Digital fashion is often touted as a more sustainable alternative to traditional fashion. Since there is no physical production involved, there is no need for raw materials, manufacturing, or shipping, potentially reducing the environmental impact associated with the fashion industry. At the same time, the discussion around digital products and their sustainability is a point of contention on its own, since the ever-growing need for larger server farms, computers and their energy consumption need to be weighed against traditional forms of production. The question to investigate in this instance, therefore is “are digital fashion design technologies a net positive for sustainability in the fashion industry?”. The following is a brief discussion of points for and against this claim and suggestions for further research.
To begin this investigation, we must first narrow in on the exact point of contention we are about to engage with. First and foremost, it is important to define that the following discussion explicitly concerns the adoption of digital design techniques and their impact on the fashion industry as an integrated part of the whole design process. The aim of this discussion is decidedly not to isolate digital fashion design as its own standalone practice and discuss its impact on sustainability and the environment in isolation. It is not the intent of this text to view digital fashion practices detached from the overall fashion industry in this particular case.
Having defined the field of discussion thus, we can make comparisons on the impact of digital versus traditional design practices. A useful starting point is to identify which steps and practices in traditional fashion design have the potential to be replaced with digital design technologies in the first place.
One obvious use case for digital methods is the design process itself. Idea finding, sketching and mood boarding can all be done with digital tools, avoiding paper waste. This, however has quite a small impact on sustainability in regards to the entire process.
Another frequently identified step in the production process is the prototyping phase. Prototyping fashion design products is an often time- and material intensive process. Using digital prototyping methods has the potential to cut down on cost, time and material usage in the overall process. Designers can more quickly explore and test design ideas and prototype garments in digital space. They can also utilise the findings from digital prototyping to optimise the production process by optimising pattern constellations and material usage.
Finally, digital design methods can entirely replace the production phase if the collection or piece of clothing is designed to stay digital altogether. Here is also where we need to make an important distinction and introduce a vital caveat in the discussion so far: the distinction between using digital methods for traditional fashion production versus designing entirely for the digital space.
Many designers rightfully point out that in designing for a physical collection, all the above mentioned steps can hardly be entirely replaced with digital methods. Haptics, material behaviours, look and overall impression of textiles might be simulated in digital programs, but the simulation often does not translate to the reality of its physical counterpart, making any efforts to replace the traditional methods obsolete.
Are digital fashion design tools therefore only an improvement to sustainability if the collections they produce stay within the digital space altogether? To answer this question, we would have to make calculations based on a predefined assumption, which we would have to agree on beforehand. One such assumption that is often proposed is that digital-only fashion products might have the potential to replace cheaply made, trendy fast fashion items, clothing pieces that go through the most rapid trend cycles and are usually purchased and discarded within the same year or even within the same fashion season. Proponents of this idea suggest that developments in augmented reality applications might hold the potential for future digital-only fashion to be “worn” in digital space and made visible in the physical space by AR devices, enabling the “wearers” to showcase their digital-only outfits in this way. But this idea seems quite utopian and depends entirely on a massively increased prevalence of AR device usage within the next years and decades. It might not be an impossible development, but, looking at the history of AR devices and their usage, it seems an unlikely development as of now.
Another argument for digital-only fashion items gaining popularity is the nature of fashion merchandising and influencer culture that depends mostly on representing outfits on digital platforms such as TikTok and Instagram. For these platforms, physical ownership of a garment is not necessary. Rather, the models or influencers wanting to showcase a new outfit could just as well rely on digital fashion for their content.
All the above mentioned strategies and theories on developments in the digital design market are interesting and hold potential for the future, but it seems that even with the novelty of digital fashion contributing to its popularity, it will ultimately lose out to traditional fashion in the long run. Because fashion remains a physical and haptic medium, digital fashion might only have the potential to supplement existing practices. From today’s point of view, it seems far-fetched that digital garments might replace sectors of traditional fashion in the consumer market any time soon. Therefore, the question of its sustainability impact remains a debatable point as well. Server farms and computer technologies that are necessary for producing digital fashion in the first place might even worsen the overall environmental impact of the already problematic fashion industry. Despite all these pessimistic outlooks, digital design methods might still hold potential for improving the fashion industry’s sustainability. But, as all other questions in this young design discipline, this needs to be analysed and researched in much more depth in order to draw meaningful conclusions on its overall impact.
Further reading:
Benson, Sophie (2021) Is digital fashion really the industry’s eco-friendly saviour? Dazed Digital. https://www.dazeddigital.com/fashion/article/53877/1/digital-fashion-clothing-industry-saviour-climate-sustainability-the-sims-avatar
Daria Casciani, Olga Chkanikova & Rudrajeet Pal (2022) Exploring the nature of digital transformation in the fashion industry: opportunities for supply chains, business models, and sustainability-oriented innovations, Sustainability: Science, Practice and Policy, 18:1, 773-795, DOI: 10.1080/15487733.2022.2125640
Hoekstra, Charlotte (2021). Digital fashion for sustainable change: A strategy for digital fashion at Tommy Hilfiger (Master Thesis). TU Delft. https://repository.tudelft.nl/islandora/object/uuid:d268a227-5be0-4969-bf6d-b2edd5fef0c8?collection=education
