Three years ago, Amber Jae Slooten was studying at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences to become a digital fashion designer. It was a lofty goal, an unprecedented career path and one met with substantial doubt from her peers and teachers: How could digital garments ever replace the physical? It would revolutionise retail. Yet today, that’s exactly what she and animation designer Kerry Murphy are doing with their digital fashion house, The Fabricant.

During the Frame Lab designer exhibition, we’ll dive into work like The Fabricant’s: as Slooten and Murphy create experiences within the digital realm of fashion, they introduce potential possibilities and challenges for retail interior design of the future. Their showcase during the event will have you craving something more from your normal shopping experience – and you can buy your tickets here.

Posing a feasible alternative to traditional consumption is something The Fabricant tested while designing a pop-up for the 30^th anniversary of the Hong Kong-based luxury fashion group I.T. The digital collection showcased labels like Marques Almeida, Helmut Lang and Alexander McQueen and was only available for pre-purchase viewing in digital form at pop-up locations, with orders taken through QR scanning on the specially developed app. The retailer’s goal was to attract a variety of different consumers with the unique presentation – something that would shift the perspective of what the company could deliver.

Slooten and Murphy look to the 22^nd century in an industry that largely remains in the 20^th

‘There's been a lot of interest in the digitalisation of stores in fashion and all types of industry, but no one has the one solution just yet – and there may never be that one size fits all,’ said David James Reid, I.T’s creative director. ‘We cannot force or group customers into one or the other, we just aim to provide the best experience in both online and offline - an experience that's goal is to enable the most frictionless route to their final outcome, whether that’s a sale, product education, or purely browsing.’

The Fabricant’s strategy for I.T and beyond is hardly a gimmick, though: digital 3D visualisation provides unique opportunities for merchandising, but it also answers to issues like production waste and sizing in the industry. Slooten and Murphy look to the 22^nd century in an industry that largely remains in the 20^th’; though, according to Slooten, an entity as large as I.T valuing digitally created fashion imagery is a timely industry-leading step forward.

While other retailers may lag behind in evolving to fashion’s tech shift, innovators like Slooten and Murphy persist in setting retail’s future stage – a vision to celebrate at Frame Lab.

thefabricant.com

The Fabricant will showcase their work at our Frame Lab designer exhibition, alongside 20 other innovators exploring the future of technology, sustainability, customisation and more. We’re big fans of their work: as a matter of fact, their digital rendering of a Marques Almeida jacket for I.T is featured on the cover of Frame’s current issue. Buy your tickets for the Frame Lab – and a copy of Frame 126 – today.