In this installment of the State of Digital in Fashion, we’ve included a spectrum of insights that affect not only fashion brands but also those who aspire to be at the forefront of culture, connecting authentically with their customers and maximizing the value of technology.

To create this report, we’ve had conversations with fashion technology pioneers and cultural experts alike:

• Daniella Loftus, Founder at DRAUP
• Iris Skrami, Co-Founder at Renoon
• Alexandra Clot, Customer Success Manager at tex.tracer
• Mark Dowds, Founder at RESPONSIBLE
• Mitchell Holder, VP of Marketing at EQL

• Geraldine Wharry, Fashion Futurist
  
  
  

  Chapter Overview

  This report has been written to offer tangible recommendations for marketers and brand managers. As such, each chapter explores a specific trend and concludes with actionable thought starters that you can implement to future-proof your brand:

• Embracing Humanity In Tech: Helping your teams work with technology and the need to explain the craft behind the technology you use.

• Crushing Conflict With Curiosity: How the next generation search for alternative perspectives and how you can encourage their exploration and diligence.

• Uniting With Fandoms: The mainstreamification of niche fan behaviors and how you can authentically connect with fans to enhance their experience.

• Going Beyond Greenwashing: The need for transparency within sustainability standards and what you should prioritize first within your business.

• Summary
  
  
  

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Chapter 1: Embracing Humanity In Tech

The virtual assistant in ‘Her’ is no longer science fiction, it’s a lived reality. Artificial Intelligence is changing how we live and work, but there’s a need to reframe the AI narrative and consider the humanity necessary within technology to thrive.

2023 saw the release of new AI tools, including the virtual assistant Chat GPT and the text-to-image generator Midjourney. These readily available, easily accessible tools can write articles, generate high-resolution images, and even develop ideas. These releases were met by early adopters with excitement but by the wider population with trepidation.

While research suggests that AI could improve GDP by 14% (a value of $15.7 trillion), the question was: how?And articles like ‘Elon Musk says AI will take all our jobs’ and ‘Some workers are worried that ChatGPT will replace their jobs. They might be right’ framed AI as a threat, prompting a moral panic.

As we’ve written about before, we need to stop seeing technology as a binary choice between ‘robots’ and humans and start to reframe the narrative as to how new technologies can enhance society more broadly and our daily lives more specifically. Artificial intelligence and the tools it powers are not a replacement for human values but an addition to them. As Ashley Grice, CEO of the creative consultancy BCG BrightHouse, comments, “In our fascination with innovation, sometimes we neglect to recognize that the true potential of technology isn’t realized unless you have the human touch. Machines take on routine operations, but we have to infuse human creativity, ethics, and strategic judgment”.

For Daniella Loftus, digital fashion founder, influencer, and investor, where she previously felt unable to draw her own designs, when working in collaboration with Midjourney and CLO (a 3D Fashion software), she can now visualize and create her own pieces. Equally, our own Technical Director, Kasper Kuijpers, uses text-to-image generative tools to create his art and observes that when working with AI, “Beyond being creative, you suddenly become aware that you also need to play the observer and the curator role. Reflecting on the outputs the machine gives you, jamming with them, and eventually evaluating them”.

In these examples, AI isn’t an enemy but a collaborator, facilitator, and enabler. Beyond enabling people to better do their existing jobs or expand into a new realm, AI also brings a new realm of job roles. It’s not ‘stealing’ jobs; it’s creating them—like ‘Prompt Engineer,’ which could earn you up to six figures.

To work effectively, AI needs to work hand in hand with people. One of AI’s failings is underlining the human craftsmanship necessary for it to work – in contrast, consider couture fashion. It takes fashion designers hundreds of hours to design, create, and hand-sew elements onto a single garment. And it’s this level of human craftsmanship that increases the garment's perceived value. Without explaining the craft behind the technology that we use, as Daniella Loftus warns, “Technology becomes dehumanized, and you forget that human beings built it.”

Not only does this lack of understanding perpetuate that humans vs ‘robots’ lie, but it also devalues the technology itself. Assuming that AI isn’t just a replacement but that it’ll also be a cheaper, quicker alternative to its human counterpart. There’s a clear need to drive awareness and increase understanding of and even respect for the craft necessary for innovation and technology.

Thought Starters For Brands

1. Tell the story of your technology

Storytelling is an essential part of our culture, and it’s the basis of every piece of brand communication. By showing people behind the technology you use, you’ll enable your audience to understand what you use and the craft it demands; building trust while reinforcing your expertise.

Take Buffer’s Transparent Product Roadmap as an example — originally inspired by Trello’s successful public build — the Buffer team shared their entire project board externally. This transparency garnered community feedback, helped the team build new prototypes, and gave customers (and prospects) a clear view of the effort and time that went into each feature build.

2. Don’t assume technology can replace your team

As Chris Oxborough, technology risk leader at PwC, explains, “Technology is only as good as the people who develop it and monitor its outcomes. But it is also flawed because people are imperfect”. The development of AI tools should be seen as an opportunity to reskill, retain and maximize the talent of the people you already employ.

Research by BCG has proven that investing in your people alongside technology supports business success, seeing results like 2x revenue growth, 1.5x higher share price, and 90% higher levels of employee engagement. By investing in your team and technology, your team will be empowered by technology rather than displaced by it.

We’ve been working in partnership with our clients to support this notion of collaboration. Notably, an AI assistant that we built and trained with the brand’s tone of voice to help speed up ideation and content production. While it has increased efficiencies, the tool has to be maintained and operated by a member of the brand team to ensure a high-quality output; using the technology is an enabler, not a replacement.

Chapter 2: Crushing Conflict With Curiosity

To protest against clickbait, conspiracy theories and corrupt institutions youth are seeking in-depth exploration and understanding from alternative sources; whether they’re investigating the murder of Gabby Petito or learning from pro-Palestinian voices on TikTok.

Distrust in institutions is at an all-time low. It’s reported that Gen Z trusts the government, media, and brands less than its predecessors. Unsurprisingly then, TikTok users have been reported to look for ‘more than a single-right answer’, opting to blend information with intuition. Contrary to the popular opinion that our attention spans are getting shorter, long-form content is still very much in demand. The 8-hour, 52-part “Who Did I Marry” TikTok mini-series by ReesaTeesa has over 434 million views. That's 14 times more views than the most popular season of Friends gained when it first aired.

The range of opinions and unfiltered hot takes available on social media means it’s easy to change your mind. Fashion Futurist Geraldine Wharry argues that “Today's audience can be so fickle - they’re almost mimicking the behavior of social media platforms that constantly change their algorithms.” But, when it comes to making up your mind, is being fickle a bad thing, or does it just show a willingness to embrace and explore multiple answers to the same question?

Regardless, social media can’t be one's only reference point. While it does offer both nuanced and polarizing perspectives, an algorithm incentivized to drive engagement can’t be trusted to be in the best interest of its users. As such, there’s a level of effort and critical thinking required.

The sustained popularity of de-influencing - which is still a form of influence - proves an intention for uncovering new, opposing perspectives. This diligence also applies to the brands we purchase. As Jacqueline Kilikita, R29 UK Deputy Beauty Director, explains “[consumers] are thoroughly researching the brands they buy. They don’t just want to understand the purpose of a product overall, but the purpose of each ingredient that makes it do what it does.”

If this desire for newfound knowledge is harnessed and encouraged, it could become an antidote to today’s polarization. Instead of just a means to navigate a tumultuous landscape, it could unlock a more empathetic one.

Thought Starters For Brands

1. Get clear on your brand core

While it may be tempting to use social media to create reactive campaigns to drive revenue in the short term, it won’t drive success in the long term. Put in the work to establish what you stand for and then communicate it consistently before you mindlessly launch a brat-girl summer campaign. Your audience can spot inauthenticity from a mile away, and they aren’t afraid to call you out if you’re being disingenuous.

2. Embrace information

The content you create can truly add value, assuming you’re clear on the insight(s) your brand can offer. If your audience is searching for information and opposing perspectives, make it easier for them to find it: enable them to dig deeper into specific topics, include multiple sources, and, better yet, link to further reading.

Take the Impact Report we created for Ortrium as an example; we included multiple depths of information for users to choose from and definitions within the text to unpack the exclusionary terminology used within the sustainability sector.

3. Foster a company culture of curiosity

Apply the same willingness to explore from your audience to reframe and reconsider your brand, business, and products. How might an alternative perspective impact your supply chain, the ingredients you use, or the people you serve? Wharry explains, “A curious mindset is an opportunity [for brands] to take their audiences on a journey with them by creating new touchpoints and experiences.”

Chapter 3: Uniting With Fandoms

In a search for connection and in a bid to maximize pockets of joy, there’s been a shift in the adoption, sharing, and normalization of what would have once been seen as ‘extreme’ fan behaviors. There’s no such thing as cringe-worthy when ‘niche’ is now ‘normal.’

Zoe Scaman documents in her report, The New Formula for Fans, that where social media used to offer reach and breadth, it's now shifting towards niches and depth. From networks full of people we know but don’t necessarily share our interests with to new platforms built on our passions and preferences where you can openly share obsessions and obscurities. It’s no longer about fitting in; it’s about finding our people, and the line between fan and non-fan is becoming increasingly blurred.

As Allegra Rosenberg explains, “The tactics and practices developed by devotees are comfortably appropriated by the masses. Loyal nerds stood in line and dressed up for The Matrix and Harry Potter sequels in theatres decades ago; in 2023, the glossiest TikTok girlies were showing up to the cinema in Barbie fits, and nobody is embarrassed at all”.

It’s not surprising, then, that ‘The Loneliest Generation,’ which has fewer shared cultural touch points, prefers content and creators that facilitate connection: gatekeeping is out, and embracing people with open arms is in. Take, for example, Chappell Roan, the singer who wrote ‘Hot-to-go,’ complete with a choreographed dance, specifically so that fans can participate in her concerts. Or how fans spent the summer of 2023 coming together offline to forge connections en-masse for events like Barbenheimer, Taylor Swift’s Era’s Tour, Beyonce’s Renaissance Tour, and Harry Styles’ Love On Tour.

While there is a definite blurring between fans and non-fans, there is still a spectrum of fans. Mitch Holder, VP of Marketing at EQL, describes “Fanatics (the most involved), Enthusiasts, Casuals and Indifferents. The closer on the scale someone is to being a ‘fanatic,’ the longer they’ll usually engage”. YouTube’s annual report supports this classification and proposes that while a Casual fan may just consume media, Super Fans (Or Fanatics, by Holder’s terminology) routinely create media about the object of their fandom.

Creators like Ally Sheehan dedicate their channels to Taylor Swift and enable new fans to become Super Fans with content that unpacks everything from her lyrics to cultural impact to tutorials on how to make friendship bracelets to share with other fans.

The volume of fan-made content has enabled a new type of cultural unpacking and reinterpretation. People aren’t just talking about ‘that show’ during a watercooler moment in the office, they are falling down the rabbit hole as soon as a piece of content has been launched, by debating it in the comment sections of the fan-made reactions. According to YouTube, 66% of Gen Z Americans agree that they often spend more time watching content that discusses or unpacks something than the thing itself.

Media scholar Henry Jenkins suggests that “fandom’s very existence represents a critique of conventional forms of consumer culture” while also providing “a space within which fans may articulate their specific concerns about sexuality, gender, racism, colonialism, militarism, and forced conformity.” Not only do fans actively generate their creative material, but they often do so in ways that critique the media they are consuming.

The mainstream-ification of fans and their respective niches is a positive example of the algorithms encouraging people’s passion and the democratisation of storytelling and creativity. More than just building connections between people and expanding the fictional ‘worlds’ in which they exist, it encourages people to critique what they are consuming, show up as themselves, always: letting their ‘freak flag’ fly.

Thought Starters for Brands

1 Enabled and extened fanfiction

Find ways that your brand can play an authentic role within fandoms. How can you share more of what fans love? How can your brand make fan fiction a reality?

Take Airbnb’s Icons as an example, a ‘new category of extraordinary experiences [...] that let you step into worlds you’ve only ever dreamed of’. Thanks to Airbnb, Disney’s fans can sleep in Carl Fredricksen’s house from UP, Marvel’s X-Men fans can stay in the X-Mansion (and even train in the Danger Room), and, as of August 2024, Polly Pocket fans can have a slumber party at the ‘tiny but might’ Polly Pocket house.

2. Create space for participation

If you’re due to launch something people genuinely care about, let them be involved. As Mitch Holder explains, “Your fans are not simply buying your products. They’re buying the stories, the characters, and narratives, and it’s in your best interest and theirs to nurture that. The transaction should always be two-directional”. Taylor Swift wrote the playbook on Easter Eggs - how to incorporate hidden messages for fans to decode - ahead of your next launch, consider how your brand could create a multiplayer puzzle for fans to solve.

Should you host a real-life event, make the fan experience a priority and consider how you could enhance it for them.

Take Youngblud’s festival as an example. He’s planning on creating activations specifically for his fans, like a Youngblug museum where fans can pour over artifacts from his career or the ‘Make a Friend’ tent where solo attendees can bond over a shared interest. As Mitch Holder continues, “If you successfully create something that has connected people over a common interest or shared passion, you now need to foster that passion and find ways to protect it”.

Chapter 4: Going Beyond Greenwashing

Consumers are sick of greenwashing BS from brands. They expect brands to take responsibility for their business and its impact and share examples of positive change. Climate targets from policymakers have made sustainability a focus, and emerging technologies are making it possible. Greenwashing litigation cases have risen sharply due to the increasing awareness of the impacts of climate change and the dubious claims made by brands. The Grantham Research Institute found a total of 81 greenwashing cases were filed against companies between 2015 and 2022.

In 2022, a lawsuit was filed against fast-fashion giant H&M by Chelsea Commodore for their misleading sustainability marketing, like their Close the Loop initiative. In the lawsuit, Commodore claims H&M has created the illusion “that old clothes are simply turned into new garments, or that clothes will not end up in a landfill,” which is misleading as “recycling solutions either do not exist or are not commercially available at scale for the vast majority” of H&M's products. Going further, Commodore argues, “It would take H&M more than a decade to recycle what it sells in a matter of days.”

In lieu of a universal definition of sustainability or benchmark of actions required to be deemed ‘sustainable’ it’s easy for brands to fall into a greenwashing trap, regardless of their intentions. Hopefully, legislation - like the Corporate Sustainable Reporting Directive - can force systemic progress. But in the meantime, there are a few brands that prove it’s possible to commit to the planet while continuing to drive growth. Brands like GANNI.

In 2019, GANNI set out to reduce 30% of its emissions per kilogram of product produced. They increased this target to 50% in 2022. In that same year, they achieved every sustainability goal outlined in their 2019 sustainability strategy; while increasing revenue by more than 30% annually. Revenue that they were only able to increase as a result of cutting their margins, as GANNI Founder, Nicolaj Reffstrup, explains despite the rise in climate awareness “There’s no consumer willing to pay a premium for sustainability”.

Companies like Renoon and tex.tracer make sustainability targets measurable. In the specific case of blockchain tex.tracer enables brands to map out their supply chain and collect primary source ESG and footprint data on facility and product level. The platform then verifies this data using time and geo-location stamps and peer-to-peer reviews to confirm authenticity. Brands then can share the product journey and footprint through their Digital Product Passport. All of this is available in a single platform. Sustainability doesn’t happen in a vacuum, especially in the fashion industry, where subcontracting is common practice.

tex.tracer also facilitates information sharing between the brands that subscribe to the platform, reducing the workload of supply chain partners in the chain. As Alexandra Clot, Client Success Manager explains, “When one supply chain partner has uploaded their company information, it’s visible to all brands on the platform who work with this partner”.

Together, brands on the platform aren’t just sharing information, they are starting to work together to act and drive change, like enforcing living wages for factory workers.

Technology, like that of tex.tracer, reduces the barrier of entry for brands trying to improve their sustainability standards. This application and adoption of blockchain technology is creating a more unified, collaborative industry, in the absence of universal standards.

Thought Starters for Brands

1. Prioritize policy and back it up with budget

As long as climate change is one of the main threats to global health, legislation around sustainability practices will only increase. Think of sustainability standards not as a box to tick but as an opportunity to better your business.

To genuinely drive this change within your organization, efforts must be accountable at a board level and supported with a budget to be implemented effectively. As Mark Dowds, Founder of RESPONSIBLE — a platform that makes selling pre-owned clothes seamless — explains, “If you aren’t financially investing in it, [change] won't happen”.

2. Start with your product

Simply offsetting your impact with fragmented initiatives like a plant-based office canteen isn’t enough. Break down what goes into your product, and then assess what can be made better from a holistic perspective.

As Iris Skrami, co-founder of Digital Product Passport provider Renoon details the “switch from a brand-led sustainability message to a product-led message is fundamental [...]” while “getting into your supply chains and changing how your products are made is difficult, that’s the core of your work to meet the new guidelines and genuinely become a sustainable company”.

3. Transparent communication

In a category tainted by greenwashing and pseudo-scientific sustainability promises, transparency is mandatory. Once your sustainability practices are in place and established, consider how you communicate your efforts with customers and stakeholders.

Renoon has started profiling users based on the information they’re most interested in – from bigger-picture social change stories to data points. Interactive reports and personalized email campaigns are just two ways to equip customers to make informed and conscious choices. Dutch retailer Zeeman uses storytelling, video content and impact reports to offer their customers a transparent look into their sustainability efforts.

Summary

In this edition of State of Digital in Fashion, we explored four themes that are moving culture in 2024.

1. Embracing Humanity In Tech

New technologies offer possibilities for collaboration, not competition. Finding a balance between humans and tech can not only lead to efficiencies but it can also improve employee engagement and business success. But, we need to increase the understanding of the human craft necessary for innovation: technology is only as good as the people who develop and monitor it.

2. Crushing Conflict With Curiosity

Youth are seeking in-depth exploration and understanding from alternative sources. Existing within the context of clickbait, propaganda, and conspiracy theories, they blend information with intuition. We must encourage this commitment to curiosity through transparent sourcing, sharing multiple perspectives, and enabling further reading.

3. Uniting With Fandoms

Fan behaviors once perceived as niche are now normal. At a time when people are trying to maximize pockets of joy and looking to social media to connect through their passions and preferences, it’s not about fitting in but finding your people and letting your freak flag fly. We must find authentic ways to enhance fan fiction and extend the worlds and spaces they occupy.

4. Going Beyond Greenwashing

People are sick of greenwashing and pseudo-scientific sustainability promises. Together with legislators (and a rise in lawsuits against misleading claims, brands are being pushed to do better and adopt the many new technologies that make measuring a business's impact possible. We need to invest in sustainability efforts that are built from the product up, and invested in at a board level in a bid to drive lasting change before we even consider communicating about sustainability practices.

This Article is written by Sara Keegan and Sarah Warsaw. The graphic were made by Alexia Boiteau. Special thanks to everyone interviewed:

• Daniella Loftus, DRAUP
• Iris Skrami, Renoon
• Alexandra Clot, tex.tracer
• Mark Dowds, RESPONSIBLE
• Mitch Holder, EQL
• Geraldine Wharry

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