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2.1 Introduction To Literature Review

The document presents a systematic literature review focused on identifying research gaps in the fields of Fashion and Social Media. It discusses the definition of fashion, its sociological, psychological, and cognitive perspectives, and explores the influences of gender, age, and politics on fashion behavior. The review emphasizes the cyclical nature of fashion and its connection to social structures and economic implications.
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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
13 views35 pages

2.1 Introduction To Literature Review

The document presents a systematic literature review focused on identifying research gaps in the fields of Fashion and Social Media. It discusses the definition of fashion, its sociological, psychological, and cognitive perspectives, and explores the influences of gender, age, and politics on fashion behavior. The review emphasizes the cyclical nature of fashion and its connection to social structures and economic implications.
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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2

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 INTRODUCTION TO LITERATURE REVIEW

In a systematic literature review, the pertinent literature in a chosen field of


study is assessed and analyzed. The aim is to find possible research gaps. The
research literature selection depends on the researchers’ choice of the field,
research direction, research questions and resources such as the library, books,
journals, websites, databases, etc. The objective of any literature review is to
find gaps. Gaps should be such that if worked upon and filled, they should
strengthen the field of the study (Tranfield et al., 2003). According to Saunders
et al. (2016), a literature review structured enough with the right keywords
goes through an iterative cycle of searching and researching each of the key-
words, shortlisting and noting the relevant findings, and performing the
analysis at the end, yields the best results.
The selection of literature plays a vital role in any scientific research.
Choosing incorrect keywords and skipping an essential contribution to
knowledge under query may jeopardize the entire investigation. Following a
structured review methodology may minimize the risk of such misadventure.
In the present work, we followed a scientific approach to the literature review.
The structured review methodology framework as suggested by Lamba and
Singh (2017), Arunachalam, Kumar, and Kawalek (2017), Nguyen, Zhou,
Spiegler, Ieromonachou, and Lin (2017), Wamba, Akter, Edwards, Chopin,
and Gnanzou (2015), and Mishra, Gunasekaran, Papadopoulos, and Childe
(2016); has been discussed in detail in Section 3.1 under chapter Research
Design and Methodology. This framework prescribes a six-step approach,
which has been applied in the forthcoming sections of the literature review.
The present study is interdisciplinary; we have broadly chosen two fields of
study for our literature enquiry: Fashion and Social media. An in-depth

15
16 AI in Fashion Industry

synthesis of the collected literature in these two broader fields has been done to
frame theoretical constructs. The frameworks thus derived are discussed in
Section 3.2.

2.2 DEFINING FASHION

Fashion reflects the sentiments of various people who perceive its significance
in their lives in many different ways. To some, it may mean what models wear
on the ramp; to others, it may mean what people wear daily. In this section, we
have attempted to cover a holistic definition of fashion from different authors
and present 360 degrees view of fashion.
Stone (2001), Tortora and Eubank (2005), and Easey (2009) advocate
fashion to be a phenomenon that is admired and followed by the masses
within a specific locational boundary at any given point of time in an era.
Hence, it can be anything ranging from a popular dance, the words we speak,
a haircut or popular music. For example, if one member of a specific group
decides to pierce an eyebrow, it is not a fashion; however, if many group
members decided to do the same, then eyebrow piercing can be termed as a
fashion within that particular group. Fashion is the behaviour of many
members of a reference group in a similar direction (Yurchisin & Jhonson,
2010). However, another essential characteristic of fashion is rejection.
Fashion demands change. The very survival of the fashion industry depends
upon change. Many consumers must be persuaded or freely choose to replace
their products; otherwise, not functionally obsolete (Sproles, 1981). If the
group members wear a particular clothing product for several years and do not
change it, they may be unfashionable. If a person does not change his
appearance or looks for a more extended period, he is unfashionable at an
individual level. If he changes it rapidly and drastically but not in consonance
with his peer group, he may also be termed unfashionable. In order to be
fashionable, one has to follow his peer group. To summarize, we may say that
the term fashion can be characterized by two words – change and mass
acceptance.
According to Easey (2009), fashion has reached beyond the clothing and
lifestyle industry. Fashion applies to an idea, practice or object (Rogers, 1983).
Fashion can be found in arts, science, food, architecture, cars, movies, medical
treatments, television programmes, books, political thoughts, communication
styles and so forth in the world around us. However, for our research, we have
specifically addressed fashion in the clothing and apparel industry in this
thesis.
Literature Review 17

It is not a surprise that there is a connection between many life areas (e.g.
apparel, cars, food). For example, consumers wearing a particular brand of
clothing may also have a liking and preference for a few varieties of cars, and
there may be a relationship. Hence, we may say that fashion represents the
Zeitgeist of time and place (Zeitgeist is a German word, which means ‘Spirit of
the times’). Historically, obtaining clothing has been difficult than obtaining
food (Kidwell & Christman, 1974). Crane (2000) proposes that consumer
choices of clothing are subjected to people’s interpretations of a specific form
of culture for their purpose that includes healthy social norms about appro-
priate appearance at a particular point of time.
One good thing about Fashion is that she never breaks with her old friends.
She is faithful and reunites with them at a later date. Fashion is cyclic, where
almost everything that has emerged as a new fashion has a predecessor (Terms,
2015). Fashion is evolutionary and has been in existence for ages. It evolves or
changes with time and may take a few years or decades or even a century to
repeat itself. For example, the cycle of changing dress lengths of women from
short to long and again short (Blumer, 1969; Sapir, 1931).

2.3 FASHION: SOCIOLOGICAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL AND


COGNITIVE PERSPECTIVE (A REVIEW OF LAST 100 YEARS)

There is no doubt that fashion is an important social phenomenon. Numerous


authors in multiple studies of sociology and economics have documented this.
Some of the pioneering works in fashion were done by sociologists and
economists in the early twentieth century.
The famous nineteenth-century sociologist, Georg Simmel (Simmel, 1904),
identified that fashion has a cyclical nature and gets momentum when many
people accept it, who desire to imitate the elite. He highlighted the fact that the
rich and the affluent wanted to create their niche in society, and hence they
were always ready to adopt the latest styles at a premium price. It was a way of
class differentiation, which the masses then imitate to rise high in the social
class structure. This desire for differentiation arose from their requirement of
identification of their personality and status in society. On the other hand, the
desire to follow or imitate arose from the need for social acceptability and
belongingness. The eighteenth-century economist and researcher Veblen
observed the sudden changes in people’s buying patterns and the rise in the
masses’ consumption of fashion goods. He found out that such shifts result
from their need to take pride and grab the attention of their peer by showing
off their purchase power. In his ground-breaking work, he proved that
18 AI in Fashion Industry

demand and price might be directly proportional to each other for certain
goods (Veblen goods), and a price increase may trigger more purchases
(phenomena of luxury goods, wines, watches, etc.) Later, in 1950, economist
Professor Harvey Leibenstein (1950) opined that such drastic changes or rise
in the consumption pattern might be defined as a ‘non-functional demand’. His
pioneering work comprises two of the most fantastic theories, which explains
fashion behaviour. The ‘bandwagon effect’, deriving from the psychological
need to become a part of the crowd, the ‘snob effect’, arises from the need for
differentiation. The same phenomena have also been highlighted by socialists
like Merton (1949) and Barber and Lobel (1952). In a unique work by Zech
(1975), the bandwagon effect has even been associated with voting in elec-
tions. The author concluded that every election would enjoy being with the
winning side by observing the fellow voters. Since the bandwagon effect
spreads more with publicity and advertisements, ‘greater is the publicity
awarded, greater the chances of bandwagon effect and hence winning’. This
work is of particular importance to us because social media is one of the
newest means of promotion and self-expression, and hence it may expedite the
flow of information through the bandwagon effect.
A psychology scholar, Scitovsky (1976), opined that opposite human
requirements drive demand for fashion. First is the need for newness and
differentiation, and second is the need for social conformance. Stigler and
Becker (1977) throw a different light on the above phenomena and state that
consumer tastes do not vary over time and may not be included in the ‘theory
of demand’.
King and Ring (1980) have tried to draw fashion components on a
2-dimensional plane where one axis represents the fashion object, and the
other highlights the process. Their work defines various parameters such as
dressing styles, architectural designs, popular music, etc., as a part of fashion
objects where the fashion process has been discussed on its movement
parameters from the introduction stage to the stage of popularity. The stages
take the shape of a curve that indicates its introduction through innovation,
early adoption, mass dissemination and eventual declination over a particular
period. This has been reflected in the diagrammatical representation of
Fashion Cycle given in the figure below:
Wasson (1968) explained the dynamics of a fashion product life cycle
(Fig. 1). A fashion product slowly gains acceptance among its followers,
reaches its peak and then sales slowly decline before it goes out of the market.
It originates from a few designer labels (haute couture or high-end fashion)
then goes to the masses as ready-to-wear before it reaches discounted stores.
The fashion product price sharply changes from very high to low so as the
Literature Review 19

Fig. 1. The Fashion Product Life Cycle (Wasson, 1968).

consumers who buy it. At introduction and growth stage, it is purchased by


premium and high-end consumers who are fashion leaders. At the later stage,
it is available for masses or fashion followers. If the fashion trend is tapped in
the beginning stage, it may lead to fewer product failures for mass-market
retailers. Rogers (1962) classified the product life cycle into five categories
and found consumers’ share at each classification. They are innovators
(2.5%), early adopters (13.5%), early majority (34%), late majority (34%)
and laggards (16%). According to him, innovators and early adopters set the
tempo for branded product consumption; tapping them could help in better
forecasting.
Fashion, by its nature, is a complex social and cultural phenomenon having
substantial economic implications. Its production and consumption patterns
are greatly influenced by social structures, and its levels of influence on society
increase in line with economic development (Fontana & Miranda, 2016).
Some economists, like Gopnik (1994), view fashion as an element of artificial
obsolescence that impales people to replace articles that still have much of their
original usefulness and functionality intact, even though the new articles are
not significantly different from the old ones. Hence, according to him, it is a
familiar form of the capitalist technique of planned obsolescence (articles are
made to become obsolete).
20 AI in Fashion Industry

2.4 FASHION AND GENDER

There are few studies found in the area of gender-related effects on fashion
behaviour as well. Tigert, King, and Ring (1980), based on their different
cultural studies, stated that the new women’s fashions are monitored by the
women consumers who regularly keep an eye on the changing fashion sce-
nario. They concluded that women have a greater degree of association with
fashion. McCracken and Roth (1989) worked on interpreting apparel codes
and found out that women recognized and were more sensitive to fashion
cues than men (Auty & Elliott, 1998). Few research articles also prove that
men and women grasp advertising cues in different ways (Meyers-Levy &
Sternthal, 1991), in that women are far more aggressive in paying attention
to advertising. Elliott (1994) stated that women follow fashion advertise-
ments more than men. Stith and Goldsmith (1989) also opine the same and
state that women have a greater inclination towards fashion apparel inno-
vations; opinion leaders do not mind spending more than men. There exists a
relationship between dressing and one’s expression of Fashion. That may be
why people prefer the same brands, colours and fashion tendencies on an
everyday basis.

2.5 FASHION AND SEX IMPULSE

Fashion is an expression present in all exterior details of life. However, it has


its origins in beauty. Psychiatrists have found that dresses may lead to a rise in
impulses for sex (Bergler, 1953). Terms (2015) define fashion as food for the
mind. According to Fischer and Arnold (1994), sex is a decisive factor that
guides fashion product properties like design, comfort and individuality.
Fashion consumers, especially women, use fashion as a tool for seeking love,
romance and seduction and attract the opposite gender (Terms, 2015). Steele
(1985) also argues on the same lines and declares that eroticism and the need
for beautification are ingrained in fashion. He says that clothing is a bodily
adornment and helps invent someone’s inner desires, thus helping people
communicate with others by highlighting one’s personality and attitude. Steele
(1996) also stated that fashion is symbolic and represents sexuality and
attractiveness and identifies genders. Entwistle (2015) referred to Laver’s
theory of ‘shifting erogenous zone’, which states that one of the motivations
behind women’s dressing is their desire to attract the opposite gender. He
advocates the idea of seduction through appearance. Laver (1969) brought the
Seduction Principle idea and fuels the idea that fashion for women is linked
Literature Review 21

with seduction. Wilson (2007) states that beauty and sex appeal go hand in
hand. However, the impact of beauty on sex appeal varies from person to
person. Flugel (1930) states that as clothes help to conceal and reveal the body,
clothes may trigger the sexual imagination of the opposite gender leading to
strong sexual desires.

2.6 FASHION AND AGE

Apart from this, age is a significant contributor in determining the purchase


patterns in fashion apparels (O’Cass, 2001b). Many studies clearly indicate
that people of different age groups have different quotient of attachment
towards fashion apparel and its usage. (Auty & Elliott, 1998; O’Cass, 2000).
The studies are based on the premise that the younger generation gives more
emphasis to their overall looks than the older generation (O’Cass, 2001). This
can be attributed to the fact that the young masses have a more vibrant and
steaming social life with their peers than the older masses. According to
Schiffman and Kanuk (2006), younger people are more concerned about their
appearance because teens want to imitate their aspiration group at the same
time they want to be accepted by their reference group and gain some measure
of social approval.

2.7 FASHION AND POLITICS

Fashion has also been subjected to strict control under political environment of
a country or region. There are several measures by which ruling government/
monarch exercises this control. Dress code, heavy taxation on imports, gov-
ernment policies forbidding wearing of some dresses, consumer laws, social
laws, gender-based discrimination, etc. are some of them (Jhonson, 2002).
Sometimes fashion has also been used as an instrument of protest, for example,
when King of Swaziland made it compulsory for women to wear tassels with a
belt assuming it may preserve their virginity and prevent spread of HIV–AIDS,
Swazi women protested by dropping tassels in front of the royal palace (Russel &
Armstrong, 1985). For ages, political environment constrained and imposed
restrictions on social identities. Joseph and Houston (1986) identify few
important phenomena such as uniforms (for military, police, religious, etc.) and
certain styles of clothing such as straight jackets and corsets for women during
Victorian ages, which irrespective of restricting and constraining individual’s
movements and mannerism, were accepted as mass fashion because of the theory
discussed above.
22 AI in Fashion Industry

2.8 FASHION AND IDENTITY

The term identity was popularized following Erikson’s (1946) paper and
sparked interest in social scientists in interpreting human behaviour. Stone
(1962) expanded that communication via appearance is more important than
communication via discourse and highlighted that dressing has a priority in
social encounters because it can be seen before communication can be initiated.
Wiegert et al. (1986) also offered an extensive literature review on the rela-
tionship between social identity and oneself. A reference group through dress
communicates identities as it announces the wearers’ social position and the
observers’ during a particular interaction situation. There are a few identities
that are assigned at birth. Antecedents include gender, race, ethnic group, body
variations (e.g. handicap) or kinship group. Through time, an individual
acquires many other identities. Notably, no two people’s identity is the same as
no two individuals acquire the same environmental circumstances. An individ-
ual fulfils a social role, which can be communicated by his taste of consumption
and dressing in particular (Higgins, Eicher, & Johnson, 1995). Stone (1962)
explained how dress contributes to the acquisition of identities. According to
him, people acquire identities by participation or memberships in social rela-
tions. He is keen on how his peers view him and how others will react to his
dress; Stone called this review from a social reference group. For gaining
acceptance, an individual must be able to predict others’ behaviour towards his/
her ways of dressing up that reflects the mood of his/her reference or the peer
group. Many other factors that influence fashion may include family (a family
injects socio-cultural values), occupation, economy, politics, religion, member-
ships and associations, leisure and sports activities, health, hygiene and illness
(Higgins et al., 1995). According to Tarafder (2015), self-esteem, self-image,
gender, age and occupation affect consumers’ choice of fashion. Diana Crane
(2012), in her book ‘Fashion and Its Social Agendas: Class, Gender and Identity
in Fashion’ elaborates that fashion identity for men and women varies with
gender, where men seek masculinity, desire to express their class, lifestyle and
popular culture which they follow, women seek sophistication, want to reveal
sexuality and beauty, however, constrained and bounded by strong social
norms. In various places like the United States and Europe, various aspects of
identity were highlighted by clothing choice. Such identities are influenced by
occupation, regional identity, religion and social class. Crane (2012) also pro-
poses that fashion identity may be further factorized into individual self-identity
and social identity at any given point in time (p. 3). Self-image, a prominent
factor behind self-identity, comprises lifestyle, age, gender, sexual orientation
and ethnicity. Gidden’s (1991) documentation of self-identity with time and
Literature Review 23

space is a seminal work in fashion self-identity, where he established that self-


identity is a dynamic and constantly evolving phenomenon. Fashion consumers
create a sense of identity by creating self-narratives. These self-narratives eval-
uate the importance of the present, past and future. Narratives keep changing
continuously as the person re-assess her ‘ideal’ self with changing perceptions
with her mental and physical self, based on present and past experiences and
aspirations of the future. There have been numerous studies that have
contributed to the area of social identities. Ewen (1985) argued that a person’s
social structure heavily influenced his/her clothing consumption behaviour.
Besides, occupation, religious affiliation, gender and the region also have a
prominent effect in that period’s costumes (Pellegrin, 1989). Goldthorpe (1987)
and LE PLAY (1862) explained the social stratification theory where they
argued that hierarchies of occupations and control over economic resources
influenced clothing choice, which was reflected by people’s uniforms, which
were symbols of their social ranks. According to them, regional identities were
less significant. Class differentiation based on social class has always been a
salient feature of fashion. De Marly (1986) highlighted this in her work with
examples of how the social ‘chasm’ between the upper class, middle class and
lower class was enormous. For the lower class, clothing was a lifetime posses-
sion, whereas it was available in abundance for the upper class. However, in the
twenty-first century, with the onset of ‘fast fashion’ and ‘cheap clothing’, access
to fashion has become relatively easier even for the lower classes (with some
exceptions). In an interesting study by Bell (1976), social identity has been split
based on work time and leisure time. Bell argued that in the twenty-first century,
consumers have a considerable increase in leisure time, which is a combination
of personal time, family time, social activities time and volunteering, and
political time. Hence, fashion consumption is more dependent on personal
identity now.
Leung, Yee, and Lo (2015) conducted an empirical study on the luxury
fashion market and found out that various psychological factors like self-
monitoring and self-concept are essential in deciding the younger generation of
consumers’ purchase behaviour age group of 18–23 years. Media exposure is
also a determining factor in consumers’ fashion purchases between 24 and 35.
In another empirical study of Ghana-based female students, it was revealed
that the most vital social and psychological factors that influenced the selection
of clothing among female students were media usage and body image (Asare,
Ibrahim, & Kwesi, 2016). It may also be noted that individual psychological
factors are also playing an essential role in defining the new fashion change
(Cholechatpinyo et al., 2002). So, tracking social media data of individual
fashion consumers has become imperative for the fashion market researcher.
24 AI in Fashion Industry

These discussions are essential for our present work; in Chapter 3.2, we
have used the above discussions to deduce the conceptual framework of
fashion identity.

2.9 THE FASHION ACCEPTANCE PROCESS

Not everything that is on the runway becomes a Fashion. Stone (2008) did an
interesting piece of research to study the process of acceptance of fashion. In a
runway show of fashion brand Prada in 1996, cropped pants were showcased.
Few women started wearing cropped pants in 1997. By 2007, every woman in the
United States has either owned or tried a cropped trousers pair. Hence, he
concluded that the introduction and imitation are essential components of con-
sumers’ psyche in fashion. Fashion is a business of social copying (Stone, 2008).
When a new style is introduced, it either becomes a fad (a small scale and
limited-time fashion) or flop (a style which never gains mass acceptance), a
fashion, or sometimes a classic (something which becomes timeless, e.g. white
shirt or blue denim). A style can never become a fashion until and unless it
gains mass acceptance (Nystrom, 1928). Celebrity or fashion icons have a
significant impact on the fashion business. For example, actress Merlene
Dietrich and Katherine Hepburn introduced pants in social events in the
1960s, when most women in the United States wore either skirts or dresses in
social events (Buckland, 2005).
Fashion directly relates to consumer purchasing power; wherever there is
purchasing power, there is interest in fashion. Fashion determines both the
character and direction of consumption. Factors such as price and the con-
venience of use, durability and craftsmanship also play an essential role in
consumer purchase decisions and its fashion quotient, which should be
according to the prevailing trend that attracts the consumers most (Hsaio &
Dickerson, 1995).

2.10 THE FASHION BUYING BEHAVIOUR

Buying behaviour or purchase behaviour is how consumers purchase a


product and its factors (McKinney, Legette-Traylor, Kincade, & Holloman,
2004). Any business’s success lies in careful understanding and evaluation of
buying behaviour (Anderson, Fell, Smith, Hansen, & Gomon, 2005). The sole
purpose of a business is to fulfil consumer needs (Winer, 2000). Understanding
buying behaviour is associated with the successful segmentation of consumer
markets and the identification of target consumers (Schiffman & Kanuk,
Literature Review 25

2000). Nystorm (1928) believes that an organization’s strategic marketing


decisions such as targeting and establishing a brand depend upon knowledge
of consumers’ characteristics. Both personal and environmental factors play an
essential role in shaping one’s behaviour as a consumer (Blyth, 2008). A sig-
nificant part of consumer purchase behaviour is the way consumers arrive at a
particular purchase decision. Social networks are powerful enough to influence
consumer’s purchase decisions (Solomon et al., 2010).
People shop in many ways, guided by several factors. Kinley, Josiam, and
Lockett (2010) have suggested three factors that affect individuals’ fashion
purchase decisions. They are purchase frequency, time spent and money spent
during shopping.
A study was done by Mcfatter (2005) to understand fashion buying
behaviour. He finds price perception, personality traits and media usage
dominating fashion purchase behaviour in individuals. Individual personal
variable finds an important place in marketing literature. Ramachander
(1988), in an article published in economic and political weekly, classified
marketing variables on three levels; e.g. primary, secondary and tertiary. He
outlined that the individual personal variable is the second most important
variable that affects consumer buying after socio-demographic and cultural
variables at the primary level. At the secondary level, it creates consumer self-
images and wants as well as shapes attitudes. At the tertiary level, it creates
brand images and sets salience selections reflecting into purchase decisions.
Fashion buying behaviour is a result of two aggregated terms compulsive
and impulsive buying behaviour. According to Johnson and Attman (2009),
four factors decide compulsive buying behaviour: materialism, neuroticism,
compulsive clothing buying and fashion interest. Four factors cause impulsive
buying behaviour Park, Young Kim, and Cardona Forney (2006). They are
fashion involvement, positive emotions, impulse buying and hedonic con-
sumption tendency. They surveyed 217 college students and concluded that
fashion involvement is affecting impulsive buying behaviour the most. Solo-
mon and Rabolt (2009) find that brand associations, purchase frequency,
loyalty, quality perceptions, price perceptions and spending size are respon-
sible for shaping individuals’ fashion buying behaviour.

2.11 FASHION: A BUSINESS PERSPECTIVE

Fashion is a great business globally and valued at a staggering $2.4 trillion in


2016 (McKinsey Global Fashion Survey, 2016). Fashion has become a $3
trillion industry today (Fashionunited.com, 2019), with more than 150 billion
26 AI in Fashion Industry

units of garments manufactured in 2018 alone (Apurva, 2019). However, the


best fashion retailers make 10–11% operating profits or EBITA (Earnings
before Interest, Tax and Amortisation) (Subramanian, 2014). Half of what is
manufactured is either sold on discounts or never sold, creating giant carbon
footprints (Apurba, 2019). According to the McKinsey Global Fashion Index
report (2019), the top 20% of companies in fashion commanded an average
profit of 128%, the next 60% made 6% profits, whereas the last 20% com-
panies made 234% (negative) profits in the year 2017. The same report tells
only the top 20 companies in the fashion industry contributed to 97% of
profits in 2017, making the fashion business highly skewed towards super
performers when it comes to profitability. A recent article in Forbes
(Schmelzer, 2019) reports that technology has the most significant impact on
fashion. Using technology like AI for product development can reduce the
forecasting error, up to 50% in the fashion industry. Subramanian (2014)
outlined that by reducing forecasting error by 5%, profitability can jump by
25–30%. Standish and Ganpathy (2018) emphasized the same but added that
AI might bring inventory levels down by 20–50%.
The USA is the biggest consumer of fashion. In 2000, US consumers spent
$319 Billion on clothing, footwear and accessories, which is 5% of their total
consumer spending (U.S. Department of Commerce, 2001). However, the
United States produces little as compared to its consumption. For instance, it
produced merchandise close to worth $18 Billion in 2012, according to the US
Department of Commerce report. Only 1% of people are employed in the
fashion and allied production industries in the USA. In terms of exports,
fashion and apparel products constitute less than 1% of US exports while
developing countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh or Sri Lanka; this figure is
between 60–70%. Asia accounted for 78% of the USA’s total import of
fashion, accessories and leather products (Dickerson, 2007; U.S. Department
of Commerce, 2001). The discussions indicate that most fashion production
happens in the east, and consumption happens in the west.
The Indian fashion industry was valued at 40 Billion USD in 2013
(Technopak, 2013). Its YOY growth rate is nearly 8% compared to the
3–4% growth rate of the world. In 2017, the industry became worth USD 63
Billion (Technopak, 2017). Share of apparels in the Indian fashion market is
8%, while accessories are 6%. Footwear share is nearly 1%. 90% share of
corporatized fashion business is located in metros, mini-metros, Tier-1 and
Tier-2 cities. Menswear is the largest category contributing to 42% of the
overall market, followed by womenswear 38% and kidswear 20%. Globally,
organized fashion retail is a $500 Billion business out of which 14–15%
share belongs to fashion and related categories.
Literature Review 27

Hayes and Jones (2002) suggest that women’s increased income levels have
significantly contributed to the rise of fashion economic activities through
increased purchase power. They have empirically proved that wants rather
than needs drive consumers to spend more on fashion apparel and clothing.
Hence in an economic depression, fashion is one of the first industries to be
affected. Kilduff (2005) says that the fashion industry has become turbulent
and vibrant with the onset of many brands and rapidly changing styles. While
there are a series of challenges in the fashion industry, any fashion retailer’s
biggest challenge is unsold inventory selling at discounts. Money is lost in
between what does not sell and what sells (Subramanian, 2014). A significant
reason for this remains the wrong forecast. Fashion is a hostile business for
many; especially in the absence of modern forecasting apparatus.

2.12 FASHION FORECASTING: THE BACKGROUND

In the business of fashion, faux pas can be costly. To get confidence over their
forecasts, almost every fortune 500 fashion retailer depends on professional
trends forecasting companies such as WGSN, Style sight and Promostyl, to
name a few but the most popular ones. With an average annual fee varying
between $7,000 and $15,000, they offer ideas on colour, fabric and cuts. The
traditional gathering methods include trawling art exhibitions, restaurants,
concerts, events and even scientific journals. Fashion forecasters often
photograph trendy people, travel to fashion cities, follow catwalk shows and
spot vintage as well as upcoming trends. The Internet’s data are proving a
boon to them in the form of cost savings (Gordon, 2013). Another traditional
way of forecasting includes analyzing consumer publications such as Glamour,
Vogue, InStyle, Harper’s Bazaar and GQ (Dickerson, 2007). Companies such
as ITC in India use big data to analyze past designs to bring out the aspects
that have been popular and accepted by the masses and feed this information
back into the design or new product development process, thus strengthening
the designer’s intuition and creativity (Balaji, Rajnish, & Sharma, 2013).
Gardener (1995) compares fashion forecasting with ‘chasing the future with
a butterfly net’. The people who forecast picks up upcoming and prevailing
trends from available resources. (Popcorn, 1991). Product developing com-
panies and forecasting agencies help short-term predictions for colourways,
fabrics, silhouettes and styling directions. Fashion forecasts help merchan-
disers to anticipate change and predict future deliverables (Levenbach &
Cleary, 1981). A trend forecast may identify the source, the reasons, under-
lying pattern, direction and the tempo of the trend. Forecasting comprises
28 AI in Fashion Industry

tools and techniques that can be applied systematically. The six steps of
developing forecasts have been enumerated in the following paragraph.
(1) Analyze past trends and forecasts (2) Analyze the reasons for change as
well as its effects (3) Comparing the past forecast and the actual sales (4)
Identify the cues that will affect the future trends (5) Use forecasting tools and
techniques in order to get accurate and reliable information (6) Continuous
follow-up to diagnosticate any deviation (7) Regular review. Season after
season, product developers, merchandisers and product managers look for
short-term trend forecasts of colours, textiles, silhouettes, and overall style
directions. Forecasting comprises tools and techniques that can be applied
systematically, but among all ‘Scanning’ plays a significant role. Forecasters
look at historical sales data, communication with supply chain partners,
competitive scan, environmental scan, consumer scan and fashion scan, which
eventually translates into colour, fabric, style, silhouette and overall look for
the upcoming season (Keiser & Garner, 2008). The traditional gathering
forecast data included trawling art exhibitions, restaurants, concerts, events
and even scientific journals. Fashion forecasters often photograph trendy
people and celebrities, travel to fashion cities, follow catwalk shows and spot
vintage as well as upcoming trends. Fashion auxiliary services offered by the
media like fashion magazines, general consumer publications, information
resources like fashion consultants and information services are essential
ingredients for new product development and long-term forecasting (Stone,
2001). These works reveal that fashion forecasting’s traditional nature was
based on observation, scanning of the environment, expert judgements and
human intuitions.
In brief, we may tell that forecasting helps convert available information to
form a strong basis of decision-making and minimize risks (Brannon, 2010).
Fashion forecasting has shaped like a big industry with some major players
like WGSN, Promostyl and Style sight in line with mass production and
development of organized fashion retail. A shift has been witnessed in fashion
forecasting from the 1960s. Fashion forecasting is not stating a single domi-
nant fashion trend. Instead, it has emerged as a pluralist approach affected by
the expansion of mass media and increasing sophistication of the consumers.
The period post World War II saw a slower-moving fashion market. During
this time, forecasting was easy. The forecasters used to collect stories and
themes and compiled them into books/magazines that could deliver visual and
tactile information (Mckelvey & Munslow, 2008).
Scanning the outside environment is an essential ingredient of the fashion
ecosystem. It helps to identify the various external factors like economic,
political, social, sustainable, technological and cultural determinants that may
Literature Review 29

affect fashion. Current events, the arts, sports, science and technology affect
short-term forecasting.
Past sales data, supplier’s communication, competition mapping, environ-
ment scanning, consumer scanning and fashion predictive scanning translates
into colours, fabrics, silhouettes and other production elements. This forecasting
may be adjusted according to the target market (Keiser & Garner, 2008).
Fashion auxiliary services offered by the media like fashion magazines, general
consumer publications, information resources like fashion consultants and
information services are essential for new product development and forecasting.
For over 25 years, Promostyl, headquartered in Paris, has predicted fashion
change and helped its clients profit from its advice on international fashion and
design consulting bureau. Linking fashion with social trends is the key to Pro-
mostyl’s methods (Stone, 2001). Fashion scan includes steps such as travelling to
fashion cities (New York, London, Paris, Milan and Tokyo), scanning the
streets, scanning printed and broadcasted material as well as web sources,
meeting fashion leaders and experts from the field of creativity such as arts,
architecture, design, cosmetics and entertainment to identify fashion cues.
Consumer scan is done by first sub-dividing the target consumer into
smaller segments, e.g. working women can be divided into married, single,
number of children, ethnicity or other characteristics. Various data gathering
methods include focus groups, surveys and observations. Point of Sale (POS)
data are used for identifying various price points and quantities. The industry
uses consumer scan for short-term forecasts. Social media can play a more
significant role here as consumers of almost all fashion brands are present on
social media and actively creating and uploading content about their tastes
and preference.
It is imperative to mention the work of Nystrom (1928). Nystrom
endeavoured to list the factors that guide and influence the character and the
dimension of fashion. His framework is represented below:
Nystrom’s framework is used for macro-level forecasting, also called long-
term forecasting.
Many forecasting and market research companies are using the Internet as
a tool for trend and style research. People are looking at designers and retailers
alike websites that can be found easily on the Internet (Next, Paul Smith, La
Redoute, etc.). This emerging area of ‘e-research’ has benefits like speed and
cost savings; however, problems inaccuracy as the Internet population is not
representing a brand’s target population (Easey, 2009).
Other fashion forecasting methods include collecting market information
from fashion editors and buyers, style testing (a consumer involvement tool),
test marketing of new styles, colours and silhouettes.
30 AI in Fashion Industry

Over the last many years, the fashion industry has always been engaged in
different marketing strategies, with traditional cataloguing being made refer-
ence to on proxy without adequate segmental provisioning. This is based on
designers’ intuition with some forecasting tools and instruments (Yang &
Huang, 2011). Thus, the fashion industry relies on previous data, mental
intuition and imaginations to predict and meet the customers’ demands.
However, with the recent fast-dynamic fashion trends, the design market has
become highly competitive and renders the present mechanism obsolete and
irrelevant (Guercini & Runfola, 2016; Jacobs, Cambré, Huysentruyt, &
Schramme, 2016; Roubelat, Brassett, Mcallum, Hoffmann, & Kera, 2015).
The traditional method of brainstorming on designs is time-wasting and
reduces productivity. Hence, it is difficult for fashion designers to place their
designs on mannequins due to outdated styles. There is a high probability that
what they are making is not the trend (Jacobs et al., 2016). Some recent works
have tracked customer demand using different methods through comments,
shares and re-tweets from the social media website Twitter.
The advent of the World Wide Web and social media revolutionized the
fashion forecasting industry. However, the tactile nature of traditional fore-
casting is still predominant in the industry. In the fashion industry, the
dominant trait of non-conformance of behaviours according to academic
standards have given rise to decision-making and analysis as an art; however,
‘a sizeable array of decision aids’ for a smooth decision-making may get
‘capitalized on a big data analytic approach’ (Beach & Lipshitz, 2017; Zhao,
Liu, Zhang, & Huang, 2017).

2.13 FASHION FORECASTING: THE CONTEMPORARY APPROACH

A few works in existing literature also reveal that researchers have tried to
address this field with some analytical models. Garro (2011) addressed sales
forecasting with fast-fashion retailer Zara by developing regression models
based on past sales data and unsold inventory. Ferreira et al. (2016) used a
similar model but drew regression trees. Huang and Liu (2017) used adaptive
neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS), which outperformed the traditional
artificial neural networks in forecasting demand for fashion products. Some
more studies report the usage of past sales data for forecasting the demand for
fashion, Tehrani and Ahrens (2016) using classification algorithm, Choi et al.
(2014) extreme learning machine and grey model, Ren et al. (2015) Panel data
model and a variety of other predictive models as well as deep learning (DL)
approaches such as Decision trees, Random forest, Support Vector Regression,
Literature Review 31

Artificial Neural Network (ANN), Extreme Learning Machine (ELM) and


Linear Regression (Loureiro et al., 2018; Sun et al., 2008; Xia et al., 2012).
However, the past sales data based complex models have certain limitations.
First, they neglect the qualitative aspects such as the role of expert judgements,
creative, artistic and emotional aspects of the fashion product; second, there is
a dearth of long sales histories for fashion products as the product itself has a
short lifecycle (Goodwin, 2017). In his article titled ‘Forecasting after a
fashion’, he heavily criticized post fashion post-mortem-based methods of
forecasting. Another set of researchers addressed this problem of forecasting
using expert opinion as well as survey-based methods. Noh and Ulrich (2013)
used the Delphi method to survey fashion professionals and find out long-
range trends; an empirical work by Roy and Saha (2012) matches designers’
opinions with consumers’ opinions through interviews and surveys conjoint
analysis to design an office shirt. These sets of methods are subjected to a series
of limitations such as unavailability of data every season, low-cost effective-
ness and time-consuming. Previous literature also has instances of usage of
some popular AI techniques in building fashion forecasting models like Fuzzy
Logic (Eberhart & Shi, 2007), Neural Networks (Banica et al., 2014; Cheng &
Shing, 2008; Eberhart & Shi, 2007), Genetic Algorithm (Kim & Cho, 2000;
Tokumaru et al., 2003), Bayesian Networks (Russell & Norvig, 2009; Yelland
& Dong, 2014), Decision Trees (Kokol, Verlic, & Krizmaric, 2006) and
Knowledge-based Systems and their variations (Eberhart & Shi, 2007).
Despite all efforts, forecasting remains the number one challenge in the fashion
business (Subramanian, 2014). Gaimster (2012) argues that the fashion fore-
casting industry’s nature is changing dramatically in recent years. Several
factors contribute to this change, but the key driver is the impact of technol-
ogy. Brannon (2010) emphasizes in her book that the internet is proving a
boon to fashion forecasters in the form of cost savings, ease of reach to the
target audience and providing information near to selling season. Hence we
tried to find a few more works where technology acts as an enabler for fashion
forecasting.

2.14 FASHION FORECASTING IN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE


AND MACHINE VISION ERA: THE FUTURE

The business of fashion is rapidly changing with the advancement in tech-


nology in recent years. Fashion parades were revolutionary in the nineteenth
century. Today is artificial intelligence (AI). In recent years, the rise of com-
puter vision has changed the landscape of the fashion forecasting industry
32 AI in Fashion Industry

(Wong, 2012; Zhou et al., 2018). E-commerce and social media are the main
leverages of the fashion industry in recent times. Social networking sites such
as Facebook and Instagram generate tons of data, both structured and
unstructured, that may be analyzed using AI-based algorithms for better
operational decisions such as designing or merchandise planning of certain
products before reaching the peak of their popularity (Franco, 2018).
According to Scoltz (2017), these data have characteristics like volume, vari-
ety, velocity, veracity, variability, complexity and viability, making it humanly
impossible to process and make decisions without a machine interface.
Machine vision first became popular in the area of radiology with its appli-
cations in medical diagnosis. With advances, it was introduced to the fashion
industry with image processing features and its ability to classify images based
on colours, textures, shapes and sizes (King & Lau, 1996). Processing images
to get business insights has become popular in the present era of AI-driven
technologies. Many industries are processing visual images to create tasks that
aid their current practices (Mohapatra, 2019). Many big corporations like
Google, Microsoft and IBM provide image processing-based solutions to the
fashion industry. In April 2018, software giant Microsoft published an article
on their developer blog webpage, where they introduced two of their recent
applications developed jointly with an international fashion retailer. The first
application, named ‘Grabcut’, enables users to extract photographs of fashion
products from typical day-to-day photographs of users. It uses a Gaussian
mixture model with five components and uses an iterative optimization
algorithm that removes the background unwanted noise from the pictures. The
second application, ‘Tiramisu’, is an image segmentation architecture that uses
a deep-learning-based algorithm and binary coding of foreground and back-
ground pixels for classification, factorization and segmentation. Microsoft
claims that this model achieved 94% accuracy during training mode, making it
fit for further use (Microsoft Developer Blog, 2018).
Computer-enabled image processing, by and large, has become a hot topic
in both practitioners as well as academic literature; however, a more system-
atic as well as holistic investigation of the entire fashion system may lead to a
conceptual model, which we have addressed in the analysis and results section.

2.15 AESTHETIC EXPERIENCE AND DESIGN THINKING

Design thinking is an approach that uses the designer’s sensibility and methods
for problem-solving to meet people’s needs in a technologically feasible and
commercially viable way. In other words, design thinking is human-centered
Literature Review 33

innovation. People’s need and demand for better performance with less effort
steers the design thinking process that can be best addressed through successful
application of technology in the designing process, often around materials
choices: balancing performance with aesthetics for the ideal product experi-
ence. It requires integration of quantitative technical perspectives with
descriptions of aesthetics that are often variable and culturally dependent. The
concept of aesthetics is associated with philosophical reflections of once
experience of any product, environment or intangible emotional expression of
human beings.
An aesthetic experience is a part of product experience that includes the
entire set of experiences such as emotional experience and meaningful expe-
rience. The experience deals with the degree to which all our senses are
gratified to senses is known as aesthetic experience. The rest of the experience
deals with the faculties of human minds, i.e. cognition and emotions. They
should be conceptually separated either while designing for user experience or
while making an aesthetic design decision (Bairisal & Kumar, 2019). Aesthetic
experience seems to be a soft and subjective attribute to measure, but studies
have shown that its indicators can be computed. The sense of the soft or hard,
cool or warm, dull or bright, matt or shiny can be quantified and linked to
material properties (Brownell, 2014). The physical, chemical and thermal
properties determine the senso-aesthetic attributes of materials (Laughlin &
Howes, 2014).
The value of a product is a measure of the degree to which it meets or
exceeds the expectation of the user in functionality and satisfaction. Simplicity
and restraint can be more appealing than drama and display. There is inter-
action with materials through products, which in the present study is the
fashion product or garment. Aesthetic experience stimulates the sensory
attributes of material. Aesthetic ability arouses interest and kindles the five
senses, particularly the sense of vision. It is through the senses that we expe-
rience materials, their texture, colour and patterns on the fabric. Designers
manipulate these senses and the reactions to each sense to create a product’s
identity.
To measure aesthetic sensitivity, Bairisal and Kumar (2019) have consid-
ered the stimulus to contain only aesthetic component and not take into
account emotional and semantic components such as colours, personal desires,
brand names, brand identity, social, cultural-moral values and symbols. In
other words, aesthetic design stimuli should contain only aesthetic components
such as aesthetic design principle and free from emotional components,
semantic interpretation and symbolic association. Whereas, according to
Desmet et al. (2007), product experience is summation of aesthetic experience,
34 AI in Fashion Industry

emotional experience and semantic experience. Aesthetic designs facilitate


aesthetic experience and help in making aesthetic preference. Respondents
who give above average and higher weight (Brunel, Arnold, & Bloch, 2003) to
beautiful stimuli such as order and symmetry through basic perceptual analysis
are considered as highly aesthetic sensitive persons. This subjectivity involved
in aesthetic choices and definitions have opened up intervention of automation
and computation technology for application of AI which can enable appro-
priate design decisions, choices and smart production.
The original vision of AI was about automation of cognition. Computa-
tional aesthetics dates back to 1928, when American mathematician George
David Birkhoff derived the formula M 5 O/C where M is the ‘aesthetic
measure’, O is order, and C is complexity. In the 1970s, American psychol-
ogist Daniel Berlyne introduced the ‘new experimental aesthetics’, which was
based on measuring the qualities of an object and relating them to a viewer’s
aesthetic perception and non-verbal responses. Ultimately, the goal of
computational aesthetics is the development of fully independent systems that
have the same aesthetic ‘sensitivity’ and objectivity as human experts. These
systems are supposed to explain and evaluate, and generate new ideas and
product. AI now plays an equally important role in our cultural lives and
behaviours, increasingly automating the processes of aesthetic creation and
aesthetic choices.
Algorithms have been employed in artistic creation by artists since the
1960s, today industrial scale ‘cultural AI’ is built into devices and services used
by billions of people. Aesthetic opinions are modelled by aggregating data
about the cultural behaviours to predict future aesthetic decisions and tastes
and potentially guide towards choices preferred by the majority. But AI,
algorithms and user interfaces of digital services, apps and products is likely to
contribute towards increasing aesthetic diversity. Creating aesthetically effi-
cient and semantically conceivable media artifacts is possible by following
comprehensive logical frameworks that incorporates all attributes and features
and can undergo iterations to achieve desired perfection.

2.16 SOCIAL MEDIA AND E-COMMERCE: THE FUTURE


OF FASHION INTELLIGENCE

Social media and e-commerce in recent years have created a gold mine of data
for researchers and practitioners. Pictures, texts, hashtags, likes, shares and
comments carry pieces of information on users’ behaviours at any given time.
Many fashion brands analyze their consumers’ conversations on Web 2.0
Literature Review 35

space to understand user sentiments and fashion direction. Some fashion


houses and trend forecasting companies are putting their latest collections on
social media sites like Instagram and measure public engagement (Jain, 2019).
Picture sharing sites such as Pinterest, Tumblr and Instagram help keep
brands’ consumers up to date about the latest styling information making the
flow of fashion information faster. Also, people are following fashion icons
more quickly, which makes fashion more democratized (Davis, 2018). Zhao
and Min (2018) published a study in which they investigated consumers’
interest in haute couture during Paris fashion week with hashtags. Having the
right social media strategy is linked with the turnaround of many brands. The
most successful of them is British fashion luxury brand Burberry (Phan et al.,
2011), which spent a whopping 60% of its marketing budget on social media.
This helped Burberry tap consumer emotions, strengthen the relationships and
use them in the product development process (Straker & Wrigley, 2016).
Despite these, a study finds that less than 50% of companies use social media
in the new product development process. Strangely, most of the companies
which use social media in the new product development process are the ones
that have ‘innovation culture’ in them and are ready to invest in unconven-
tional sources such as AI (Roberts & Piller, 2016). Most e-commerce com-
panies focus on presenting the most appropriate selection to the consumers
through personalization and not on the most extensive selection; AI makes it
possible (McKinsey, 2019). In the last few years, there has been a rise of few
fashion intelligence companies which are to support intuitions and strengthen
decisions on fashion products. MakerSights, a California based AI firm,
combine factors such as social media activity, e-commerce sell-throughs,
search queries and consumer feedback to provide clues into what is most
likely to become a trend (McDowell, 2019). Fashion retailer Debenhams uses
an analytics platform EDITED (edited.com) to spot trends using computer
vision, machine learning (ML) and natural language processing (for texts)
along with other AI techniques to spot the next fashion super-style.
According to a report published in the fortune magazine, EDITED uses 8
billion data points, 15 million photographs, 1,000 retailers worldwide and
tracks 80,000 fashion influencers on social media to provide smart intelligence
to its worldwide clients (Noyes, 2014). A similar service named analysis1 is
being offered by a leading fashion forecasting company WGSN.
Stitch-fix, an online styling service in the USA, uses ML algorithms to
design trends, gives customers a personalized experience, collects feedback and
comes up with a monthly guide to shopping (Algorithms-tour.stitchfix.com.,
2019; Cognylitica, 2019). Another company, MakerSights, uses data-analytics
that combines multiple factors such as search queries, consumers’ activities on
36 AI in Fashion Industry

social media, e-commerce sell-throughs of competing products and consumer


feedback to provide clues into most likely to become a trend (Alvin, 2019).
There is a long list of similar fashion intelligence services such as Jwtintelli-
gence, Nextatlas, Google trends, Baidu, Heuritech, FashionUnited, Spate and
Stylumia, to name a few (McDowell, 2019). Big fashion houses and small
designers use AI services such as IBM’s cognitive clothing to create the right
products today. Shane and Falguni Peacock, two Indian Bollywood designers,
analyze 600,000 images of couture to forecast the next upcoming colour or
trend using IBM’s cognitive clothing (IBM India, 2019).
Hence, we may conclude that ‘data’ are re-shaping the fashion industry’s
entire structure, and this industry is rapidly moving from forecasting to
nowcasting.

2.17 RISE OF WEB 2.0: THE AGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

The planet witnessed some magnificent developments in the new millennium;


some of them are the popularity of the Internet and mobile communication,
decreasing prices of media – click, play and upload, affordable global travel
and connectedness of consumers, rapid exchange of consumer information,
growth in the number of consumption-led economies and explosive growth in
consumer-generated content on the web. One such development is the rise of
social media, where users can communicate, participate, co-create, give feed-
back and rating, post/share/view multimedia content like photographs, audios
and videos.
Over the years, the Internet has evolved from community groups to a
network (Wellman, Boase, & Chen, 2002). Social media has introduced a new
kind of virtual world. Consumers are highly engaged in activities and features
produced by social media service providers like sharing information, partici-
pating in discussions, communicating with peers and alike, creating multi-
media content, providing reviews, feedbacks to products and services used in
day-to-day lives (Ahqvist, 2009).
Tim O’Reilly popularized the term Web 2.0; however, it was firstly coined
by an information architect, Darci DiNucci, in 1999 through an article named
‘Fragmented future’. It is interesting to find how DiNucci could predict social
media’s onset back in 1999, five years before ‘Facebook’ came into the picture.
Web 1.0 was more about information retrieval; Web 2.0 is about users’
participation and content co-creation. In the 1990s, the web was only used for
one-way content publishing; in the post years of 2000s, many companies
popped out, enabling users to engage in two-way communication in the web
Literature Review 37

where users were also empowered to create content and also share them. This
new age of the web is web 2.0.
Social media and Web 2.0 are different. Web 2.0 is associated with online
applications; social media, on the other hand, are those Web 2.0 applications,
which have a social aspect. For example, Google Maps is a Web 2.0 appli-
cation as we can create content (for example, we can tag our house); however,
it does not have a social side. Hence, it is not a social media website; the same
goes with Wikipedia. Social media has become a phenomenon today, associ-
ated with 80% of global consumer spending way back in 2010 (Nuttney,
2010). One fundamental property of social media is massive content creation
by its users. Facebook users are topping all social media sites in content cre-
ation and spreading (Manovich, 2009). For example, some 350 million pho-
tographs are uploaded on Facebook every day, followed by 100 million hours
of video views (Source: Facebook Newsroom, September 2016).
Some 83% of fortune 500 companies are using Web 2.0 based services to
connect, hear and exchange information on the web with their consumers and
prospective consumers (Naylor, Lamberton, & West, 2012). Hollebeek (2011)
proposes that people want to reveal themselves, their identities and personal
interests in social media. These are then received by other users in this network
who also start behaving the same. Fashion is all about self-expression, and
social media gives immense self-expressions opportunities (Kozinets, 2006).
Some companies like wooplr.com have taken a step ahead and created a
fashion discovery service out of social media. They call it fashion social
commerce. Their fashion curators keep a close eye on trends through the social
media pages of thousands of college-goers, designers and fashion leaders.
Consumers are promoted to post pictures of their outfits, which are then
surfaced and showcased to other consumers and the information of where they
can buy that. Social media is also a tool for the co-creation of value with
customers (Clark & Melancon, 2013). Since value creation is one of mar-
keting’s objectives (Kotler et al., 2008), social media is an essential component
of an organization’s marketing ecosystem. Companies want to have an in-
depth understanding of their customers, facilitated by social media through a
digital medium in the form of digital interactions. Organizations can have a
closer view of their vital segments’ needs, wants and desires, enabling them to
produce better business results in terms of profits, sales and brand image
(Mohammadian & Mohammadreza, 2012). Kaplan and Haenlein (2010), also
Weinberg and Pehlivan (2011) and Bernoff and Li (2008) are repeatedly
emphasizing the usage of social media by companies for enhanced business
results. Marion, Barczak, and Hultink (2014) have suggested that companies
can also utilize social media to design and manage new products. This has
38 AI in Fashion Industry

been made possible today by communication and collaboration. Robert and


Piller (2016) argued and emphasized the positive effects of social media uti-
lization to enhance innovation in the product development process.
Few authors have investigated the reasons behind social media usage.
Whiting and Williams (2013) broadened the social media gratification theory
and identified 10 reasons broadly with an in-depth interview of 25 social
media users. Although their sample size was small, however, results are useful.
Their model is depicted below (Fig. 2):
Power and Phillip-Wren’s (2012) presented social media landscape frame-
work where they defined the social media activities with 10 points. They are
publish, share, discuss, social networks, microblog, livestream, live cast, vir-
tual worlds, social games and MMO. These activities broadly fall under three
categories. They are entertainment, revealing identity and socialization. Their
framework is represented in annexure 2.
Social media websites (SNW’s) are built on seven building blocks as sug-
gested by Kietzmann, Hermkens, McCarthy, and Silvestre (2011). They are
sharing, presence, conversations, identity, relationship, reputation and groups.
This model was named as Honeycomb model (see below) or framework of
social media (Fig. 3).
This framework provides implications for how each section of these blocks
should be used to engage with the public. Additionally, each block examines a
specific user’s experience vis-à-vis type of engagement and the motive behind it
(Kietzmann et al., 2011). It is worth noting that identity is the central block of
Keitzmann’s seven building block framework. It may contain information on
users’ self-identity, which may be very close to fashion identity (as discussed in
Section 2.8 previously). Hollebeek (2011) and Kozinets (2006) emphasized on
identity revelations by consumers through social media.
Kietzmann’s work may be considered as a landmark work in the area of
social media as it explains the purpose and related tools which are available on
different social media platforms. For example, a simple like on Facebook,
Instagram or Twitter can be explained by Kietzmann’s framework as ‘estab-
lishing a relationship’ through which two consumers or a brand with con-
sumer will associate with each other’s and begin a conversation. Each activity
on social media has a psychological and social side attached to it. Keitzmann’s
framework explains those transactions. A detailed overview of the Kietz-
mann’s explanations has been given in the figure below:
Another social media researcher, Laing (2016), suggested a scientific
framework (See Annexure 6) for using Kietzmann’s seven building block
model to produce and interpret specific results. In the framework given
Literature Review 39

Social
interac2on

Surveillance/
knowledge Informa2on
seeking
about others

Informa2on
sharing Pass 2me

Why
Social
Media?
Expression of
opinion Entertainment

Convenience
u2lity Relaxa2on

Communicatory
u2lity

Fig. 2. Social Media Gratification Framework, Whiting and Williams (2013).

forward, one can use Kietzmann’s seven building block to arrive at a specific
business decision by tracking certain social media activities.
Liang (2016) has mentioned four different analytical tools to analyze social
media-based information; however, all of these are related to texts (majorly).
Nowadays, even images and videos are being analyzed to gain business
insights.
In the framework mentioned earlier, the Honeycomb model acts as a prism,
and the outcome of this first stage is then subjected to analysis as a filter with
the subsequent refraction providing the results in the form of interpretation.
The model has a fit with most of the social networking sites.
In another framework by Stieglitz, Dang-Xuan, Bruns, and Neuberger
(2014) (Annexure 3) data pertaining to structural attributes, opinion,
sentiment-related and topic/trend-related information has been advised to
40 AI in Fashion Industry

PRESENCE

The extent to
which users
know if others
SHARING are available
RELATIONSHIPS
The extent to
which users The extent to
exchange, which users
distribute and relate to each
receive content other
IDENTITY

The extent to
which users
reveal REPUTATION
themselves
CONVERSATIONS
The extent to
The extent to which users
which users know the social
communicate standing of
with each other others and
GROUPS content

The extent to
which users are
ordered or form
communities

Fig. 3. Keitzmann’s Seven Building Block Honeycomb Model (2011).

analyze using tools such as content analysis, sentiment analysis, social network
analysis, statistical analysis and trend analysis. He named this framework as
social media analytics framework. However, the researchers did not mention
any tools or methodologies related to images or videos. Such a framework is
useful in analyzing information retrieved from Twitter or blogs, mostly in
texts; however, social networking sites such as Facebook and Instagram pro-
duce high volumes of unstructured data, such as images and videos. A separate
framework may be needed for such a purpose.
Behesti et al. (2018) proposed and validated a framework named ‘social
media analytics framework’ for trend detection in fashion buying process in
which they used a snowball sample of 74 German-written fashion blogs using
the KNIME analytics, platform text analytics. They successfully identified the
most trending words: BOHO, Fringe, Metallic, 60s, XXL sleeves, etc. Boho
Literature Review 41

and 60s represent a style; fringe represents a decorative application, metallic


representing a colour such as gold, silver and copper, whereas XXL sleeve
represents a sleeve length or attribute of the silhouette. This may be another
work based on text analytics, which may predict a popular fashion attribute
based on the frequency of a particular word’s appearances.
Businesses globally are learning how to engage customers to develop new
products. Roberts and Candi (2014) found that using social networking sites
for developing new products is positively correlated with business success
parameters such as innovation and growth in profits and market share.

2.18 BRANDS, FASHION AND SOCIAL MEDIA

Many exciting works in the area of fashion and social media has been done in
recent years. Touchette, Schanski, and Lee (2015) performed a content anal-
ysis of 1,443 Facebook posts over 50 apparel brands. They concluded that
most dominant brands use photos and advertisements in entertainment using
play theme frivolity, which uses fun and short acts through which users are
engaged in particular products, thereby enhancing sales. Shafiq and Imran
(2014) discovered that fashion consciousness and social media are associated,
but they did not specify which social media websites have the highest associ-
ations with the other variables. Ahmad and Ashiq (2015) studied the rela-
tionship between social media and fashion with four variables and tested their
model using regression. Their research proved that there is a scope of pre-
dicting the fashion industry using social media.
Technology has boosted consumer interaction with brands. This has
resulted in high awareness levels and recalls of products and brands engaged in
social media activities. The majority of fashion brands connect to their con-
sumers through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Fashion blogs, Pins and You-
Tube videos. In the beginning, luxury brands refrained from using social
media, perceiving that their relationship with the consumers may get diluted;
later on, Gucci launching its line of sunglasses through its social site boosted
the confidence levels of other brands (Kim & Ko, 2012). Marketing through
social networks spreads very vigorously and is often termed viral marketing.
This spread as word of mouth (WOM) from consumer to consumer (Alreck &
Settle, 1995; Arndt, 1967). Many brands are using social media as a tool for
viral marketing. Ahn, Hwang, and Jung (2010) tell that since information
spreads and diffuses faster through social media, some companies are using it
as a promotional channel.
42 AI in Fashion Industry

Further, in fashion purchases, people seek suggestions from friends and


peers; hence word of mouth can be an excellent catalyst in fashion purchase
decisions. The term Electronic Word of Mouth (e-WOM) was coined by
Brickart and Shindler (2001), who explained that e-WOM is about the
exchange of consumer-to-consumer information on topics related to products,
services, experiences, feedbacks, complaints and reviews on the webspace
(Kaiser, 1997). Fashion in recent times is everywhere, mostly due to the
Internet. For example, the information of a celebrity wearing something on a
red carpet in New York is reaching London the next day, and thousands of
people are discussing her look globally. In no time that look becomes a
worldwide phenomenon. Fashion consumers are also involved in blogging to
reveal their interests and express themselves (Kozinets, 2006). 8thBridge, a
leading social shopping platform in the United States with more than 80
million users, surveyed 1,448 participants in 2011 to understand the ways of
people’s engagement with fashion brands. The results reveal that Facebook
and Twitter are the most favoured destinations by consumers to stay updated,
follow, and talk about fashion brands (8thBridge survey, 2011).
Edwards (2003) and Moore and Rideout (2007) highlight the importance
of using the Facebook profile page of a brand to engage customers (primarily
College students) to build good relationships and boost brand awareness.
Zhang (2010) found that people use Social Networking Websites to seek
entertainment. He performed a content analysis on branded Facebook pages.
He explored that 70% of brand Facebook pages provide branded entertain-
ment to their customers. Brands are tracking e-WOM for business benefits. In
Facebook, e-WOM is characterized by likes, shares, posts, comments, etc.
(Kozinets, De Valck, Wojnicki, & Wilner, 2010).
Ko et al. (2005) and Rubin (2009) discovered the top reasons people use
branded social media sites. They discovered that people prefer social sites
because they want to get entertained easily, without costs. According to Ross
et al. (2009), the top motivation factors being entertainment, support from
society and communication. The knowledge of the ways by which consumers
are engaging with social media may yield tremendous business benefits. The
majority of the research in this area is directed towards social media with great
potential for the fashion industry.

2.19 EMERGENCE AND RISE OF FACEBOOK

Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg (a sophomore or second-year


student of Harvard University) and his fellow college students in March 2004
Literature Review 43

from his college dorm room to enable his fellow students to communicate
better. The initial name was Facemash, which later changed to ‘the facebook’
and finally Facebook. Facebook had around 1.79 Billion Monthly Active Users
(MAU) and 1.18 Billion Daily Active Users (DAU) worldwide as of September
2016 (Source: Facebook Company Info, September 2016). Today, it has 2.45
Billion MAUs. Surprisingly, more than 90 % of its users are on mobile. Today,
Facebook has become a worldwide phenomenon, with 85% of its users
outside the United States and Canada. Facebook has an interactive user
interface that enables users to engage in discussions, share pictures, send
messages, express likes and dislikes, and hear and watch audio and video. The
United States is Facebook’s No. 1 market with comprehensive coverage. Many
brands are using Facebook for extracting business benefits in the United States
(Arnold, 2006).
According to Clark and Melancon (2013) and Saravanakumar and
Sugantha-Lakshmi (2012), 92% of social media users are on Facebook, fol-
lowed by Twitter 84% and LinkedIn 71%. Also, 71% of online American
adults are active Facebook users (Duggan & Smith, 2014).
From the industry point of view, Facebook may yield better business results
than other social sites. Some 20 million people interact with nearly 1.6 million
brand pages daily (Jeanjean, 2012). Coca-Cola has more than 40 million fans
on its Facebook page (Araujo & Neijens, 2012). Costumers engage with
Facebook brand pages through likes, shares or comments. Customers also
produce and share contents and derivatives of the contents through peer-to-
peer engagement (Bonsón & Ratkai, 2013; Bortree & Seltzer, 2009).
This makes Facebook a crucial area of academic and industrial attention.
India, a demographically young country, has a majority of its working
population under 35. India has the second-highest number of Facebook users,
i.e., 7% of Facebook’s global user base is from India (Deloitte, 2014). India
has got more than 120 million Facebook users. With growing mobile con-
nectivity, it is growing faster. People open Facebook more often than any other
mobile application (Sandberg, 2014).

2.20 SOCIAL MEDIA AND FACEBOOK ENGAGEMENT

A myriad of suggested measures to measure social media engagement exist in


academic and practitioner literature. This includes page traffic, frequency of
visits, reach, number of followers, messages, time spent on page, likes, posts,
reads, page visits, comments and sharing content (Abeza, O’Reilly, & Reid,
2013; Jahn & Kunz, 2012; Lipsman, Mud, Rich, & Bruich, 2012; Sterne,
44 AI in Fashion Industry

2010; Thackeray, Neiger, & Keller, 2012). Malhotra (2013) proposed that
shares were more important because they signified that a customer was willing
to publicly align with an organization. The model of Facebook engagement as
suggested by Achen (2017) is given below (Fig. 4):
The above mentioned model was designed for a study of Facebook
engagement in sport, hence may be used as a reference. A similar conceptual
model may be necessary for studying fashion.
Babac (2011) suggested an updated framework of engagement based on
Kietzmann’s (2011) model of seven building blocks. He suggested the Face-
book fit of the existing model and named the Facebook activities, which are
associated with each of the seven building blocks. His model is given forward
(Fig. 5):
Babac’s model proves that Facebook variables such as like, share, post,
comment, status update, profile update, video, link, message, chat and groups
memberships are measurable. Each of these variables may be directed to
measure Facebook engagement of users in the light of Kietzmann’s seven
building framework.
Many of the Facebook activities suggested in his framework may be used as
an independent construct and can be measured with specific items with a
research instrument’s help. This may exactly predict the amount of involve-
ment a specific consumer has with Facebook also customer segments can be
formed.

2.21 MARKETING 4.0

The area of marketing has witnessed a significant transformation in recent


years. Many factors are responsible for this change. There has been the rise of
some disruptive innovations (Christensen et al., 2015) and processes that have
changed the way businesses function. Some of them are the rise of Web 2.0,
smartphones, apps, social media, affordable data usage, AI, IoT, robotics, big
data, user-generated content, Omni Channel Integration, e-commerce, rise in
screen time of consumers, etc. All these together have created a shift in user
behaviour. It is increasingly becoming difficult for traditional marketers to
predict, reach or influence such new-age consumers. There has been a rise of
new-age companies in most areas of businesses that are better equipped to
cater to the needs of such ‘neo-consumers’. Few examples of such companies
are OYO, AirBnb (Hotel rooms), Makemytrip, Goibibo (Travel and tour),
99acres, magic bricks (Real Estate), Netflix, Prime-video (Home entertain-
ment), Ola, Uber (cabs), Byju’s, upGrad (education) Myntra, Jabong (Fashion)
Literature Review 45

Like Share

Visit Comment

Facebook
Read Message
Engagement

Fig. 4. Achen (2017) Model of Facebook Engagement.

Presence
facebook

Profile
Status
Sharing Chat
Checkin Relationships
Photos
facebook

facebook

Videos Friends
Links Groups
Notes Identity Personal Groups
Status Profile
facebook

Likes Profile
Shared Content
Status
Conversation Likes Reputation
facebook

facebook

Status Friends
Shared Content Shared Content
Chat Status
Groups
Messaging Checkin
Likes
facebook

Groups
Personal Groups
Pages (Company,
Community,Fan)

Fig. 5. Babac (2011) Adaptation of Kietzmann’s Model.


46 AI in Fashion Industry

and many more in almost every field of business. A few standard features of
these new-age companies are their heavy dependence on technology, analytics,
automation, AI, social media and a host of other similar features. These
companies are not only limited to forecasting, creating, promoting and
distributing the right products at the right time, in the right way, at the right
price, to the right people but also creating a superior post-purchase experience
to the consumers through 24*7*365 engagement, anytime-anywhere reach,
microscopic level of customizations and business solutions as well as contin-
uous and path-breaking innovations. Professor Kotler and his co-researchers
H. Kartajaya and I, Setiawan (2016), coined the term Marketing 4.0 in his
book (Marketing 4.0: Moving from traditional to digital), explained this
digital shift in companies throughout the world. Marketing 4.0 relies on
communication 4.0, based on transcending the existing communication
framework from awareness to action from awareness to advocacy. Unlike
traditional marketing, where the role of communication in marketing was first
introducing a product (awareness), creating a liking and interest (appeal),
giving consumers clues to buy (ask), making the buying process comfortable
(act), marketers in communication 4.0 increasingly believe in creating brand
advocates hence the existing framework has been extended till advocacy.
These new-age consumers become brand advocates, and they become the voice
of marketers in marketing 4.0. Hence in marketing 4.0, consumers act as the
new sellers or marketers.
Kotler et al. (2016) further explain that whereas marketing 1.0 was
product-centric, 2.0 was consumer-centric, 3.0 was value-driven and mar-
keting 4.0 is digital-centric. Marketing 4.0 is equipped with cognitive tech-
nologies where analytics (Descriptive, predictive, prescriptive and visual) is
embedded in the product itself, enabling the consumer to consume the product
and the related technology. For example, when a consumer tries to book a car
through Uber, Uber’s AI system looks at millions of data points to give the
consumer the best rate, service, route options and availability under time,
distance and cost constraints. Another example can be the listing of products
on an e-commerce platform such as Amazon. It is highly customized, user-
oriented, uses cognitive level intelligence to predict what other products the
consumer may buy, based on detailed analysis of his/her browsing history,
cookies on his browser, last purchase history and so many other factors. The
result is that the consumer can view only those products towards which he
may have the maximum possibility of liking. There is credible evidence that
users in marketing 4.0 associate strongly with brands in co-creation, sharing
and feedback (Świeczak, 2017). Marketers 4.0 use social media-based listening
(brand pages, Twitter, etc.) and social media-based intelligence (what users are
Literature Review 47

talking about them). They also believe in spreading e-WOM and engage
consumers in conversations in their social communities. Other salient social
media features of marketing 4.0 include feedbacks, ratings, reviews, likes,
shares and community-based discussions. Kotler et al. (2016) even said that
social media communities are the new target markets. Zarco et al. (2019)
argue that the rise of big data technologies in recent years has mostly
contributed to the transformation of marketing from 3.0 to 4.0 and
strengthening consumer-brand relationships.
There is a rise of marketing 4.0 based companies in the fashion business as
well. Some of these examples we already discussed in Sections 2.14 and 2.15.
Easey (2009) highlights that product is the central element of a fashion mar-
keting mix. Without having the right or consumer-loveable products, the
conversation may not begin at all. In Section 2.12, we have given a few
examples of fashion enterprises that are rapidly switching from traditional to
digital by using modern day forecasting tools. Thus, the present work may
document fashion companies’ effort in this transition from traditional to the
digital age of marketing 4.0. Using social media data for forecasting, which
has been well-documented in the present work through frameworks and a case
study in the upcoming sections, companies are co-creating fashion products
and consumers. Through social media sites, users upload their photographs
and videos, which contain information on what they wear. Practitioners may
use our framework to co-create products that may be closer to consumer tastes
and preferences, thereby minimizing the risk of failures. Hence, this work may
be considered as an addition to the marketing 4.0 literature for fashion
companies in the area of product 4.0.

2.22 SUMMARY OF LITERATURE REVIEW

A systematic and comprehensive review of literature has been performed in the


study. The dissertation being interdisciplinary in nature, our literature review
has been performed on four major areas broadly; they are fashion, fashion
forecasting, social media and peripheral areas such as AI, ML, etc. Firstly, we
attempted to understand the different fashion theories along with definitions.
For this purpose, a history of 120 years of fashion studies has been scanned.
Many pioneer works such as Simmel (1904), Veblen (1899), Libenstein
(1950), Stone (2001), Tortora and Eubank (2005), Easey (2009), Yuchirsin
and Jhonson (2010), Sproles (1979, 1981), Terms (2015), (Wasson, 1968),
Flugel (1930), Lavers (1969), Tigert, King, and Ring (1980), McCracken and
Roth (1989), Meyers and Sternthal (1991), Auty and Elliott (1998), Flugel
48 AI in Fashion Industry

(1930), Lavers (1969), Tigert, King, and Ring (1980), McCracken and Roth
(1989), and Meyers and Sternthal (1991) and many more were explored.
These works helped us to understand the mutual connection of different
constructs and their effect on fashion. We developed a deep understanding of
fashion not just from product perspective, rather psychological behaviour of
individuals.
We found that the major challenge of fashion business is wrong forecast
leading to loss of sales, deep markdowns, lost profits, reduced customer
satisfaction and more unsold inventory building. We further explored the
literature on fashion forecasting and explored many works in the recent era
where we understood that the traditional form of forecasting which is based
on human judgement is changing rapidly. Literature in this section mainly
covers some recent development in digital tools and rise of events such as
Human–robot Interface, AI, ML, Natural Language Processing, Artificial
Neural Networks, social media and e-commerce.
From here, we identified few clear research gaps which aided us to decide
our research objectives. We also developed a few frameworks which were
discussed in Section 3.2.1 to 3.2.4.

2.23 RESEARCH GAPS

The present study is interdisciplinary, relies on literature from multiple areas.


Gaps were identified in each literature review discipline; however, for this
dissertation, we mention only those relevant to our enquiry direction. Some of
the gaps in the backdrop of our study are discussed below:

(1) There was a dearth of literature observed in the area of fashion identity.
The term itself appears to be an under-researched term in the research
literature, even though Erikson’s (1946), Weigert et al. (1986), Higgins
et al. (1995), and Crane (2012) emphasized its importance, more studies
would have certainly contributed in enlarging its scope and would have
helped in defining the background of fashion behaviour.

(2) Concepts of self-identity and social identity and their relationship with
fashion identity through a conceptual design were absent in the previous
literature.

(3) We realized that self-identity itself is a significant construct for defining


the fashion motivations of individuals. However, existing literature has
been scattered throughout in defining this ultra-important term. Many
studies were explored which have mentioned this term in bits and pieces,
Literature Review 49

e.g. Gidden (1991), Crane (2012), and Leung et al. (2015). However, a
conceptual and holistic definition of self-identity was yet to be discovered
for establishing its relationship with fashion identity.

(4) Existing literature is found to be motivating in presenting the social


context of fashion; however, it fails to critically examine the term ‘social
identity’. Consequently, a framework-driven approach was hardly noticed
anywhere.

(5) Many developments were noticed in fashion forecasting, with the earliest
works as old as Nystorm (1928), significant documentation was found in
different decades with its changing nature. A plethora of works was
noticed in the last 20 years, out of which the last 10 years have been
phenomenal for this industry after the onset of digital tools in fashion
forecasting. However, systematic documentation of these events was
missing, especially in the academic literature. We cited many works in this
dissertation: online articles, podcasts, YouTube videos, journals or books,
clearly proving our argument.

(6) There is an observed literature gap on short-term fashion forecasting


tools, and a framework approach is missing.

(7) A systematic literature review in digital fashion forecasting or e-fashion


forecasting was yet to be carried out, significantly when the area is rapidly
growing in an industrial context and fast emerging in academic texts.

(8) Some of the emerging tools like AI, ML, DL, human–robot interface, etc.,
were noticed to impact the area of fashion forecasting profoundly; how-
ever, a framework and systematic documentation was found to be missing
in the pertinent literature.

(9) Although e-commerce, social media, and Web 2.0 possess to be a ware-
house of fashion information today, a systematic review, documentation
and framework development for promoting future research in this area as
well as taking full advantage of this field for fashion product forecasting is
an area where existing literature seems to be blank.

(10) There is little evidence in the existing literature on developing a fashion


product based on social media and e-commerce data, especially image
analysis. Even though few works exist, none of them attempted to
forecast fashion products in the light of empirical evidence. Some of the
previous works in industrial literature documents the events but not the
process.

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