The emergence of the Internet of Things and its possible impact on the fashion industry

The Internet of Things (IoT) is slowly but indisputably changing all the aspects of the fashion industry. This includes smart clothes, engaging and interactive customer experience, combining fashion and health, wearable technology and generating power through solar cells or kinetic energy. The possibilities are endless as this technology is being implemented in our daily clothing items providing us with many benefits even outside the fashion world.

Health benefits

Probably one of the most significant contributions our society can notice in the fashion industry is health-related. Smart clothing has an enormous potential to monitor and measure the health of a person who is wearing these items. We've already scratched the surface with smartwatches which are able to measure heart rate and diabetes, detect a seizure, help with posture, and much more. Besides accessories, some fashion brands have focused on developing lines of smart clothes that will include an ECG and heart rate sensor. This smart clothing will send data to smartphones through an app which will then help you to analyze your health and seek medical advice if needed.

Retail space customization

The power of the IoT can even create a unique shopping experience for customers. In other words, the physical experience can be improved by leveraging technologies which use shoppers' data on online platforms to use it in the actual stores. With a deeper understanding of customer behavior, companies can increase their sales results by giving their customers exactly what they need. With this technology, companies can track customer movements in the store once they log into the app. This way, they can understand their interest across various pieces. We can expect the technology in this area will only grow, and customers will be able to enjoy a more focused, customized, and simpler shopping experience.

Improved supply chain

The ability to improve the supply chain and make it more effective is vital for ethical companies. With help of the IoT, companies can uniquely tell their own stories allowing their customers to even connect with the people who created the items they're wearing and say thank you to them. Moreover, this technology enables companies to tap into their shopper's values and use it to improve the supply chain. However, the IoT has the potential to solve yet another common challenge in fashion: inventory. Finding an efficient way to manage inventory and dispose of the headstock is a major problem, but with the IoT, they can optimize new technologies and make large quantities to order.

Implementing emotions

Fashion communicates emotions. It was only a matter of time until these two worlds become connected in one with the help of technology. However, hardly anybody expected to see new functionalities like regulating body temperature, detecting and relieving stress in our clothing items. When talking about emotions, the real challenge for these companies is to find apps that their consumers actually want and need. After all, we can't talk about full integration of the IoT in the fashion industry without emotions.

Understanding which emotions consumers connect to a brand is what can tremendously improve your communication with them and, consequently, sales results. For instance, what do people feel when they see a picture of Swiss watches? Is it loyalty? Tradition? Security? Or something else? If loyalty is the most common emotion, how to use this emotion and implement it in all stages of the customer journey? Finding a specific emotion is the bridge between a brand and its customers.

Sports player insight

Sports apparel is a big part of the modern-day fashion industry, so it was only a matter of time until sports brands started to realize how much they can benefit from technological solutions. For example, there has been a rise in data analytics in football which provides extremely useful information on players' fitness level during a match. This way, coaches can get an insight into their players’ work rate and decide whether they need to be substituted or not.

Football boots could be another item in sports fashion which has the ability to provide useful data thanks to the IoT. With embedded sensors that would measure every step of a player, coaches would also have data on the strength and angle of impact on the ball. This would be crucial when preparing football teams for big competitions as coaches would have vital information on time to make the right strategic decision.

Conclusion

There is no telling what other areas of the fashion industry will be affected by the development of such powerful technology, but we can only assume it will be revolutionized completely. Having the ability to get information from consumers without wasting their time and adjusting the customer experience accordingly creates endless opportunities. This can improve our life quality as we gain valuable information on our health in such an easy and non-intrusive way. When talking about what the IoT can do for the fashion industry, the profit will significantly increase for various companies as their brands will be completely adjusted to customer's needs and customers will appreciate that.

Source: Datafloq