Future of fashion

The fashion industry is undergoing rapid transformation due to trends such as uncertainties in international trade, technological advances and changing customer preferences. One such preference is an increasing demand for custom-made apparel, to which actors in the industry will have to adapt. The increased emphasis on custom-made apparel is expected to bring a number of challenges that will need to be overcome. This thesis both identifies, as well as clarifies reasons behind such challenges. Additionally, opportunities expected to arise in this changing environment are explored. The linking together of these areas intended to address and fulfill the overall project purpose, which was to analyze challenges and opportunities in industrializing custom-made fashion. The project was conducted as a case study, in which custom-made products in the fashion industry were investigated. Two main sources of data were used to lay a foundation for the thesis. The first one was a literature study, where existing knowledge was extracted from books, articles and industry reports. The second source of data was interviews conducted in a semi-structured manner with industry professionals. Frameworks from the literature study were applied to insights from the interviews in order to form analysis and draw conclusions. The project reveals automating apparel production to be highly complex and the readiness to scale such production to be low. Thus, the location of the majority of apparel production today driven by two factors. Firstly, where production labor cost were considered as cheap. Secondly, where labor skills meet set quality requirements. Even though fashion players were positive to new technology and addressing was a need for custom-made apparel, there was a common view of risk of being a first mover with new technology. New business opportunities for existing but also new players emerge given that custom-made apparel manufacturing will be industrialized. To mention a few, measuring combined with increased customer experience was predicted to become prominent business area. Given the scenario that body scanning will take on a role in the manufacturing process of apparel, data management players are also likely to emerge.