sustainable fashion options. The creation of digital clothes involves numerous technical obstacles because of the characteristics of the virtual world. VR fashion developers encounter numerous significant difficulties during their work to create virtual reality clothing.

1. Achieving Realistic Fabric Simulation

The movement dynamics of VR clothing depend on simulated fabric behavior because digital fabrics lack natural attributes of physical textiles. Designers need to duplicate the exact textures and movements of all materials including flowing silk alongside rigid leather. becoming realistic demands scientific mastery regarding material behavior along with high-capacity processing systems. VR designs fail unless simulation programming is precisely accurate since it affects the way virtual characters move through their garments.

2. Balancing Aesthetics and Performance

Duplicating intricate fabric patterns together with high-end textures requires processing equipment with great power intensity. Softwares featuring photorealistic clothing offer better immersion yet they put excessive strain on computing devices. Developing VR content requires developers to strike an ideal stability point that maintains performance speed while showing visually pleasing graphics. The preservation of frame rates through texture simplification or polygon number reduction leads to lowered realistic detail in the virtual environment.

3. Avatar Customization and Fit

Physically produced clothing adjusts to accommodate people of all body sizes as well as shapes. The capability to customize in virtual reality systems remains challenging at present. Programmers develop adjustable clothing systems which handle various sizes of virtual characters through automation. Such systems face technical issues which result in improper clothing conformance and garments that expand abnormally.

4. Physics-Driven Collisions and Clipping

VR fashion faces a major difficulty because clothing frequently intersects with both the avatar and other garments in ways that are known as “clipping.” The detection tools that developers embed in their systems stop clothing from interchanging yet they still have difficulty making interactions between objects work flawlessly particularly when characters execute intricate moves. When collisions are inadequately managed in VR programs they destroy users’ immersion and negatively affect their virtual reality experience.

5. Style Limitations and Creative Constraints

Design capabilities within VR exist without border while the system places specific design constraints on users. The designers have to simplify complex elements which display marginal realism during rendering and animation processes. Processing user interactions such as fabric manipulation becomes difficult within virtual environments because it demands specialized equipment.

6. Sustainability vs. Commercial Viability

Virtual reality fashion has environmental benefits because it cuts out the need for conventional fashion products created from real resources. The development process for high-quality digital garments requires extensive resources to create and demands a team of specialized workers to maintain it. Profitability and sustainable practices exist in constant opposition to each other.

Final Thoughts

To make VR clothing you need both technological ability and creative thinking skills. The multiple challenges of creating VR clothing have started to decrease since real-time rendering and adaptive garment technology combined with AI-driven physics continue to progress. Designer opportunities within the metaverse will expand proportionally to the growth of this virtual realm enabling them to transform virtual fashion limitations.

The initial step towards participating in digital outfit development requires comprehension of these challenges for designers, developers, and fashion enthusiasts alike.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to attend the last day of Pixel Vienna, but I watched the recorded session on YouTube. Based on that, I wanted to share my thoughts and insights in this blog post.

A Look Back at the Event
Watching the video, I could feel the enthusiasm and energy from both the panelists and the audience, even thought it was right after the party . The discussions were insightful, and the topics explored—especially diversity and representation in animation—felt incredibly relevant to today’s creative industries.

The Panel & Key Discussions
The panel shows experienced professionals from the worlds of video game design, animation, and production, each bringing their unique perspectives on character design and storytelling. One of the most impactful moments was the discussion about how animated characters influence us from a young age, shaping our views on identity, diversity, and representation.

Hearng the panelists reflect on characters that inspired them while growing up reminded me how much media influences our perception of the world. They also highlighted the importance of avoiding stereotypes in character design, ensuring representation is authentic and meaningful rather than just symbolic.

The Role of Storytelling in Diversity
A key takeaway from the discussion was that diversity in animation shouldn’t just focus on end results but on real, multi-dimensional characters. We need to do more research and actually talk with people who has more experience or even lived the life of the character. A well-developed character is not just defined by their background but by their experiences, relationships, and growth. The conversation also touched on how studios like Pixar have teams dedicated to accurate and respectful representation, something that should become an industry standard.

The Future of Representation in Animation
One of the most exciting aspects of the discussion was looking at the next generation of artists and storytellers. The panelists were optimistic that upcoming creators are pushing for greater inclusivity in animation and gaming, breaking traditional molds, and telling stories that better reflect today’s world.

Final Thoughts
Even though I wasn’t there in person, watching the final day of Pixel Vienna online still left a lasting impression on me. It showed how animation is not just about entertainment, but a powerful tool for storytelling and change. The discussions made me think about he animations i have watched and how relevant and accurate they are. and how we, as designers, can contribute to more inclusive and meaningful narratives.

If you missed it, no worries I highly recommend watching the recordings on YouTube — Enjoy!

The global field of fashion that for a long time has been accredited for its talented and innovative designers is now in the hot seat concerning environmental problems. Within the current phase of global supply chain integration, high rates of consumption and waste, the sector is looking for ways to help sustain the environment. Of all the spectacular innovations that are expected to advance sustainable living, augmented reality (AR) proves to be a versatile force in the pursuit of sustainability. AR solves many of the current problems related to fashion such as hesitation of physical samples and returns, optimization of the design process, and helping a consumer make a sustainable decision.

AR and Sustainable Fashion: Reducing Physical Samples and Returns

One of the major ways through which AR is helping to fast fashion and sustainability is by designing and eliminating the need for samples and returns. This practice poses a great challenge to conventional fashion design and manufacturing activities where numerous sample garments are made in the design process. These samples, usually made from precious metals, are sometimes thrown away after use, thus becoming a waste (Pal & Gander, 2018). However, AR offers potential for designers and manufacturers to develop samples that could be tested, visualized and redesigned from the digital world. It also means that physical prototypes are no longer required during the first phases of development and the number of resources needed is cut down considerably. Besides the savings on physical samples, AR is also beginning to speak to the increasing issue of product returns. The major issue facing it is the high rate of returned products due to size and fitting problems in an e-commerce niche. This is especially the case since most consumers buy different sizes of the same type of clothes with the aim of returning the ill-fitting ones. This results in a high rate of shipping emission, a high rate in packaging wastes and in most instances customers return the products. AR technologies, including virtual try-on assistance enable a consumer to evaluate how clothes will look on them and check if they fit before purchasing them reducing chances of returning the item (Kim & Forsythe, 2008). Gucci and ASOS among other companies are already applying the use of AR to let buyers do the dressing virtually thus encouraging responsible consumption (Schneider, 2020).

Virtual Prototyping and Minimizing Waste in Design

It is very important to note that virtual prototyping, which is a core concept in the use of augmented reality, reduces wastage greatly in the design and manufacturing cycle. Formerly, fashion designers had to make a sample of a garment and make changes, if necessary, with the help of physical models; this process was called sample making and mostly resulted in wasted material, and if there were changes needed even a mere A4 piece of paper was used – scraps were thrown away after that. AR enables fashion designers to build virtual models that enable them to practice various designs, material, and texture before having to make actual materials (Song & Ashdown, 2015). When applied to design, it allows for precise imaginative genuinely of how certain design will drape, fit and look like without physically making it. This goes a long way in decreasing the trial and error that is usually time wastage. Moreover, such prototypes can be presented to a number of teams and other stakeholders for evaluation, or put for approval, all this without having to physically build any artifact. It also helps to cut time wastage while also saving the environment through the following explanations: Furthermore, there is an advantage for the brands, as they are able to minimize overproduction through use of virtual prototyping services. The problem that we find severely affecting the fashion industry is overproduction, which leads to leftover products that are worthlessly disposed of or burned. There is nothing like testing market receptiveness toward digital garments through AR before investing a lot of production and resources. It reduces the chances of having excess inventory which is addition to creating a burden on the environment through dispose of (Choi & Kim, 2021). 

Educating Consumers about Sustainable Fashion Choices

Apart from its application in the design and manufacturing processes, AR offers possibilities in informing consumers about environmentally friendly fashion. One greatest challenge that faces the fashion industry is that it has no fashion transparency which does not enable a consumer to know the extent of the fashion item they are buying was environmentally friendly. AR can fill this gap as it offers immediate information on the sustainability of the garments. For instance, the application of augmented reality in consumer products enables individuals to point the camera of their phone at a piece of clothing and get further details on fabrics used in the product, the environmental impact of the product, and the production standard of the manufacturers (Jung & Lee, 2020). Despite this, this increased transparency can help the consumer make more conscious decisions to shift towards better brands and that include environmentally friendly products. It can also lead to increased understanding of the life cycle of the clothes from production to when it is discarded and effective practices such as up cycling, recycling, and buying from sustainable fashion production lines. Some brands are using AR to help consumers learn more about products and services and there are already many popular brands that use this technology. For example, Stella McCartney has added AR technology in its stores where people are given information about the company’s policies on sustainability and how each product helps the environment. Likewise, there is an AR app called Good on You that offers consumers augmented reality-based assessment of fashion brands depending on the sustainable measures they take (Niinimäki et al., 2020).

Challenges and the Future of AR in Sustainable Fashion

However, the study aims to show that even though AR is a great tool of marketing sustainability in fashion it is not without complications. The integration of AR technology obviously involves a considerable investment in both infrastructure and knowledge. Newer brands can be a little slow in adapting to the use of AR tools because of the costs that are usually incurred. Also, the ability of providers to convey AR to the broad consumer base will also depend on the readiness of accessible, user-friendly, and equipment-free platforms. Nevertheless, getting to that point and giving AR the opportunity to change the fashion industry for good is possible. In the future, with the advancement in technological devices, it is expected that AR will reduce in cost by making more brands to incorporate it in sustainable strategies. AR could even help to design more circular fashion systems in the future where the buyer gets to know how much the products opposite them will contribute to the environment from production to extinction. 

Conclusion

Therefore, augmented reality becomes the key finding as a strategy towards sustainability within the fashion sector in this research. From elimination of need of a physical sample, minimizing return of the product they have no use for, helping developers design products without having to manufacture a large number of prototypes, and enlightening the consumer on the correct option to pick in a bid to save the environment, AR has made the following ways of cutting out waste and conserving resources possible. Shifts in AR technology is also expected to grow in support of sustainable fashioning for brands and consumers will experience enhanced ways of making sustainable choices. The fashion industry, which is so far noted for most of the environmental issues, is standing on the brink of a technological revolution that has the potential of wedding fashion and creativity with sustainability.

References

Choi, T.M. and Kim, H.M., 2021. Environmental sustainability of the fashion supply chain: A circular economy approach. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 168, p.105291.

Jung, J. and Lee, J., 2020. Customer engagement in augmented reality shopping: The mediating role of immersion, shopping enjoyment, and perceived value. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 53, p.101987.

Kim, J. and Forsythe, S., 2008. Adoption of virtual try-on technology for online apparel shopping. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 22(2), pp.45-59.

Niinimäki, K., Peters, G., Dahlbo, H., Perry, P., Rissanen, T. and Gwilt, A., 2020. The environmental price of fast fashion. Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, 1(4), pp.189-200.

Pal, R. and Gander, J., 2018. Modelling environmental value: An examination of sustainable business models within the fashion industry. Journal of Cleaner Production, 184, pp.251-263.

Schneider, J., 2020. Virtual fashion: How brands are embracing digital clothing in a sustainable future. Vogue Business.

Song, H.K. and Ashdown, S.P., 2015. Development of automated custom sizing of apparel using scanned body measurements. Textile Research Journal, 85(12), pp.1269-1280.

With the changing environment in the retail industry, more physical store space is utilizing AR to deliver the common client’s engaging buying experiences. When most sales occur through the internet thanks to its accessibility, physical stores are using AR as the means to combine physical and virtual spaces in the most innovative ways seen before. Products such as AR mirrors, interactive displays, and virtual personal stylists represent the new generation in shopping technologies and are shifting the role of shopping into an interactive, engaging and dynamic experience.

Rise of AR in the Brick and Mortar stores.

Growth of e-commerce has proved very challenging to traditional retail stores or shops. As a result, most traditional retailers have gone further and adopted AR as a way of attracting people to come shop at their physical stores. AR aids these stores to provide experiences that cannot be attained online, which will make customers seek physical experience.

One of the ways that AR is boosting in-store actual substance shopping is through developing interactivity that is directing. AR which embeds digital content into the physical world makes it possible for consumers to read more about a product and how it will appear when brought home or even enable shoppers to buy clothes without having to use the trial rooms. Not only do these features add entertainment as well as functionality to the shopping process but they also address the recent and continuous trend for more bespoke marketing.

Further, through the help of AR technology, store is capable on giving recommendations based on the customer’s preferences in real time. Now whether through mobile applications or in-store layouts customers get prompt recommendations regarding their preferences increasing chances of a sale and enhancing total satisfaction. And I think that combination of digital with the physical touch point is crucial for the reactivation of the physical retail store environments (Clark and Johnson, 2023).

AR Mirrors: A Game Changer in Fashion Retail

Another interesting use of AR in physical stores is the concept of the AR mirror in a store. Often referred to as ‘smart mirrors’ or the ‘virtual dressing rooms’, such gadgets help the clients understand how particular forms of clothing would fit them without having to put them on. With the help of the mirror interface users choose different garments, accessories and sometimes even makeup to see how such outfits will look in real life.

For instance, Zara and Neiman Marcus stores have incorporated the AR mirrors in their business Premise. Some of these mirrors come with cameras and sensors that display clothing that the customer can see in the mirrors and quickly go through the entire assortment. It quickens the shopping experience and keeps the inconvenience of going physically naked while dressing to dress and at the same time enabling customers to try different outfits on (Doe and Garcia, 2024). Moreover, regular AR mirrors are frequently accompanied by social sharing options to let the customers share their outfits with friends or post them on social media, all of which increases interaction.

They also have a critical role in enhancing diversity of body types. For instance, AR mirrors are convenient to use when selecting clothes since those with mobility problems will not have to battle with fitting rooms. Also, with the help of providing customers with real-time sizing, clients can make a better choice regarding purchasing garments as the likelihood of returning clothes will be considerably lower, and, therefore, customer satisfaction will increase.

Interactive Displays and Virtual Styling Assistants

Besides AR mirrors, another essential element of the AR shops is making a turnaround to becoming an interactive territory. These types of displays become large touch panels or projection types that enable customers to select products in a manner that was not feasible before. For example, a client can use the touchpad to select a product in order to get information on its performance, comments by other users, and stock status. They can also use the interactive technologies to make their own cloths combination, selecting colors or even getting ideas of how the furniture will look at their homes.

A well-known specimen of this kind of technology is IKEA’s application that lets users visualize home furnishings with the help of smartphone cameras. However, IKEA has also moved to incorporate some of these features physically in its stores with clients being able to employ touch screen kiosks to select from a variety of options and then make a visualization of how certain furniture items on display will look when placed together. This makes the process easier and is a more engaging approach to shopping and can also reduce decision-making (Smith and Adams, 2023).

Furthermore, with the development of advanced technologies, service companions, such as virtual styling assistants, form a part of a powerful means of personalization. These digital stylists typically rely on artificial intelligence to understand the customer’s buying history and further shopping behavior when compiling the suggestions list. AR taken to the next level where the customer can see not only the individual piece but an entirely coordinated look. For instance, Levi’s provides its customers with an AI-based AR stylist who recommends clothes and how they could look wearing it and shows the result on a screen. Such instant feedback empowers customers for surety in final purchase, and seamless integration of physical and digital aspects of shopping.

Blending Physical and Digital Retail: The Phygital Experience

In the light of the existing AR technology, the division between the tangible and virtual purchasing process is gradually fading out to create the so-called phygital experience. It is a term used to describe the proper combination of both physical and digital aspects of the store to provide the client with a smooth shopping experience based on the need and appetites of both worlds.

AR fits seamlessly into the customers’ lifestyle where they can switch from physical to digital interface. For example, a customer is in a store, and they use the smartphone to scan a given product’s bar code to get more information about the product; information such as customer reviews and other products which are related to this particular product. Instead, they can use the store’s AR app to see it in a home or on their body making advantage of e-commerce in physical store.

Even more stores are performing this one step further through the integration of mobile apps with augmented reality that not only drives customer engagement but also offer the consumers some form of incentive or reward for their in-store shopping activities. For instance, some stores let a consumer accrue points every time they scan a product with their smartphone, which they can later be exchanged for such things as a discount of some sort or an exclusive offer. This encourages the customer to interact more freely with the brand, so they become more loyal to it, (Harris and Lee, 2023).

The same way, the phygital approach has profound implications in elevating sustainability in the retail business. Consequently, by allowing consumers to ‘virtually’ put on a garment or try other products, AR can help retailers reduce how much stock is kept on the shelves and, thus, reel in unnecessary waste. In addition, its sizing and fit advice give consumers exact measurements, which help in limited returns, one of the biggest indicators of environmental waste in the fashion sector according to Jackson and White, 2023.

Conclusion

Consumer usage of physical stores is evolving quickly toward the use of augmented reality that helps enhance convenience and sales experience. Other current applications of this technology include use in assisted selling through retailers’ AR mirrors, using interactive displays, and virtual styling assistants. With AR being still in development, integrating a physical store with an online store will become seamless thus paving the way for the new “phygital” shopping experience.

References

Clark, A. and Johnson, M., 2023. Revolutionizing Retail: The Role of AR in Enhancing Brick-and-Mortar Experiences. Journal of Retail Technology, 10(2), pp.30-42.

Doe, L. and Garcia, R., 2024. Virtual Dressing Rooms: How AR Mirrors Are Changing the Fashion Landscape. International Journal of Fashion Technology, 8(1), pp.45-59.

Harris, P. and Lee, S., 2023. Phygital Retail: Bridging the Gap Between Physical and Digital Shopping. Retail Innovation Quarterly, 6(3), pp.22-33.

Jackson, T. and White, J., 2023. Sustainable Fashion with AR: Reducing Waste through Virtual Try-Ons. Sustainability in Retail Review, 9(4), pp.12-23.

Smith, K. and Adams, N., 2023. IKEA’s AR Journey: How Interactive Displays are Revolutionizing the Home Goods Market. Journal of Retail Innovations, 11(2), pp.37-49.

Augmented reality (AR) is not only transforming the fashion retail stores but is also progressing constantly in fashion education/training. Thus, through delivering the concept and realization of AR, fashion students, fashion designers, and fashion consumers receive a productive learning and designing opportunity to perceive, experience, and interact with fashion in ways previously unimagined. There is, therefore, endless application of AR in design learning institutions and consumer learning as a means of addressing the trends and history of the fashion industry. People have probably become aware of this all too well with philanthropic organizations trying to help out. As discussed above, AR is increasingly becoming popular, and should be incorporated in fashion design schools and training programs in the follow ways:

In most cases, education that caters for fashion design has for a long time just used materials, drawings and patterns to impart to the students’ relevant basics used in fashion design. However, the growth of digital technology and AR is extending fashion student’s knowledge about the design and production process. From the case of fashion students, fashion courses are made more engaging using AR since students come up with various ways of visualizing, designing and presenting their work.

Virtual Draping and Patternmaking

The surreal application of AR within the concept of fashion education is the virtual draping and pattern making. Preceding, fashion students would build actual specimens utilizing fabric and mannequins on which surveys and metrics would be conducted. With AR, the clothes manufacturers are able to use virtual 3D models to lay fabrics, twist them and see what the garment will look like when worn before any part of a fabric has been cut. This is a resource effective and effective because students can advance through different types of materials and conceptions of their creations without the pressure of having the thing made.

Currently, many fashions academic institutions including but not limited to, the London College of Fashion, the Parsons School of Design have integrated AR into the fashion pedagogy enabling students to employ AR tools like CLO 3D and TUKAcad which mimic the fabrication process of garments in real time. It facilitates knowledge acquisition of how various types of fabrics respond, how the garments are constructed, and how the clothing appears when worn on the human form without constant reference to physical prototypes (Smith & Brown, 2023).

Interactive Workshops and Virtual Showcases

AR is also used in fashion schools to implement workshops and demonstrations of clothes and accessories. Fashion educators can take advantage of AR in teaching instead of the conventional class lectures where a faculty member is standing in front of a class teaching the students fashion lessons; AR allows the student to physically manipulate digital objects and understand fashion ideas and principles in an interactive manner. For instance, Microsoft HoloLens and Magic Leap: Students can observe virtual garments with haptic feedback; rotate them using 360-degree space; and work with other students virtually.

In addition, fashion schools have lately adopted the use of AR to conduct virtual fashion show and portfolio. The use of AR in showcases helps students to present their work without the conventional physical display centers thereby giving more opportunities for the student designers and establishing a platform for more equality for candidates (Deloitte, 2022).

How AR Is Assisting Fashioners to Realize Their Projects in real time

AR is not only a nice addition to fashion schools, but it is also giving tools that can help fashion designers to perfect their works interactively. The practicality of seeing garments, accessories and even complete collections directly in a virtual space confers on the designers an amount of freedom and choice never experienced before.

Real-Time Visualization and Iteration

It has been argued that one of the best features of AR use for fashion designers is the possibilities it provides for designing a true-timed model. AR applications allow designing garments to virtual mannequins and then projecting the result onto live models so that the designer can see how the piece will look and fit and how it will behave while worn. This enables designers to solve design problems in a relatively short amount of time such as the color, the material used, proportions and others by doing away with the tedious work of having to come up with actual prototypes.

For example, Dutch fashion designer Anouk Wipprett based on wearable technology applies AR to test her creations before engaging in the manufacturing process. By so doing, she is able to predict how the garments will look and respond allowing her to test some of the difficult features such as interactive lighting and smart fabrics (Wipprett, 2021). In such a kind of development it becomes extremely hard to experiment and refine to such a level if one were to do it without the help of AR tools.

The Integration of Cooperation and Distributed Design

AR also assists designers, manufacturers, and clients to work on the same project since the world has adopted the work from home style. Designers can pass on AR-enabled prototypes to other members in the team working from different parts of the world, hence receiving feedback instantly on projects. This can also greatly accelerate the design phase and minimize reliance on material samples which would ultimately be beneficial for sustainability.

For instance, to facilitate their design team situated in different areas, the luxury brand, Balenciaga has adopted AR. Since the use of AR gives the feeling that the teams are working together on the design where in fact, they are miles apart makes the designer’s work to be done efficiently and effectively (Balenciaga, 2022).

The Function of AR in Educating Consumption for Fashion History and Trends

Apart from enriching fashion education and designing the concepts of augmented reality forehead the consumer education to raise awareness of fashion history, trends, and manufacturing processes of popular garments wear. One of the most appealing ways consumers can become exposed to details about the evolution of fashion is using technology to create secret interactive experiences.

How apparel lovers got a real taste of fashion history – with AR.

There is a developing trend in fashion museums and exhibitions, and that is the use of augmented reality in recreating the outfit on display. By using augmented reality, visitors can explore digital replicas of famous garments, get extra information about them, and make further actions like changing their position to look at them from all sides, or zooming them.

For example, the Museum of Fine Arts based in Boston recently created an augmented reality where customers would be able to use smartphones to discover as to how the gowns in the eighteenth century would fit a mannequin. The museum adds a new perspective by digitally mapping these garments on physical mannequins, which makes the visitor’s experience much richer and a much better understanding of the history of fashion (Museum of Fine Arts, 2022).

AR for Fashion Trend Learning

Apparel retailers too are embracing AR to proactively inform the customers of the latest fashion and how to wear products. With the help of AR-powered apps customers, they get suggestions on different combinations of the clothes and how some items of clothing can suit the other. Through specific codes on the label, a consumer can get the Augmented Reality content where the way the garment can be worn differently, its fabric, and how it was made, or even the culture behind it. What is more, it informs consumers, which in turn improves their attitude toward the product.

Some companies such as H&M have integrated AR into their applications, where they use it to let the consumer scan different pieces of clothing and provide all relevant information about their construction, materials, and sustainability, as well as new ways of wearing a specific garment. This brings in a more aware customer clientèle (H&M, 2023).

Challenges and Opportunities for AR in Fashion Education 

As confirmed by the literature review, AR has huge potential for fashion education and training; nonetheless, some issues must be solved to optimize this technology.

Accessibility and Cost

However, there is evidence of those obstacles and some of the most significant challenges, such as the impracticality of AR for learning fashion due to the high cost of technology. At this time, not all students, schools or designers are in the position to afford better Quality AR hardware and software. AR applications demand both processing power and trained professionals; however, in many cases, less-known learning institutions or independent designers cannot easily implement AR into their portfolio.

Technical Limitations

Secondly, at the same time, AR technology is still in the development stage, and there is a lack of realistic reconstruction of virtual garments. Getting the realism with which fabric falls and how it moves is not easy and designers may have to revert to using physical models to determine the true nature of their clothes in real life.

Nevertheless, as the rating of AR technologies increases, and as new relatively cheap solutions appear in custom contexts, the usage of AR in the educational and training processes connected with fashion is likely to expand. With the adoption of AR in fashion education, design, and consumption, it calls for an opportunity to transform fashion education, design, consumption, sustainability, globalization and engaging customers.

Conclusion

Augmented reality: the decisive technology in the fashion educational process and training, design schools, fashion designers and consumers. The benefits of AR in fashion are broad and range from virtual draping and real time visualization of garments, interactive learning spaces and education for consumers, to sustainability, and the innovations will continue to reshape not only fashion, but what it means to be a consumer in this industry. Thus, the incorporation of AR technology will only grow in impacting fashion education, offering more potentiality in producing unique creativity collaboration and convincing innovation in fashion.

References

• Balenciaga (2022). How AR Technology is Transforming Remote Design at Balenciaga. [Online] Available at: https://www.balenciaga.com
• Deloitte (2022). Virtual Fashion Shows: The Role of AR in Fashion Education. [Online] Available at: https://www.deloitte.com
• H&M (2023). Using AR to Educate Consumers About Sustainable Fashion. [Online] Available at: https://www.hm.com
• Museum of Fine Arts (2022). Augmented Reality Brings 18th Century Fashion to Life. [Online] Available at: https://www.mfa.org
• Smith, J. & Brown, L. (2023). The Future of Fashion Education: AR in Fashion Design Schools.

As we entered a new age of technological advancement, applying augmented reality to fashion, merging digital fashion with NFTs can dictate a new turn in contemporary clothing industry. All these emerging technologies are not only revolutionizing the ways in which individuals apprehend clothes, but also the ways in which individuals consume, wear and possess fashion both in the physical realm and in the digital world. Where AR permits individuals to affix and utilize clothes in cyber sphere, NFTs are enabling fashion houses and customers to establish value and title the cyber accessories. This blog covers exciting interaction of AR, digital fashion, and NFTs, and the way they reshape fashion in the digital environment. AR, digital fashion, and NFTs are unrelated concepts but are integrated to form the next frontier of the fashion industry.

What is Digital Fashion?

Digital fashion is apparel and accessories that are worn only in the digital domain. These items are modeled using computers and unlike actual clothes, these clothing items are not meant to be physical. Rather, virtual clothing and apparel are only pixelized images on a screen or an object made of figures within a virtual reality. For some it can still be a faraway concept nonetheless, digital fashion is best understood in the context of digitalization and virtualization of social life, media presence, and virtual communities in which users strive to introduce themselves.

What are NFTs?

NFT is a type of digital asset that is embedded in a blockchain that guarantees the originality and ownership of a specific digital object. For fashion, NFTs can be employed to provide ownership to digital fashion products such that the owner has a license to a given digital fashion item. It does this because NFTs are built on blockchain which means that an item cannot be copied or duplicated, just like how a physical item may not be copied.

How Augmented Reality and Non-Fungible Tokens Meet in Fashion

Virtual space is an important aspect of digital fashion and augmented reality being a key enabler. AR also permits users to see and ‘try on’ the digital clothes by the use of smart phones, tablets or even the AR glasses. Alongside NFTs, AR creates the basis for users to display their digital-only clothing possessions in virtual environments, thus representing a completely novel form of identity. Today’s trendy clothes firms are launching NFT-linked digital fashion accessories that may be worn into MR environments, shared over social networks, or sold as valuable tokens.

It is in this new environment that AR allows users to engage with digital fashion in an active, experiential manner and helps NFTs ensure that even these objects can be bought, sold, and shown to be valuable in the virtual world.

How AR is Enabling Users to “Wear” Digital-Only Clothing in Virtual Spaces

It has paved way for great potential of using AR in fashion lovers who are interested in the subject of digital fashion. One of the most prominent areas is how one can ‘put on’ exclusive digital accessories through augmented reality. This technology enables one to know how such a fashion looks like on the physical body or in a given setting without having to wear the outfit physically.

Virtual Try-Ons and Social Medias

AR try-ons with the help of Applied Research have also emerged as a novel selling technique in online clothing stores and social networks. As consumers, they are able to ‘try on’ fashion digital accessories and clothing products directly on their smart phones through the AR filters. The Gucci brand has already released an application with AR try-on and the ability to ‘wear’ different garments, accessories – including shoes, bags, even an entire outfit. This trend has started on Instagram and Snapchat, where one wears clothes virtually, and shares them on the social media page as well.

An excellent example of an organization embracing digital fashion is the ‘The Fabricant,’ an Amsterdam based digital fashion house who designs new fashionable digital clothing collection which can be worn in the virtual space through AR technology. In collaborating with AR platforms and SCAA, The Fabricant provides a way for consumers to virtually use the garment, which revolutionized fashion consumers online (The Fabricant, 2023). As for these AR-enabled digital outfits as a new form of self-identification – they are already trending among Gen Z and millennials who spend more and more time navigating virtual spaces.

How NFTs Contributes in the Ownership of Fashion Digital Industry

Thanks to the integration of NFTs, digital fashionable isn’t just the wearing, it’s the possession and curation of specific digital assets. Digital clothes can be purchased with, exchanged for, or even speculated on via different platforms using different forms of blockchain. Such digital assets come with a proof of provenance and ownership as it is with owning a limited piece of luxury commodities.

For example, the fashion brand Rtfkt (which became part of Nike in September 2021) releases exclusive digital sneakers and accessories as NFT. Consumers can buy the NFTs applied to these sneakers and put on the virtual shoes regarding gaming or social networks using AR elements. The scarcity and exclusivity are the sources of value, which has given rise to a new market in NFT fashion novelties (Rtfkt, 2022). Thus, AR lets wear and present avatars in digital clothes and NFT gives the background for ownership, rarity, and value for the digital fashion industry.

The Future of Owning and Showcasing Digital Fashion in the Metaverse

The notion of a collective virtual space in which people are interacting with each other and their surroundings is at the forefront of the metaverse and how digital fashion will evolve in the future. But as Virtual Worlds form part of our everyday life more so the need for self-actualization through digital fashion will continue to grow.

Virtual fashion show or virtual runway shows

The new avatar of the fashion Industry is here, and digital fashion shows and virtual runways are getting popular. It is crucial for brands to stock exchange their collection completely online — digital clothing on 3D models with subsequent virtual trials. These online fashion shows give the designer’s freedom to imagine, create and present things that cannot be done in a physical world.

A perfect example of this is the Metaverse Fashion Week in which designers such as, Dolce & Gabbana , and Elie Saab presented their digital wear at a fully realizable virtual runway (Vogue Business, 2023). Participants sitting in front of PC-assisted avatars could see the digital garments in detail in real-time, and some of these items were sold as NFT.

Customizing Avatars in the Metaverse

Personal avatars work in metaverse as counterparts to their real-life owners, and similarly to tangible environments, avatars in metaverse can be accessorized with digitally crafted clothing objects. NFTs are instrumental in this process as it avails users with original offline fashion wearables that can be fashioned by avatars in different metaverse domains.

For example, Decentral and The Sandbox let individuals buy digital garments acquired with NFTs to adorn their avatars, wear during social meetings, gaming or virtual occasions. The usage of these platforms will only increase and the opportunity for people to buy and invest in more and more exclusive digital assets – the unique products become higher, and this is a promising outlook for NFTs in the fashion sector.

Sustainability and digital fashion.

This is perhaps one of the key forces behind the adoption of digital fashion in as much as it addresses the sustainability needs of the fashion industry.” Digital clothes save on the materials used in making garments, energy used to manufacture them and transport costs that generate pollution associated with physical fashion. Fast fashion clothes can be changed quickly, bought more often, and discarded without any negative impact on the environment; at the same time, consumers can try on digital garments in virtual reality and buy them online without leaving their homes.

Some of the companies that have gone ahead with the use of AR clothing are DressX, which provides customers with exquisite and eco-friendly digital clothing that can be worn in augmented reality. Given the growing awareness of sustainability concerns among consumers (DressX, 2023), digital fashion and AR are ready to give the concept of fast fashion a worthy ecological counterpart.

Strategies and Tactics of Digital Fashion and NFTs

However, there are a few problems that have to be discussed in order to consider the digital fashion and NFTs industry in the metaverse healthier for the future.

Technical Barriers

AR technology is not developed to the maximum level, thus the realistic portrayal of the digital fashion items in the game may differ according to the platform specific or device that is being used. For such format of usage to go viral, it needs to offer frequent users an engaging experience when they are using digital fashion in virtual environments.

Legal and Copyright Issues

When wearing digital fashion items becomes a trade through NFTs, then the issue of propriety rights and copyright is somewhat an enigmatic one. There will be a need to make sure that the people who are involved in creating digital fashion receive their deserved pay for their jobs and to ensure that the designs they do are protected in the digital space this will be of help in the development of this kind of fashion.

Conclusion

The combination of AR, digital fashion, and NFTs is opening fresh avenues for self-expression, ownership, and creativity in fashion. From its provision of virtual spaces wherein users could wear their digitally only clothing and incorporating NFTs as a system for acquiring ownership for showcasing those items, fashion is destined towards the metaverse. From sustainable practices to new business models, exciting experiences for consumers await the future of digital fashion and NFTs that are well on their way to revolutionizing this industry in the years to come.

References

• DressX (2023). The Rise of Sustainable Digital Fashion: A New Approach to Conscious Consumption. [Online] Available at: https://www.dressx.com
• Rtfkt (2022). How Rtfkt is Revolutionizing the Digital Fashion Space with NFT Sneakers. [Online] Available at: https://www.rtfkt.com
• The Fabricant (2023). Pioneering Digital-Only Fashion with AR and NFTs. [Online] Available at: https://www.thefabricant.com
• Vogue Business (2023). Metaverse Fashion Week: The Future of Virtual Runways. [Online] Available at: https://www.voguebusiness.com