Is digitized fashion the way to go?

The way you shop for clothes could change if digitized fashion catches on. Recently, stylist Rachel Zoe teamed up with Crowdstar to produce a game that  allows users to dress up their virtual avatars in current-season outfits. And if a player likes her virtual look, she can buy it in real life through links that connect with each digitized fashion item. The iPhone and iPad app will be debuting next month.

More about the app
Covet Fashion lets users compete in daily styling challenges, where winners are chosen via a user-based voting system. However, several will be judged by experts, such as Zoe. And each challenge is based on a specific theme. Zoe said she was impressed with how ‘real’ the digitized products look on players’ avatars. “You can learn about fashion, interact and use it as a stepping stone to purchase fashion,” said Jeffrey Tseng, CEO of Crowdstar. And as a marketing tool, the benefits for fashion brands are far reaching. As users mix and match their designer looks, Crowdstar saves this data to find specific patterns in popular styles, colours and prints.

Can this concept work here?
Designer Aniket Satam says, “As the world is shifting to a more tablet format, digitalization of fashion is the need of the hour. I think it should work well as we all know we are getting very tech savvy and e-commerce friendly. Also, there is a potential market here for sure but Indianisation and identifying buyers’ need is crucial to the success of this concept.”  Designer Nikhil Thampi says, “Going digital is definitely the next big step. When we talk about fashion it makes a client more accessible to their favourite designer or brand. I would love to have that kind of access and would consider introducing it depending on how people respond to it.”

Create saleable collections
Designer Pria Kataaria Puri says, “The concept is good. It helps the players understand styling and visualize how the clothes will look, something they were not able to do earlier. It’s also good for the buyers and designers as it helps them  understand the kind of products consumers want to wear. This will help create sale-able collections. I don’t know how popular it would be in India, as our retail structure is not as strong as the west.”