Fashion+and+Technology



By Theresa Donofrio

__**Technology and the Fashion Industry **__

For one of the largest industries in the world, and technology development in its prime, it is inevitable that fashion and technology would soon be working hand in hand. Fashion is such a fast paced industry, without technology on your side it would be impossible to keep up with current trends! Technology has greatly improved the world of fashion as far as designing, producing, and marketing.



__Designing Software: __ Fashion design software significantly assists the work of a fashion designer and allows for a more operative performance. This software helps save money, time, and energy. Designers now have the abilities to experiment with infinite textiles, designs, patterns, and backgrounds to achieve the perfect piece, without the worry of wasting materials. For the designer, it is like having a sketchbook, fabric store, and color pallet all in one easy program. Pieces can even be designed in 3D to see a more accurate version of what will soon be the tangible item. Software also helps in ensuring accurate measurements in garments, which reduces the factor of error greatly. Some well-known design software include: Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. There are  two types of software a designer can choose from, vector-based, or raster-based. Vector images allow for greater resolution and quality, however Raster provides a more realistic and natural-looking picture—however do not re-size always proportionately. The preference is up to the designer, and options within each software branch are (Screenshot from Fashion Toolbox 4.0)  essentially limitless.
 * __Aid in Production & Buying: __** Outsourcing has allowed garments to be produced faster and cheaper, and without technology it would take practically ages to communicate with companies around the world. Internet and phone communication has allowed this part of the business to become nearly instantaneous. A company in the USA can place an order to its place of outsource in literally minutes via internet, along with tracking the production and its status of completion. Specialized software helps buyers and merchandise managers follow sales in order to purchase products much more efficiently. “Thanks to the Internet, fashion coordinators, fashion directors, display specialists, stylists, and advertising and sales promotion people are able to keep in touch with the pulse of style on a minute-by-minute basis. Department managers, consumer consultants and store managers can determine sales for an entire department, chain or region by pulling up totals on the spot.”

**__Advances in Marketing: __** “Marketing fashion is a game in visual communication”. Marketing is everywhere, and in nearly everything, and technology makes it so much easier to create a compelling visual appearance to win over buyers. It is impossible to log onto your social networking site and not see an advertisement! With the widely used internet and television, a celebrity can wear an item of clothing and it can be seen by millions of people every day making it a trend. Worldwide known and used websites like “lookbook.nu” offer fashion inspiration to the world simply by uploading a photo of them on a blog!

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