The Global Fashion Industry's March Toward 2035: Digital Innovation Leading the Way
March 25, 2024
As the global fashion industry strides toward the year 2035, a report released by Roland Berger Consulting, titled "2035 Global and China Fashion Industry Outlook," unveils five major global trends for the industry and indicates how these trends will reshape the future of fashion. The report emphasizes that digital transformation will be the key driver for the development of the fashion industry in the coming years, reshaping the relationship between brands and consumers.
Global Top Five Trends
The report's mention of the top five global trends foretells a profound transformation in the fashion industry, affecting not only product design and manufacturing but also consumer purchasing behavior and corporate operational models.
Firstly, the rise of "viewing" fashion implies that digital fashion items and digital experiences will become new consumer hotspots, breaking the boundaries of traditional fashion consumption. Consumers will experience fashion through technologies such as virtual reality and augmented reality, providing designers with new platforms for display and offering consumers an immersive shopping experience.
Secondly, the "borderless" integration between brands will provide a continuous source of rejuvenation for brands through the innovative recombination of value elements. This indicates that brands will no longer be limited to a single product line or market positioning but will explore new market opportunities and consumer groups through cross-border collaboration.
Thirdly, the advocacy of aesthetic freedom will allow niche aesthetics to become popularized, and mass aesthetics will become more diversified. This trend reflects the growing demand from consumers for personalized and customized products, requiring fashion brands to pay more attention to consumer individuality, offering more choices and customization services.
Fourth, the joint drive of the creative industry chain will replace the single brand's creativity, promoting the development of fashion trends. This indicates that the fashion industry will increasingly rely on the innovative capabilities of the entire industry chain, from raw material suppliers to designers to retailers, with each link influencing fashion trends.
Lastly, the shift from "fast" fashion to "sensitive" fashion emphasizes that businesses must maintain a keen sense of consumer demand to rapidly respond to market changes. This trend requires fashion companies not only to quickly capture market trends but also to swiftly adjust production and supply chain strategies to meet consumers' constant pursuit of speed and novelty.
Industry Upgrade and Digital Solutions
The report points out that these trends will drive the fashion industry to upgrade in three major directions: two "upgrades," one "decoupling," and extreme flexibility. Brand upgrade and production element upgrade require the global fashion industry, in the context of deepening globalization, to control core production elements and release brand value. This means that brands need to seek and utilize the best production resources globally while enhancing brand value to maintain competitiveness.
Decoupling of the industry chain means the separation of brands from supply chains, creating opportunities for the emergence of new and innovative brands. This trend will encourage the fashion industry to become more specialized and diversified, lowering industry barriers and providing more opportunities for emerging brands.
Extreme agility is required for global fashion companies to hone themselves to cope with market demands, demographic evolution, and hot spot changes. This requires companies to establish flexible supply chains that can quickly adapt to market changes and use technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence for precise market forecasting and inventory management.
In terms of digital solutions, the report emphasizes that digital capabilities will be the cornerstone of the transformation in the global fashion industry. From raw material innovation to intelligent manufacturing, to agile response based on consumer demand, the application of digital technology will run through the entire industry chain. The development of technologies such as AI, cloud computing, and big data will bring unprecedented efficiency improvements and transparency to the global fashion industry.
Future Outlook
Looking toward 2035, the report predicts that global fashion brands will exhibit multiple brand layouts, brand globalization, breakthroughs by niche innovative brands, platform models on the supply or brand side, and cross-border and overseas platform models in five development directions. These models will present diverse development trends based on different brand market positioning and business models. Brands will need to find a balance between "breaking" and "establishing," daring to break out of their design comfort zones while maintaining the enduring legacy of their brand DNA.
Roland Berger's report not only provides profound insights into the future development trends of the global fashion industry but also offers brands strategic directions for thought. As the fashion industry continues to evolve, the global market will witness a series of innovations and transformations, leading fashion trends into a new era.
About TRENDEE
TRENDEE is an AI-powered fashion analytics platform that integrates trend discovery and AI design. By harnessing the power of AI, TRENDEE empowers fashion brands to stay ahead of the curve, offering actionable insights and cutting-edge design solutions tailored to individual brand needs.
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