Virtual Reality in Fashion

Virtual reality is being harnessed by businesses everywhere regardless of industry or sphere of activity and the fashion industry is no exception. Virtual reality fashion is a big hit with consumers because it empowers them to make more informed buying decisions. Let’s take a closer look at exactly how does virtual reality fashion work and what are some interesting use cases.

Virtual Reality and Fashion

The fashion industry has always looked to tap into an unknown market to drive growth. Usually, this meant opening new stores in previously unserviced locations, but then e-commerce came along and changed everything. The next big thing is a virtual reality since it is very engaging and offers a level of user immersion that cannot be rivaled by any other technology. Virtual reality can become a powerful and indispensable tool to connect and interact with customers.

The biggest segment of the fashion industry that is being changed by VR is apparel. Times are rapidly changing. People no longer go to a showroom or their favorite store to try on clothes and to see whether or not an item suits them. Instead, we see virtual humans, 3D avatars, who are modeling the clothes we are interested in. This saves customers a lot of time and money, not to mention the convenience of doing all of your shopping without ever leaving your house.

Another interesting example of virtual reality in the fashion industry is simulating the retail store itself. Thanks to VR, businesses no longer have to guess whether a new store layout is beneficial to customers or whether product placement is convenient.  Virtual Reality developers can create an exact replica of a store but in virtual reality and the retailers would have to do is ask some volunteers to put on VR glasses and browse through the virtual store as if they were in a physical one. The glasses can track motions, so you know what the users noticed or paid attention to and their movements throughout the virtual store.

Some brands have already begun implementing VR in their stores. Tommy Hilfiger became the first big brand to offer VR headsets in their stores, which allowed customers to immerse themselves in their autumn/winter virtual reality fashion show. Also, the luxury brand Coach has installed VR headsets in 10 malls around the country to give their customers an all-access view of their newest runway show. Speaking of fashion shows, let’s take a look at an interesting Virtual Reality Fashion Showcase that recently occurred at the Ukrainian Fashion Week 2018.

Virtual Reality Fashion Design at the Ukrainian Fashion Week

The Ukrainian fashion week is the biggest fashion event in Ukraine and they also organize many other events around the world. They needed to find some sort of way of photo scanning the models, who are wearing the designer clothing and transfer it all into virtual reality. The idea was to create an all-encompassing visual ideological concept that the designers could present in fashion shows at New York and Tokyo fashion weeks respectively. The project itself needed to be taken to a whole new level by uniting the very best the industry had to offer all in one place. This way, the fashion would be associated with new technologies, graphic design, VR, video, and production.

After carefully analyzing the client’s request, we picked out the best visualization concept that totally corresponded with all of the requirements and the project was realized at the shortest possible time. The development consisted of 128 photo scans of each model, where all photos were taken simultaneously from all possible angles. These photos were later collected into a single object and our 3D designers transferred the photos into a virtual reality room filled with animated details, producing a very exciting showcase.

As a result of implementing the project, the Ukrainian Fashion Week was singled for their creativity out of all the other participants which helped them reach a new level in terms of clothing presentations. This project also helped attract the attention of other high-profile guests from New York and Tokyo Fashion Weeks and was covered extensible in international fashion magazines. The project helped the designers increase their authority and investment attractiveness on the international stage.

In terms of Ukrainian fashion as a whole, it showed the entire world how creative Ukrainian fashion designers are and it really helped boost Ukraine as a fashion thought and technology leader in the international fashion market.