Introducing the future of fashion with Coded Couture

“We’re about to change the fashion industry by bringing the customer’s personality into the design process through data technology”. – Aleksander Subosic, co-founder of Ivyrevel.

Finding unique clothing can be difficult; custom-made clothing is usually not affordable and designing your own piece requires design experience, which most people lack. Ivyrevel, part of the H&M Group and the world’s first digital fashion house, partnered up with Google to solve this issue by combining couture with data technology. Together, they created the Data Dress: “A personalized dress designed entirely based on a user’s context signals” (Brook, 2017).

How does it work?

First, install the app and select an occasion e.g. party, gala or business, and a style for the dress. Then, simply carry your phone wherever you go (which you probably already do) and the app will use Snapshot API to learn from your daily activities, with your permission. During seven days, the app will capture context signals and ask you to confirm certain the data to ensure that it corresponds with your lifestyle. By doing all of the aforementioned, you become part of the value creation process. Finally, the data is passed through an algorithm that creates a virtual custom-made dress, ready for you to purchase.

Will customers buy the Data Dress?

According to a survey by Bain & Company, +/-30% of shoppers were interested in designing their own clothing. Furthermore, they found that unique products lead to lower return rates and create a deeper connection between shoppers and retailers (Wiggers, 2017). Thus, there is a potential market for the data dress.

Efficiency criterion

This video, shows that Kenza lives in Stockholm where it is -2°C and that she visited a fancy restaurant. Therefore, the app made her a black velvet dress with crystal details, reflecting her lifestyle. This shows that consumers will get a truly unique, on-trend, and custom-made dress. Additionally, consumers become part of revolutionizing the way we look at fashion. For fashionistas interested in technology this is the ideal combination, and it allows them to be early adopters within their community.
Ivyrevel aims to ‘merge fashion creativity with technological innovation.’ (Ivyrevel.com). Thus, by introducing the data dress, Ivyrevel will achieve this goal. Regarding costs, Ivyrevel is not dependent on designers and won’t need to invest much in production, since it already has a clothing line and production facilities. According to Adformatie.nl, the dress will cost €93.
I expect that Google will receive financial resources by allowing Ivyrevel to use its API technology. Additionally, Google enhances its positive reputation regarding technological innovation and receives positive WOM.

Feasibility of Required Reallocations

Currently, the app has launched in closed alpha stage and is being tested by selected global fashion influencers (Brook, 2016). Since not much information is available regarding the specific institutional arrangements and –environment, I will propose a few.

Ivyrevel must consider:

The protection of consumers’ privacy. Consumers are responsible for granting tracking permission and Ivyrevel will not share their information with other parties.
Safe payments within the app.
Production processes that are carried out under ethic conditions.

It is important that Ivyrevel makes clear arrangements for these kinds of issues to prevent problems from arising.