So what does fashiontech mean? Is it even possible to break down such a vast industry? After all, the latest prediction puts the fashion world on track to $2.4 trillion worldwide this year, after rising 3.5 percent over the previous year.
The Industry Is In Flux
The way people buy clothes and invest in fashion trends is shifting: It’s getting faster, thanks to the rapid turnover inherent to the internet world, and fashion providers are becoming more responsive as a result. Some platforms are moving into the fashiontech world and leveraging their data by adding some form of “buy” buttons to popular posts. Instagram is a natural fit, as is Pinterest. Here’s how I explained Pinterest’s rock-solid ecommerce future in a post last year: But the biggest changes don’t need to be limited to massive companies. Here’s how a startup model can fit in with the industry.
The 3 Categories of Fashiontech
TechCo contributor Lisa Morales-Hellebo has written a white paper on the emerging fashiontech investment landscape. There, she breaks down the fashiontech that matters into three main categories: data, supply chain, and future commerce. “Data” refers to tech that allows the industry to better understand and track its customers’ whims. Companies in the fashiontech data arena might be in-store or online, and might offer personalization to customers or to retailers. Meanwhile, those in supply chain help to streamline the design, production, and distribution of the items themselves, and those in the future of commerce innovate and experiment with entirely new ways to connect with audiences. A few fashion sectors of the future include new data-powered markets like wearables and smart clothing. Taken together, these three areas of interest light the path that an entrepreneur should take to succeed in the world of fashiontech.
Go B2B
In fasion, B2C businesses have a tough time earning the recognition from the public that they need in order to thrive. But a B2B startup, focused in one of the three main categories of fashiontech, can rapidly grow. Why? Because fashion companies can read the writing on the wall and know they’ll need to evolve with their industry. They know the three categories above, even if the typical consumer doesn’t. As Morales-Hellebo puts it: It’s a good time to be in fashiontech. Whether you’re a B2B entrepreneur or an investor looking into the fashiontech market, knowing the three key pillars of fashion disruption will open the world of fashiontech up to you. Read more about fashion tech and trends at TechCo
