How digital fashion can save the planet

More and more businesses are exploring opportunities in virtual and augmented fashion. DressX, XR Couture, The Fabricant, The Dematerialised, and Carlings, to name just a few, recently launched as marketplaces for designers and consumers to sell and buy digital-only designs. “Digital fashion marketplaces will disrupt the entire fashion industry,” note the investors interviewed for Vogue Business. For fashion consumers it will mean that unlimited creativity and self-expression will soon become an affordable reality for all of us.

In early 2021, we had a chance to join an event organized by DressX founders Daria Shapovalova and Natalia Modenova, titled Sustainability and the Digital World tech summit. Turns out the production of a digital garment emits 97% less carbon dioxide than that of a physical garment! It also saves 3300 liters of water per physical item produced, and that’s enough water for one person to drink for the duration of 3.5 years.

As sustainable fashion advocates, we couldn’t miss the opportunity to check out DressX products and the overall user experience of shopping for digital fashion. We’d like to share our experience, walk you through the DressX marketplace, and what we learned about how digital fashion works. 

Is DressX for you?

Digital fashion will gradually reach a broader audience, but for now the main consumers are fashion brands and social media content creators. It helps both of the groups save money, stand out from the crowd, be early innovators, and most importantly, help save our environment. By digitizing their collections, fashion brands can now skip the step of sending physical items to their influencers, wasting precious time and resources. Influencers will also have the opportunity to create unique Instagram content and do it fast.

How does DressX work?

At first glance DressX resembles a regular online marketplace, which currently includes more than 800 items and is expanding rapidly. Each product contains a product image, info about the designers, and even a description of digital material. There are three things that are fundamentally different from a regular marketplace though.

1. Unlike a physical garment, you can not “reuse” or “re-wear” the item you purchase. What you actually buy is the digital dressing of your submitted photo. It is not a filter you can later re-apply to your other pictures just yet. However, if you want to wear your digital garment again, DressX provides a 50% discount on any repeated purchase, so there is no need to pay the full price for the same garment again.

2. Digital clothing is “dressed” on top of your actual clothing. So, while DressX can add to or layer on top of what you are wearing, it cannot remove any part of the original clothes.

3. Another thing to note is that you have to do some prep work before buying a digital garment. Your photo needs to align with the requirements listed in the How to wear section on the DressX website. Fitting clothing, good light, no strong shadows, simple background are some of the tips to get the best results with digital fashion.

How to shop on DressX

Step 1: Select a garment

Explore DressX store and select the garment you like. Click on the garment and view it in more detail. Since Sparkpick has officially launched its own eco fashion brand on DressX – SPARK + REBEL – let’s use it as an example.

Step 2: Read the instructions

To the right of the product is a place to upload your photo for digital dressing. Before you do that, make sure to read the instructions on how to choose it correctly in the How to wear section. This step will ensure that you receive the highest-quality asset in the shortest amount of time.

Step 3. Upload a photo for edit

After you choose a photo, click to Upload it from the product screen. You’ll see a confirmation pop-up once it uploads. Now add the item to your cart and go through the purchase flow. You will receive an email from DressX in a day or two with the digitally dressed image attached.

When it comes to sustainable fashion, digital fashion is definitely a step in the right direction for online scenarios. If you are a brand with many influencers or a content creator looking to build up an online presence, DressX might just be what you need.

Shop digital fashion