Fashion AND Technology Essay Samples

Technology is all about the use of methods and techniques in the production of goods or services or the accomplishment of objectives. Technology has had an influence on the society and the overall environment in various ways most of them being positive. For instance, the economy of many countries has developed their production scale at a reduced cost (San Martin, 150-152). Most of the production undertaken through up to date technologies have been sophisticated and environmental friendly that is also a benefit to human life. Although technology has been accepted and widely adopted in almost all industries, its uptake and development in the fashion industry has been slow compared to other sectors.
Fashion is a popular trend in the styles of dress and ornament or manners of behavior. Human beings use technology advancements in the production of goods and services in order to improve the efficiencies in the processing of the goods. Fashion entails remaining updated with the latest changes in the mode of life and behavior in relation to dressing, shoes, bags, music, language (San Martin, 150-153). It covers all aspects of social life in different circles.
Technology through the frequent improvement and changes in the way of production has aided by a great deal the growth of current fashion. As far as living style is concerned as well as dressing of individuals in a given country or worldwide is concerned. Modernized machines and skills that are available have helped in the updating and promotion of fashion in the current world. Digital migration of countries has facilitated development in fashion as no single individual who call themselves digital are free to continue with their past way of life. Each and every individual want to remain updated with anything new in terms of fashion.
Technology has been applied in the fashion industry in ensuring that quality, quantity, as well as variety fashion products, are produced at cheap costs and within a short period. Some of these contributions of technology in fashion include technological advancements that are present in the textile industries. Styles have been improved with the materials in use; for example some clothes exhibit 3D prints on them. The application of 3D printing in fashion is quite extensive ranging from 3D printed dresses, shoes and even handbags. The products are a new thing compared to what has been in existence thus technology has enabled innovation in the whole fashion industry.
The first company to use 3D printers to print out a comfortable set of clothes was the Electro loom. This Electro loom has the capacity of producing clothes having complicated shapes from fibers. The 3D materials printer enables people to print out clothes at their pleasure thus helping people to save time because a physical visit to a shop to get their clothes printed is not necessary. The team behind Electroloom is working daily to create an entirely working printer and that the 3D cloth printer will enable people to print out designs via another CAD file. The Electroloom is also able to print and produce well wearable clothes using cotton (Olsson 40-50).
There are many benefits of 3D printing that make the technique so popular. One of them is customization. Customization 3D printing has been applied in industrial, local and personal levels and has brought with it several benefits and value addition to the products. For example; 3D printing of clothes allow for mass customization whereby one can personalize products according to individual needs and requirements. Printing in 3D has also enabled numerous products to be manufactured at the same time according to end users requirements at no additional cost.
Another benefit is complexity. 3D printing has enabled numerous production of certain products which involves levels of complexity that could otherwise be impossible to be done physically. This has allowed designers to come up with impressive visual effects on the clothes on the clothes. With that, application are being developed to materialize complex components that are a bit lighter than those before. Another pro for the technology is its tool-less nature.3D printing tends to eliminate the production tools thus less costly in that less time and labor associated with the production of tools are avoided. Due to the complexity advantages, a product such as clothes can be designed specifically to avoid assembly requirements with intricate geometry and complex features which further helps to eliminate the labor and costs associated with assembly processes.
In addition, the technology is sustainable. 3D printing is an energy efficient technology as it tends to prove environmental efficiencies. For example in the manufacturing process, it tends to utilize up to 90% standard materials thus creating less wastage. It also deals with addictively manufactured products operating life due to the lighter and stronger designs that impose a reduced carbon footprint as compared to with traditionally manufactured products. 3D printing tends to fulfill a local manufacturing model whereby products are produced on demand in the place where they are needed thus there is reduced cost in the transportation of products around the world.
Technology has also contributed to fashion through dress pieces that fit the customer’s communication needs. The pieces allow the consumer to remain in touch with the world while wearing them. The technology in place also allows the customer to customize the product to meet their preferences. One of the great contributions of technology into fashion is the Volvorii Timeless shoes that use E ink technology. It tends to integrate a user customizable, flexible panel into a pair of high heels. The volivorii shoes connect to ios and android smartphones with customization handled via a dedicated app. The users can pick between solid black and white designs as well as intricate monochrome patterns.
Apart from the E-ink panel, the rest of the shoes are constructed from a mixture of rubber and leather. These volvorii timeless shoes have a built-In Bluetooth LE Module for communication, it also has a wireless charging enabled 200- MAL battery. It requires about two hours for the shoes to be fully charged after which they can be used for between 2 to six months (Diana 10-23). Additionally, the considerable feature accessory fasteners on the front and back, this allows the users to add extra flicker to their shoes. The shoes change color to match their every day’s taste of color.
The benefit of incorporating this type of technology in dressing is that it has both physical and digital customization provision. The upper part of the toe and back of the heel have anchors on which the user can attach fittings. Also, the customer can make some adjustments that the product different and personal. For example, a flower or bow on the toe and ankle binding at the back of the shoes. The wireless section in the sole allows the shoe’s display to be charged minus the use of cables. Since E-ink needs less power and can last for about six weeks, yet it will only be charged for few weeks.
The technology does not do away with all the previous fashion rather it uses them and builds on them to create better products. Some materials that are a favorite to many clients are retained. For Example, the volvorii shoes come in leather and rubber make that is preferred by many users in the market. This is especially so for women who attach more interest on leather products as they are durable and can fit any dressing code while keeping fashion. Consequently, it is through technology that producing companies have been able to launch a plan to sell removable closures and fittings allowing changing of shoe style both digital and physical.
Another significant contribution of technology to fashion has been through Computer Aided Designs (CAD). The system allows designers to save time and money since they will be able to create their masterworks faster on a computer rather than by hand drawing (Abu et al. 50). CAD enables designers to draw, to create woven structures and patterns and adjust fabrics, choose colors and also to view their designs on virtual models. Fashion designers apply technology in making clothes that are unique, but that are also wearable (Seymour 12-23).
CAD designers work in spaces of 2D and 3D to enable patterns, print and designs that have the capability of turning a simple outfit into a bold fashion statement. The technology provides the fashion designers with a platform that they can use to experiment. It supports the production of outfits in different sizes and colors without having to sketch by hand. They can play around with several sketches on a computer and try them on different body shapes, thus making the work of fashion designers more efficient and cost effective (Seymour 12-23). 3D artists take the advantage of the virtual blueprint of CAD designers and use specialize software to make their artistic personality with different personal interests.
CAD has brought many benefits to the fashion industry including reducing expense and time to a bearable limit when compared to laborious manual work of designing. This tends to take too long but with CAD much time and money is saved. Secondly, designing can be performed from any place since customers can control the process even from remote locations. The technique also provides a platform where data can be easily stored, transmitted and transported through computer files. Digital sketches can be saved on discs; zip discs, CD-ROM or hard drive thus enabling saving of space. By this format of savings enable easy organization for fast and easy retrieval.
The CAD technique supports customization and personalization of the design. All changes can be done with a lot if ease thus enabling corrections and editing to be easily carried out at any time without delays or increase in costs. The designer do not have to produce sketches at all time as they can see how a particular fabrics or clothes looks in a variety of colors and shapes on computer screens. These benefits have been expressed (Seymour 12-26).
Technology has allowed designers to think out of the box and venture into areas that they could not before. For example, technology has enabled the development of the app-enable LED dresses. These dresses are so bright and colorful that everyone finds themselves staring at them due to flashing lights. Mobile App developers have tried to make apps that can control LED dresses. They tend to develop apps like Dream closet that have the ability to bring the user’s whole closet to their smartphone. The app allows the user to match up new clothes to what they already have in their closet as they are shopping.
Fashion changes with the development of science and technology. Technology is ever evolving bringing about new ways of accomplishing tasks. Science has been the part of almost every aspect of our day to day life. It tends to make complicated things possible. Science in collaboration with technology has been on the forefront to ensure improvements in the fashion industries. These developments tend to come with several advantages that include fashion has benefited a lot from science and technology. For example, some clothes have been designed to heat or cools one’s body in response to temperature changes. Nanotechnology within fabrics allows built interiors to become smarter as they allow rooms to adjust its smell, color, temperature, texture, and taste to suit its inhabitants moods. Fashion designers are planning to come up with clothing that has ability to monitor the body’s respiratory organs, temperature controls, heartbeat and even alter the health and moods of an individual.
The innovations in the fashion sector can be used in romance too, in fact, clothing can be designed to sense body’s indicators of physical attraction. The clothes can detect an increase in body temperature, heartbeat rate and the amount of sweat produced and then trigger the release of hormones to extract the opposite sex. Application of science into fashion has also provided some solutions to environmental problems thus bringing sustainability. Clothes can be growth from a container of liquid whereby a bacterial collusion can be growth in a laboratory to produce clothing thus saving fibers from plants and animals. Some clothes have been designed to be able to change shape. Some hemlines can rise without any human assistance whereas some clothes can display video images with an array of colors due to the LED embedded in the fabric (Seymour 56-76).
The use of technology in the fashion industry has its share of disadvantages including downplaying the need for skills and talent. Some of the technology will allow designers to produce similar work. For example, the 3D printing will produce perfect work compared to hand sewing even in couture designs (Abu et al. 49). In addition, the clothes being developed using current technology require much maintenance in order to remain wearable. In some instances, a slight malfunction will significantly affect the functionality of the cloth.
In conclusion, technological advancements are useful in coming up with simpler ways of accomplishing different tasks in most industries. The application of technology and science in the fashion industries has helped the designers of clothes, shoes, handbags and many more effective and efficient way. Thus, technological applications in fashion should be encouraged as it comes with many benefits to the designers, producers and even the society at large. Style in any sphere cannot be achieved without technology. This is because the production of new and unique products require innovation that goes hand in hand with technology. Countries with developed technologies have remained in the forefront of fashion than those which still depend on old ways of production.
Technology will and has kept the ball rolling as daily inventions are made in fashion worldwide. Allowing most people who are interested in fashion to be able to access their favorite’s clothes, dress, as well as general accessories that are attached to fashion. Technology has also enabled firms to produce quality shoes and clothes at an affordable cost within a very short period. Most social class of people especially young generation and women have had the best opportunity to access what they term as their preferred fashion that arises from any part of the world through modern technology.

Works Cited

Abu Sadat, Richard Kennon and Nick Clarke. “3D CAD Systems for the Clothing Industry.” International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education 3.2(2010): 45-53.
Olsson, Tony. Arduino Wearables. New York: Apress, 2012. Print.
San Martin, Macarena. 1000 Details in Fashion. United Kingdom: Rockpot Publishers, 2011. Print.
San Martin, Macarena. Future Fashion: Innovative Materials and Technology. Barcelona: PromoPress, 2010. Web. 23 May. 2015.
Seymour, Sabine. Fashionable Technology: The Intersection of Design, Fashion, Science, and Technology. New York: Springer Publishing Company, 2008. Print.