A marriage of convenience: why luxury fashion brands and technology companies need each other to survive the data revolution

Nyeplu, Ruth Dorancy

Thesis (M.F.A.) -- Luxury and Fashion Management

Savannah College of Art and Design -- Department of Luxury and Fashion Management

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The purpose of this research is to answer the following questions: In the future data
driven economy, what must technology companies and particularly traditional fashion
brands do to survive? As consumers become increasingly reliant on technology as a
means to monitor every aspect of their daily lives, what role will wearable technology
play in advancing consumers’ goal towards a complete digital lifestyle? How can
wearable technology become a mainstay in consumer culture such that fashion and
technology companies will have access to intimate consumer data that can be used to
inform product development decisions? How must these wearables be designed in order
to appeal to customers, and what functionalities must these wearable devices have in
order to create the best value for consumers, fashion brands and technology companies?
After examining the role that dress plays in fashioning the 21st century body, the
technological enhancements that will expand the function of dress and its relation to the
body, and the emerging generation of affluent, tech savvy luxury consumers, this thesis
concludes by recommending fashion and technology companies form big partnerships
that will enable companies in these two industries to stay competitive in the future data
driven economy.
In order to achieve the above stated goals, this thesis delves into how wearable
technology can become entrenched in consumer culture by examining current problems
with wearable devices, and proposing a more unique and expanded approach to designing and manufacturing wearable technology. Unlike other research on the topic of wearable technology, this paper focuses on intelligent clothing rather than smart devices like smart
watches, smart glasses and smart jewelry, as the next frontier for redefining the function
of dress, and enhancing the experience and interaction that consumers have with fashion
and technology. An important part of this paper is devoted to exploring the advances in technology
that is going to make intelligent clothing a real possibility in the lives of the fashionable
consumer. These advances in technology are deciphered and analyzed to show how highend
fashion brands, which have thus far resisted any embrace of technology in their
products, can use such technologies to give their customers a more wholesome and
exciting experience with their brands. This paper also critically examines the role that the
millennial generation is playing in pushing wearable technology forward by researching
how the millennial generation uses technology, and what their hopes are for the future of
wearable technologies.
Finally, this paper examines the privacy issues associated with wearable
technology as has been described in this paper. After scrutinizing the various security
shortfalls of wearable technologies, and the very real possibility of consumers loosing
any real sense of privacy, this thesis concludes that the inherent benefits of wearable
technology outweighs the associated risks. That being said, this paper addresses some
possible measures that both consumers and technology companies can take to ensure that
the data both consumers and companies create remains secure and out of reach from
those who will seek to abuse it.

Keywords: quantified self, ambient environments, intelligent textiles, big data, Millennials

Atlanta, Ga. : Savannah College of Art and Design

2014-11

PDF ; 175 p. ill. (some col.)