Virtual Try-Ons and Gamification are powerful tools that can revolutionize the industry by providing a more engaging and immersive shopping experience for customers while reducing returns and wastage. By incorporating these practices into fashion retail, businesses can enhance customer loyalty, increase engagement, and promote sustainable practices.
With over 10 years of experience in the international fashion industry, Karina Ochoa de Baker has worked with brands such as Adidas, Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, Karl Lagerfeld, Monastery Couture. Her focus lies in the realm of digital fashion, exploring and creating products for virtual environments using various audiovisual mediums. Striving to comprehend both consumer needs and brand aspirations.
Her work has been featured in the pages of esteemed fashion editorials, including SID Magazine in collaboration with Shudugram, Vogue Scandinavia, and Vogue Latinoamerica.
Karina has appeared on major channels including Univision, Caracol, RCN, Teleantioquia, and Telemedellin, sharing insights on topics related to digital sustainable fashion, innovation, and the web 3.0 landscape.
In this session, recorded at PI Apparel New York in 2023, Karina discusses:
- Virtual Try-On and Sustainability: the importance of virtual try-on technology in fashion for sustainability. She discusses her background and experience in teaching digital fashion in Colombia since 2021 and how her students are now entering the workforce, highlighting the role of digital transformation in the fashion industry.
- Public Perception and Partnerships: She covers her projects in Colombia, exploring public perception of digital fashion through various mediums like VR and AR. She talks about her partnerships with companies like Zero Ten for AR solutions, providing insights into building digital fashion and customer experiences.
- Shopping Behavior and Online Challenges: She asks the audience to reflect on their shopping habits, particularly the shift towards online shopping. She points out the issues with online shopping, like buying multiple sizes and returning, and the lack of trust in mirrors and fitting rooms in physical stores.
- Statistics on Online Shopping Dissatisfaction: Karina presents statistics showing high levels of dissatisfaction among online shoppers, with 59% feeling unhappy with purchases because the clothes look different on them compared to models, and 42% not feeling represented by the models used.
- Environmental Impact of E-commerce Returns: She highlights the environmental and financial impact of e-commerce returns, noting that returned merchandise often ends up in landfills or is destroyed, contributing to environmental damage.
- Virtual Try-On as a Solution: She proposes virtual try-on as a solution to these problems, describing it as a technology that provides a more engaging shopping experience while reducing returns and waste. The process involves customers providing an image or video, which is used to create a 3D body match and simulate how garments would look on them.
- The Importance of Technology in Fashion and Retail: Finally, she stresses the critical role of technology in revolutionizing the fashion industry, advocating for the digitalization of garments and the use of AI for better customer experiences and sustainability. She also emphasizes the need for inclusivity in these technologies, ensuring a range of skin tones and body types are represented.
A full transcript of this presentation can be found here.
