The high-end fashion world is finding interesting ways of keeping up with the high-tech consumer. At the London Fashion Week 2013, British company Burberry announced they will be integrating RFID tech into their new collection of garments. These chips will serve many purposes, one being to keep its appeal with a new generation of smartphone users.
RFID chips will be included in tags or sown directly into garments that can be scanned with the user’s smartphone as long as it is compatible with this tech. On a Burberry video describing these new concepts, they show a card being swiped over an iPhone, but iPhones do not have RFID reading capabilities. Some reports have said that Burberry is actually developing its own technology and it functions similarly to RFID, but it is different.
Reading the chips will bring up video about the garment, showing designer sketches, the garment’s creation, artisanship used to make it as well as video of models wearing it on the catwalk.
On bespoke clothing and accessories, users will be able to access video showing the production of their own piece, which includes the engraving of a personalized nameplate sown into the article of clothing. This new concept of customization is being called “Smart Personalization.”
The chips will also help clothing stores do inventory, and control stock and quality. If you visit the Burberry flagship store on Regent St. in London, you can scan the chips over mirrors that will show the same previously mentioned footage, on huge mirrors.
Burberry wants to encourage people to pre-order garments immediately after seeing them on the catwalk. Clothes with embedded chips will simply bring up garments info on your smartphone if you happen to be sitting close to the runway.
Although, some people question whether this tech is RFID, Burberry does discuss the use of RFID tech in their clothing on their website. They say that this tech will be used for the purposes stated above and that no personal customer or transaction info is tracked using these tags. The company says deactivation of RFID chips is possible but only those chips that link to video. The chips used to control stock and quality will not be deactivated.
The 2013 fashion show was streamed live through Burberry’s Twitter page for the first time ever. The company also used Instagram to share backstage pictures. Customers that tweeted with #BeautyBooth also saw pictures taken by models behind the scenes. Burberry is leading the way in weaving tech into their fashion sense.
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