Last month The New School’s Parsons School of Design showcased the inspiring creations that students made using CLO as part of the school’s “Special Olympics x Parsons School of Fashion Inclusive Design Collaboration”. Among the attendees of the presentation were athletes, Parsons students and faculty, and special guests like fashion photographer Nigel Barker and representatives from the Women’s Tennis Association. In recent years, we have seen the fashion industry push for inclusivity across many different underrepresented communities. Brands have taken steps in the right direction when it comes to size-inclusive apparel, as well as race and gender identity, but it seems that those with intellectual or physical disabilities are often overlooked or left out of the conversation completely. This collaboration with the Special Olympics represents a real push for more inclusive apparel across the board. “Together with Special Olympics, we co-created, designed and established a collab class with an intricate co-design, human-centered systems-thinking and partnership methodology,” said Brendan McCarthy, Systems and Materiality BFA Program Director at Parsons. “It can be used as a model for fashion and athletic/performance design houses, businesses more broadly and educational institutions to re-think how they approach critical issues around equity, inclusion, social justice, specifically for one…

IL3X is an AR clothing maker and platform. The platform offers AR clothing and accessories to be worn in virtual-only spaces. This past January IL3X made headlines with the launch of its Augmented Reality Fashion platform – ARdrobe. In this virtual space, IL3X connects digital fashion brands and designers, known as ARtisans, with end-users. We had the opportunity to speak to the founders of IL3X to find out more about how the platform came about, what problems they are seeking to solve and how CLO plays an integral role in their vision.  In the 8 years that Erika Lamperti, co-founder of IL3X, has worked in the fashion-tech space, she witnessed consumers purchasing garments and accessories solely for social media purposes and returning these items, relying on sellers’ return policies. This behaviour is known as wardrobing. This is performed in less extremes unconsciously by numerous fashion consumers. They are not buying items for a specific need,  but rather to express their personality. As a response to this phenomenon, Erika and the IL3X team were determined to find a more sustainable solution to cater to this consumer behavior: easily available virtual garments. “On ARdrobe you can wear Augmented Reality clothing only.  In…

It is no secret that the fashion industry has also been very much affected by the current pandemic. As a result, apparel brands have had to find more sustainable and creative ways to build brand awareness and maintain customer engagement. It cannot be predicted what long-term effects the pandemic will have on the sector as a whole, however, one thing can be concluded: the crisis has accelerated the digital transformation in fashion. As some designers have started to question the idea of a traditional catwalk, a new age of digital events and presentations are on the horizon. In this new socially distanced environment, apparel brands are innovating the ways of showcasing their collections with many opting for 3D solutions such as CLO to digitize their garments in a virtual space.  Global fashion weeks, events that have traditionally gathered international editors, models, buyers, press, influencers and celebrities to experience designers’ visions and inspirations, have had to rethink in-person events and shows during these times. As such, designers in all fashion capitals have started experimenting with new strategies to showcase their collections. This can be seen through virtual showrooms, digital runway shows, and events. For example, London Fashion Week will be combining…