What Is Fashion Tech?

Ever wondered how technical fashion really is? How tech can exist in something as historically glamorous and textile-driven as luxury retail? The enchanting hemisphere that is high fashion has captured the hearts, closets, and bank accounts of generations, spanning gender, race, and socio-economic backgrounds — through the presentation of pieces such as HERMÈS by Martin Margiela Autumn Winter 1999 Poncho Coat or Simone Rocha’s Criss Cross Tracker Ballerina Flats.

From the outside, fashion feels cultural, commercial, and tactile. When we talk about AI or blockchain, fashion might not be the first thing that comes to mind. Technology is no longer on the fringes of this industry. It’s embedded — in how we design, produce, sell, and even experience clothing.

The term Fashion Tech, coined by Mary Korlin Downs, founder of All Things Fashion Tech, captures this intersection. It spans e-commerce, product design, data science, virtual experiences, sustainable manufacturing, and more. Fashion in 2025 (and beyond) is evolving through digital transformation without losing the intimacy and creativity we love.

At SCADstyle 2025, spearheaded by SCAD Fash’s executive director Alex Delotch Davis, this evolution took centre stage. Students, emerging designers, global fashion executives, and creatives gathered to join in conversation around what fashion is, where it sits, and where it’s headed. Below are some key takeaways from that conversation. As someone who loves every part of fashion, from its history, allure, challenges, and innovation, these insights felt especially thrilling to witness in real time.

AI: Fashion Design’s Emerging Assistant

AI is transforming fashion from behind the seams — optimising workflows, fueling inspiration, and reimagining how garments come to life.

Creative Design and Inspiration

- Designers are using AI as a creative collaborator. For example, AI can analyse runway archives, trend reports, social media, and even high/mid-luxury blogs to forecast trends. You might input a palette inspired by Thierry Mugler’s Summer Spring collection, a silhouette from Helmut Lang, and let AI generate design directions that riff on both.

- Rachel Bassler, director of CAD and product innovation at Tiffany & Co., emphasised that “AI isn’t replacing creativity… it’s enhancing it. You still need to trust your design instincts first.” In practice, that means using A.I. not to generate entire collections but to spark new ideas and expand your visual vocabulary.

Product Development and Customisation

- AI’s impact here is enormous. Virtual prototyping with tools like Figma or Proto.io helps designers visualise garment fit, drape, and structure — reducing physical samples and waste. This is especially useful when designing for complex silhouettes or working across size ranges. The backend is product work like Warby Parker’s Virtual Try-On Experience which allows consumers to test the fit, dimensions and style of eyewear in the comfort of their own homes.

- It also powers hyper-personalisation. AI can map customer preferences, body types, and purchase histories to suggest size-inclusive or made-to-order options. Imagine if your favorite designer offered a trench tailored not just to your size but also to your posture, local climate, day-to-day life and movement. This allows both automation and personalisation to coexist equally for the consumer.

Manufacturing and Production

- This is where optimisation shines. Supply chain AI helps source better, more sustainable fabrics, while simulation tools streamline the production process, reducing waste and improving time to market.

- As Rob Gruhl, senior principal technical program manager at Nordstrom, put it: “It’s about unlearning old habits around tech and applying the creative instincts you already have to new tools.” In other words, AI doesn’t ask fashion creatives to code — it asks them to be partners.

Patterns and Textiles: Where Tech Meets Touch

Pattern-making and textile development remain some of the most intricate — and time-consuming — aspects of fashion design. From 20-hour tailoring to full-on collection grading, these tasks demand technical and artistic precision.

At SCAD, rising senior Teresa Zacapa shared how software like Clo 3D cut her design time in half — down from weeks to just 15–20 hours for concept development. “The time it would usually take for me to craft a concept for a collection automatically decreases to 15-20 hours using Clo,” Teresa shared. “Normally, it can be really time-consuming crafting a collection by hand because if you make an error with a measurement or something doesn’t come out the way you initially envisioned, you have to start all over again… by hand.”

That last point stuck with me. Clo 3D doesn’t replace the final garment — it supports the path to get there. And that’s really the promise of tech in fashion overall: not to erase what’s tactile, emotional, or human — but to help designers, producers, and creatives spend more time on the parts that make fashion so special in the first place.

Personalisation in Advertising: The Human Element Remains

In fashion advertising, there’s growing experimentation with AI-generated “digital twins” — computer-generated models that pose, move, and model just like humans. Red Godfrey, VP creative at Nordstrom, noted that some brands are leaning into this, creating campaigns entirely with AI avatars.

But she raises a thoughtful challenge: “One digital twin could also be ten thousand digital twins. So do we only want to see one person, one face in the world?”

The answer — at least for now — seems to be no. There’s something irreplaceable about the physical alchemy of an editorial shoot. “When you’ve got the right crew, magic happens on the set with the right photographer, stylist, and model - that is how some of the most iconic shots in the world are developed,” Red added.

As a fashion observer, faux consumer and participant, I find this tension fascinating — the efficiency of AI vs. the messiness and indescribable outcome of a traditional production is one to be explored. The hard truth is that saving money, time and cutting costs on all levels in production and any industry is imperative. However, we’ve hit a point where we, as an industry, have to figure out how to leverage the brilliance of AI as a tool by integrating it into the traditional, humanistic process.