It’s impossible to ignore the impact that technology has had on the fashion industry. With many enhancements in terms of how men’s clothing is made, sold, and worn, what are some of the key areas that you need to be aware of?
Playing and Working Online Gives More Flexibility
According to the Office for National Statistics, around 40% of British adults worked from home at some point each week at the start of 2023. With many businesses also now having more relaxed dress codes than in the past, this has led to the demand for traditional work suits dropping.
We’ve also witnessed a major change in the formal dress codes for the likes of the casino industry, as the emergence of online roulette games means that people can play this game of chance at home rather than dressing up to visit a casino with a strict dress code. While movies often still show casinos filled with men wearing tuxedos at the roulette table, it’s become increasingly common for players to dress casually when they join a table. Slots and blackjack are among the other popular games that can be played in this way on the internet without any dress code.
However, rumours of the demise of the suit have been denied in the fashion industry, despite a sharp downturn in the number of men looking to wear them for the purposes we’ve looked at. Indeed, the resurgence of interest in linen suits has been one of the features of the market in recent times. Some reports credit the TV show Succession as helping in this respect, as the character Tom Wambsgans (played by Matthew Macfadyen) gradually overhauls his style thanks to this garment.
The Use of Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality in Stores and Apps
It’s also become easier for us to try new styles and see how they look on us, with a big part of the reason for this coming from the use of technology that blurs the lines between virtual products and the real world. This makes it a simple task to try out new styles and different fabrics, getting a clear idea of how they look on us without any fuss.
One example comes from GAP, who have teamed up with Google and Avametric to produce a mobile app called DressingRoom by GAP. This approach uses augmented reality so that it’s easy to see how an item looks on a virtual mannequin that is designed to exactly match the customer’s own measurements.
A Wider Range of Influences
Perhaps the biggest change of all in recent years has been the fact that it’s now so easy to find a diverse range of influences. As well as streaming TV shows and movies from around the planet, we can now very quickly find new trends and even buy new clothing as soon as it hits the market on the other side of the world. The globalisation of the fashion industry has had both positive and negative effects but there’s no doubt that it’s made it easier to find inspiration.
All of these changes have made men’s fashion more interesting and varied than ever before. As technology continues to progress, it seems safe to assume that it will affect the way we dress even more over time.
