By Annu Markkula, Hannamaija Tuovila & Päivi Petänen. VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland
Digitalisation is a key component of the EU’s green transition. When we talk about sustainable fashion, what role can digitalisation play in this industry to enhance its sustainability? As digital tools and solutions become more widely adopted in the fashion sector, what new value opportunities – or challenges – might arise for sustainable fashion businesses? We explored these questions during a CRAFT-IT4SD workshop with our project partners earlier this year, and some of our insights are outlined below.
The bright sides of digitalisation for fashion
When digital tools and solutions are utilised more in the fashion sector, many benefits and new value opportunities can arise. These include enhanced efficiency and increased productivity through automation and faster data processing, which can lead to reduced costs and shorter time-to-market. Resource optimisation can improve sustainability and resilience through systemic design that considers product end-of-life, reduces waste, and optimises material use.
Digital tools can also support personalised shopping experiences by integrating digital and physical retail, enabling digital wardrobes, and helping match outfits to reduce unnecessary product acquisition. In addition, there is potential for stronger consumer engagement through personalised marketing, consumer profiling, and forecasting of buying behaviour, as well as platforms for sustainable consumption education.
And let’s not forget the opportunities for improved product quality through tools like virtual prototyping, digital fitting, and virtual try-on, which can enhance product fit and support mass customisation. Digital solutions can also help prolong garment lifespans by making it easier for consumers to access repair services, receive care guidance, and maintain their garments.
Furthermore, digital tools and solutions can foster creativity and collaboration when digital platforms enable co-creation, community building, and sustainability storytelling – helping to build consumer communities focused on garment longevity and innovation, while inspiring new, attractive narratives around sustainability. New value chains and roles may emerge, creating opportunities for innovative business models, even enabling economic income for consumers through peer-to-peer transactions.
But, as a famous French philosopher once noted, everything can be dangerous. The same applies to digitalisation – unintended and even unimaginable consequences can arise.
Compromising Sustainability? The Darker Sides of Digitalisation
In addition to the usual suspects, such as the resource intensity of digital tools – especially AI, which is considered resource-hungry – there is also a risk of reduced revenue and profit, as companies need to reinvest in R&D, sacrificing short-term profitability.
Moreover, digital tools can lead to losing humanity in the digital realm. We may risk losing our authenticity, traditional skills, face-to-face interaction, and cultural values and traditions in the pursuit of technological innovations.
Furthermore, when AI and robotics enable producers to manufacture garments at unprecedented speed, it can trigger an influx of cheap, trendy clothing that quickly goes out of style due to planned obsolescence – cleverly marketed through tactics that exploit the fear of seeming less affluent.
Digital tools can amplify demand through aggressive social media marketing with messages like “act now” and discount promotions. AI-driven insights align customer preferences with trends, enabling rapid creation of personalised collections and fuelling global consumption. They also make browsing, buying, and returning frictionless, increasing garment turnover – a practice that may benefit recycling businesses but conflicts with the EU Waste Hierarchy, where reuse is preferred over recycling.
But is enabling and promoting more consumption really a problem? Some argue it isn’t, since, in theory, we have technologies to solve many of the fashion industry’s sustainability challenges. If, for example, we can decarbonise the industry simply by decarbonising production, why spend time considering the other side of the sustainability equation – the demand?
Exploring alternative fashion business models for a digital future
Exploring the darker sides of digitalisation reveals that shifting market dynamics toward greater sustainability in fashion is far from straightforward. Nevertheless, some argue that technological innovations – digital and otherwise – must be complemented by practices that support reduced or less frequent consumption of new, virgin products. For some, this may seem unrealistic, while others view such scenarios as essential for future-proofing resilient businesses.
If we take this opportunity to explore further, what might new models and pathways for sustainable fashion look like – and what role could digitalisation play? This is one of the questions we are currently investigating in CRAFT-IT4SD to better understand potential future avenues for sustainable fashion business models, with results expected in 2026.
Images created by Copilot for CRAFT-IT4SD to spark ideas about sustainable fashion’s potential landscape and illustrate future possibilities