Are VR And AR Ready To Be Used As A New Engine For The Fashion Industry?

Apple Corp (Apple)'s iPhone was first published ten years ago. Few people can really understand the extent to which the mobile phone will bring about changes in human daily life.

At the moment, as iPhone appears before the mobile phone industry, it will usher in an ongoing technology platform to release the innovative wave of the sea howling, and the Canadian media theorist Marshall Mcluhan (Marshall McLuhan) called it "the new patterns of human association".

For many years, virtual reality (

) and augmented reality (AR, the technology of generating computer content into real-world perspective) is also something that science fiction has.

Quite a lot of people are skeptical about the future of both.

But driven by Moore's s Law, as well as processors, screens and other components emerging from the smartphone supply chain and commercialized daily, VR and AR are finally ready for mainstream use. Others call it "a new medium for human experience".

Back in 2014, the early VR technology pioneer Chris Milk has explained the far-reaching power of VR: "when reading, your brain is reading the letters printed on paper and converting them into a world.

When you watch a movie, you actually see the image in the rectangle in your room, and your brain pforms these images into a whole world.

But even if you understand that this is not true, you will still be attracted to it because you have been used to putting aside this kind of "no belief".

With virtual reality, you basically equate to "black in" the visual audio system in your brain, giving your brain a set of stimulation, fidelity to your brain, which will see it as true.

This process is not to put aside "no trust". In fact, you have to remind yourself not to believe it.

So, this is right.

What does it mean?

In the past ten years, the fashion industry has been promoting growth by opening up new markets and opening hundreds of new stores, especially in China.

But as China's market demand cooled, many people began to turn to online search for new growth. Luca Solca, director of the luxury goods division of BNP Exane Paribas, will call it the "new growth point that can replace the Chinese market" in Paris.

"In the luxury industry, many things have changed.

As you know, the luxury industry has grown 8% in the past, but it will only grow to 2% to 4% or 5% next year, and then it will remain at that level, "said Olivier Abtan, partner of Boston Consulting Group." now in this slow growth market, brands are starting to consider the digital business very seriously, "he added.

Some people believe that virtual reality and augmented reality technology can provide powerful new digital growth channels.

"Taking into account the interaction between VR and human beings, I think VR will be more important than mobile phones," said Solca. "But electronic commerce takes 20 years to reach the tipping point," he cautioned. "I think VR will take almost the same time to really shape our daily experience as mobile phones do."

But the momentum in the VR/AR field is also rapidly gathering.

At the end of last year, HTC Vive announced the establishment of a virtual reality Venture Alliance (VRVCA), including 27 companies, and has accumulated $10 billion in deployable capital. Last October, the digital distribution platform Steam added 1000 new VR users every day, and the platform has more than 600 VR applications online.

From Facebook's virtual reality glasses Oculus Rift to Snapchat photo glasses, the heavyweight role also doubled in virtual reality and augmented reality.

In the early stage of development, it is still very difficult to predict the future market scale accurately.

But according to Goldman Sachs, VR and AR related hardware and software revenue is expected to increase from $80 billion to $182 billion by 2025.

In terms of brand to consumer interaction, virtual reality and augmented reality do have potential to develop into powerful channels, such as today's mobile social interaction.

But Goldman Sachs said that the current high price fixing (Oculus Rift virtual reality headband $599, HTC Vive head with $799) will slow down the mainstream consumer purchase rate.

At the same time, for fashion companies, there are many business opportunities.

"Obviously, for apparel industry, the first step is to use it as a design and R & D tool. We are working with many brands and supply chain companies," said Ari Bloom, CEO of Avametric, San Francisco VR/AR. "You can still have more digital experience, such as you can not do thousands of samples, just three hundred or four hundred."

For retailers, it is also useful to simulate the virtual store environment.

"To be specific, you can test two different environments at the same time with VR, which is really great," explains Bloom.

The virtual reality platform ShopperMX developed by InContext Solutions of Chicago company enables retailers to create virtual identification system, product display and layout, and does not need to spend time and resources in building the test in the real world.

But in the next ten years, the biggest opportunity for fashion companies is the ultimate adoption of VR/AR technology by consumers.

In October 2015, Tommy Hilfiger became a large fashion retailer who installed virtual reality headsets in stores, inviting shoppers to experience its 360 autumn and winter fashion conference.

This year, the US luxury brand Coach also followed suit, installing VR headgear in its 10 American stores, allowing consumers to "enter" its latest quarterly launch.

Volkswagen brand Gap is also conducting experiments.

Prior to this, Gap launched its enhanced reality locker for the first time, enabling consumers to digitally try different sizes of clothing.

This experience was built by Bloom, Avametric and Google, and also its shortcomings.

First of all, the locker room only applies to the Google Tango smart phone that has not been widely used in the market.

But apart from the specific limitations of Gap to provide experience, it is more expensive than VR's AR technology with lower thresholds, and it also challenges consumer learning.

In the latest cycle, AR applications (mainly for fitting) have also expanded rapidly with fashion brands and retailers joining the team rapidly.

It is not hard to imagine that the beauty brand that earlier embraced AR technology.

Last year, Sephora, Charlotte Tilbury and Rimmel launched AR applications. Users can try different products through the head filter of mobile phones.

But can these applications bring real value, or just marketing gimmicks?

"The first difficulty is that there are many false prophets at the present stage," said Tom Adeyoola, chief executive of Metail. This is the fact that the AR program, which is the main London Company in the virtual fitting room, is a real driver.

According to Metail's joint research with Tufts University (Tufts University) and Kellogg School of Management, Kellogg's AR application can increase sales by 22%.

But the greater potential comes from data collection, which illustrates how the VR and AR applications for consumers can ultimately bring advantages to the backend of the enterprise.

"Our partners in India are changing the size of clothing through data to adapt to the fact that India is not the only subgroup of similar populations: in India, northerners are taller than southerners.

They began to rethink and change clothes, "Adeyoola said." for example, for another retailer, we found that only 20% of the customers wore the newly tailored clothes.

By providing these garments to the market, they can better cater to the needs of this population segmentation market.

At present, VR and

Technology is still at an early stage without doubt.

Just as 10 years ago, fashion brands and luxury brands were unwilling to sell products online, there were doubts about the potential of these two technologies.

"But if consumers are already there, they have no other choice," Abten said. "If consumers complete the pition to VR/AR channels, brands, even luxury brands, have no choice but to embrace them with open arms."

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