Wearable tech, virtual fashion, and immersive technologies

Abstract

Since the turn of the 21st century, humanity has witnessed many technological innovations in fashion, apparel, and textiles which have created entirely new product categories and brought new developments to all stages of the product life cycle. Wearable technology and virtual fashion represent two new product categories in the physical and digital realms of fashion. In this chapter, new opportunities and challenges for environmental sustainability emerging from the introduction of these new product categories in the marketplace are discussed. Focus is placed on textile-based wearable technologies, such as electronic textiles, smart clothing, virtual apparel, and textiles in digital social interactions and retailing; covering their implications for sustainability at all levels: from materials, production, and distribution to use and disposal