Intelligent technology makes the field of clothing no longer silent. These three points cannot be ignored.

Human life is inseparable from the four basic fields of clothing, food, housing and transportation. With the development and application of artificial intelligence technology, smart catering, smart home and travel are closely related to intelligence. The concept of smart clothing can actually be traced back to 2015, but it still has not become mainstream. However, in the face of the trend towards intelligentization in various fields, it may be time to see if the application of certain smart technologies in the future can make the field of clothing no longer silent.

Traditional clothing companies have long avoided high inventory, high costs, brand aging, and lack of creativity in design, making it difficult to capture the hearts of millennials. Yiou believes that the reason why the clothing industry is so quiet is that it is too mature, all internal management and operation systems are very mature, and a slight change will "carry the whole body", and will not set off a frenzy like some emerging industries. Based on the analysis of various factors, China's garment industry mainly presents the following five characteristics:

1. Large scale and output. According to the statistics of the National Bureau of Statistics, the total retail sales of apparel-based consumer goods in 2017 was 1,455.7 billion yuan, up 7.8% year-on-year; the online retail sales of physical goods in the country was 5.4806 billion yuan, up 28.0% year-on-year, accounting for 15.0% of the total retail sales of consumer goods. In the same period, the proportion of online retail sales of clothing products increased by 20.3% (up 18.1% in the same period last year).

2. The operation process is long. With the development of the Internet and technology, garment factories are gradually reducing their time and efficiency in processing. But the birth of a good finished product requires a long cycle from spinning, fabric selection, weaving, printing and dyeing to finished products. This cycle is in sharp contrast to the short cycle of fashion.

3. Cluster development. China's garment industry is concentrated in the southern region and the Bohai Rim region, and the three major economic circles are used as radiation centers to develop outward. Around the professional market, export advantages, leading enterprises, etc., regional industrial clusters are mainly produced to produce a well-known product.

4. The epidemic cycle is short, in other words, it is difficult to grasp the epidemic period of rapid change. After all, the fast pace of people's life and the rapid change of fashion need to shorten the cycle to match these changes, otherwise it will be difficult to grasp the rhythm and difference, when a kind of difference in the fashion season, this rapid change It brings unlimited opportunities to the apparel industry and brings risks and instability to the business.

5. It is no longer limited to the cover of the body and extends to the aesthetic and cultural values. For example, the tide brand field that Yiou had contacted before was a representative of a niche market. In fact, the emergence and popularity of the tide brand is in line with the consumer psychology and demand of China's new generation of consumers. This reflects the acceptance and recognition of trend culture in China. In a deeper level, it is actually the intersection and integration of culture.

The above points are not only the status quo of the garment industry but also the factors that make the industry become heavy. The development of the garment industry is inseparable from the three major components of design, production and sales. If the technology can be introduced, and the application of the new technology in the above three major applications, it is possible to bring a certain meaning to the entire chain of clothing.

Design: From the fashion catwalk - consumers experience

Changing a thing requires finding its source for transformation, and design needs to change as a head link in the apparel industry chain. The development of technology is gradually changing the changes in the clothing and fashion industries, from hand-made clothing to being replaced by mechanical garments, from early design sketches to mechanized sewing tailoring in the garment process, including fine flower-drawing techniques. Impact. The annual Fashion Week fashion designers and fashion brands showcase the latest product releases and platforms, such as Intel last year in New York Fashion Week and apparel brand TOME produced a smart concept package goods, Fashion Week show another example of technology + clothing The works, including lazy weight loss smart clothing and smart breast monitoring bra, etc., cool technology and clothing to match the brighter, but can not be expected.

Although the current clothing is no longer satisfied with the cover and protect the cold, but more emphasis on personalization, customization, but Yiou believes that the clothes will eventually return to the consumer.

The industry believes that the apparel industry is mainly fashion, small batch and customized. Big data can extract fashion elements, inspire design inspiration, and automatically design fashion products. Small batches and customizations require digital technology to support them. In March of this year, Vipshop will focus on 3D+AI clothing customization technology for personalized fashion customization solutions. In Guangzhou, clothing customization or is considered as a potential market that can be opened up. The emergence of customized technology may integrate the supply chain for the apparel industry. Flexible production and the reconstruction of the traditional business model of "people's goods yard" are beneficial. The characteristics of personalized customization also gave birth to a flexible supply chain.

Production: from mass production - flexible supply chain

One of the characteristics of China's overall apparel industry is the large-scale production and the long-term existence of high inventory problems. In fact, the concept of “flexible supply chain” has existed for many years, but it is still difficult to fundamentally solve the problem of supply chain. The Sinbad CEO wind has mentioned two core issues in the supply chain: one is not to come under the stock, the other is the quality is not going. Mass production leads to high inventory levels, and the quality is not guaranteed. Therefore, small batch production and flexible supply chain are becoming the characteristics of the production chain of the garment industry.

However, Yin Jian, founder of Inman, once said: "The domestic garment industry is developing as a whole. Both consumers and brands have an unprecedented improvement in product quality and design capabilities. This also means the manufacture of clothing. Producers have put forward higher requirements. But as industrial workers grow older, many young people are reluctant to engage in this industry. This is a challenge for the entire industry.” Social development drives the entire industry to move forward, and production needs to accelerate. The first time to seize the epidemic period to harvest a batch of consumers, in addition to ensure quality.

Sales: From the weak experience store - smart stores

Sales is marketing. Whether you sell your products online or in stores, you can't do without using the right and reasonable marketing methods to make consumers aware and willing to buy.

Domestic online traffic is basically controlled in the hands of e-commerce companies such as Ali, Jingdong, Suning, etc. Players who want to find another way in the online field seem unlikely to appear again. However, the sudden outbreak of the WeChat applet may bring a new round of changes. Vipshop will have accepted the joint investment of Tencent and JD.com, and has recently launched the small program entry; the listed clothing company Haishu Home has also successfully launched WeChat. program. Of course, with the continuous outbreak of this vent, it may not be easy for clothing companies to give up the small program.

In addition, with the development of clothing e-commerce, virtual fitting technology is gradually becoming more prominent, from Taobao's 360° virtual fitting, UNIQLO online virtual fitting, to Jingdong's recent Jingdong trial, which makes the virtual fitting APP appear endlessly. Behind the small APP, you need to collect a large amount of user data and analyze the market.

The function of the virtual fitting machine launched by Jingdong not only solves the problem of online purchase and selection of clothes, but also plans to apply this system to the offline. Users can use this system to create a completely mirrored figure, face and hairstyle. Quickly try different dresses, even try to wear hundreds of pieces of clothing in the store, quickly choose the style and strategy that suits you; and help the brand to pre-populate user data to fill the blank of offline data through the virtual fitting program. The production and development of products, and brands can use this data to achieve continuous tracking of brand data.

Although online shopping has become mainstream, the business of traditional offline stores cannot be ignored. China's traditional clothing listed companies are basically emerging from the offline wind and rain for decades to achieve the status of the online market. It is only facing the disadvantage of serious brand aging, coupled with the foreign fast fashion brands and domestic clothing brands entering the market one after another, once again giving traditional clothing companies a crit. Therefore, Yiou thinks that offline stores as a facade is directly facing the consumer side. First, although traditional clothing enterprises have the advantages of high brand awareness, long history and deep ploughing in the domestic market, the style is old, the marketing is backward and the stores are old. It is lagging behind emerging brands, and in recent years, the closure of a large number of stores can be supported.

Millennials and after 00 are becoming the mainstay of a new generation of consumers who admire individuality, freedom and vitality. The old customers who used to shop offline are losing. If the company can see long-term benefits, it should seize a new group of consumers and cultivate them into their own customers.

Therefore, Yiou finds that the transformation and upgrading of offline stores is also unavoidable. For example, in September 2017, the company “Cloud Dream Technology”, which focuses on 3D+AI technology research and development and application, has cooperated with Ali in Shandong. The smart store of fitting clothes, it is understood that in this store, "Cloud Dream" provides smart dressing equipment with virtual fitting experience, shopping guide, clothing matching suggestions and other functions.

In addition, on February 2 this year, Jingdong and Fengshi Retail Group signed a strategic cooperation agreement in Beijing. According to the agreement, the two parties will jointly build an AI unbounded retail center and cooperate in the direction of artificial intelligence platform and smart retail. The two companies jointly develop an end-to-end integrated system that manages goods, prices, inventory and ordering, and truly connects upstream suppliers, terminal distributors and consumers unbounded. In addition, the two sides will help the apparel and other categories of retail industry to further optimize the user experience through artificial intelligence-driven virtual fitting, unmanned stores, intelligent shopping guides and other solutions.

At the beginning of this year, the fast fashion brand ZARA opened its first smart store in the United States. It is understood that this store uses a self-service settlement system, and the smart mirror in the store can scan the QR code of the product through RFID technology to purchase or wear it. Further information support, etc. Some people say that this flash shop has opened up a future-oriented unmanned clothing store for us. However, in today's domestic talk about unmanned retail, the dream of unmanned clothing stores can come true. ?

The commonality of the above cases is the use of technology to transform the clothing offline store, bringing a new shopping experience to consumers through technology applications. I dare not say that technology can be used in the clothing industry in a short period of time. Some insiders said that the combination of new technology and clothing is an inevitable trend in the future, but at present it is more in the concept stage, and it will take some time for practical landing.

Dongzhi, CEO of Yunzhi Dream, said that in the context of new retail, artificial intelligence technology and big data will bring great reforms to the apparel industry. For example, the smart fitting mirror of the online store can quickly obtain the full-scale body data of the consumer and establish a digital model of the user; through the user ID bundled with the face recognition technology, accurate personalized clothing recommendation and virtual test can be realized. clothes. And everything from fitting to buying, from offline to online will be precipitated as data, optimizing supply chain management from design to production, and satisfying the individualized consumer needs of thousands of people.

So in the quiet clothing industry can no longer be silent, can the advancement of artificial intelligence bring changes to the apparel industry? Bringing practical changes will require time to test and technology to be more mature.