Fashion tech is the set of technologies applied across the entire fashion value chain: design, production, retail and after-sales. In 2026 the sector is being pulled by two opposing forces at once: on one side, the acceleration of ultra-fast fashion through non-EU e-commerce; on the other, the arrival of EU rules, the Digital Product Passport foremost among them, designed precisely to make what we wear more transparent and traceable.
Contents
- What fashion tech is
- AI in design and trend forecasting
- Smart fabrics and biomaterials
- Virtual fitting rooms and AI sizing
- The Digital Product Passport (DPP)
- Blockchain and anti-counterfeiting in luxury
- Ultra-fast fashion vs sustainability
- 3D printing and on-demand production
- Italy: the districts going digital
- FAQ and the wardrobe of 2035
What fashion tech is (definition)
Fashion tech is the application of digital technologies, data and new materials to every stage of a garment’s life: AI-assisted design, production using smart fabrics or 3D printing, retail through virtual fitting rooms, and post-purchase traceability through a digital product identity. It therefore spans design, production, retail and after-sales as a single system, not as separate departments.
AI in design and trend forecasting
Major brands use generative AI models to speed up two historically slow phases: coming up with new collections and forecasting trends, a task once handled almost exclusively by specialist firms such as WGSN. AI analyses social media, runway shows and sales data to anticipate which colours, fabrics or silhouettes will succeed next season, reducing, without eliminating, creative uncertainty. The open debate in the industry concerns the line between tool and replacement: most fashion houses present AI as a multiplier of designers’ creativity rather than a substitute for it, though lawsuits over the copyright of AI-generated designs remain an evolving story worth tracking.
Smart fabrics and biomaterials
Smart fabrics embed miniaturised sensors capable of measuring body temperature, heart rate or posture directly in the fabric’s weave, with applications ranging from sport to wearable healthcare. In parallel, the biomaterials family is growing: mycelium-based leather (from fungal mycelium), yarns made from recycled textile and plastic waste, and materials derived from food and agricultural byproducts such as orange peel or pineapple leaves.
| Material | Origin | Main property |
| Mycelium leather | Lab-grown fungal mycelium | Alternative to animal leather, biodegradable |
| Regenerated yarns | Textile waste and recycled plastic (e.g. PET) | Reduces the use of virgin fibres |
| Piñatex | Pineapple leaf fibres (agricultural waste) | Vegan leather alternative, durable |
| Sensor-embedded fabrics | Conductive fibres woven into the fabric | Continuous biometric monitoring (sport, health) |
Virtual fitting rooms and AI sizing
Virtual try-on overlays a garment onto the user’s body using augmented reality, tackling one of e-commerce fashion’s costliest problems: the return rate, which for online apparel remains structurally higher than other product categories precisely because of size uncertainty. Google has helped mainstream this technology by building AI-based virtual try-on directly into shopping search results, letting shoppers see a garment worn by models of different body types before buying.
The Digital Product Passport (DPP)
The Digital Product Passport is a digital identity, readable via QR code or NFC tag, that travels with a physical product across its entire life cycle: material composition, raw material origin, carbon footprint, recycling instructions. It stems from the EU’s ESPR (Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation) and is designed to counter greenwashing and make every product placed on the EU market traceable.
The status verified as of August 2026: the EU registry that serves as shared infrastructure for digital product passports has been active since 20 July 2026. The first sector actually bound by the rules is batteries, with obligations from 18 February 2027. For textiles and apparel, the delegated act that will define the specific requirements is expected between late 2026 and early 2027, with effective obligations for brands estimated between late 2028 and mid-2029: the first collection realistically affected would be Spring/Summer 2028. No Italian consumer-facing outlet covers this topic well, even though it concerns every brand, large or small, selling into Europe.
Blockchain and anti-counterfeiting in luxury
In the luxury sector, blockchain is used to certify a product’s authenticity in a way that cannot be forged: each item receives a unique digital identifier, recorded on a distributed ledger, verifiable by the end customer. The Aura Consortium, launched by major luxury houses, is the most frequently cited example of this approach: shared infrastructure across competing brands to authenticate products and trace their supply chain, with a natural Made in Italy angle given the country’s concentration of luxury manufacturing.
Ultra-fast fashion vs sustainability
2026 marks a concrete regulatory turn against ultra-low-cost fashion e-commerce. Since 1 July 2026 the European Union has abolished the “de minimis” threshold that exempted non-EU parcels worth under €150 from customs duties: every such shipment now pays a flat €3 duty, designed to target the volumes coming from Shein, Temu and AliExpress, which according to European Commission data together accounted for several billion parcels a year entering the Union. The measure does not touch VAT, handled separately through the IOSS regime, and will remain in this flat-rate form until 2028, when a new digital customs system will calculate duties on the actual value of the goods.
Italian trade associations have backed the measure as a check on unfair competition; consumer associations dispute its impact on retail prices. The right approach for an informational pillar is a balanced one: report both positions with the available numbers, without taking sides.
3D printing and on-demand production
3D printing applied to fashion enables personalised micro-production without the economies of scale of traditional manufacturing: garments, accessories and even footwear made to measure in reduced timeframes, with a possible link to the distributed-logistics topics covered in the Logistics 4.0 pillar. It remains today more a niche segment than a mass-market technology, though industrial printer costs keep falling.
Italy: the districts going digital
Como remains Italy’s reference point for digitised silk textiles, with supply chains that integrate quality sensors and digital traceability into production. Prato, by contrast, is the historic hub for textile recycling, now strengthened by automatic fibre-sorting technologies that make mechanical recycling more efficient. Both districts naturally intersect with the Digital Product Passport, since they will be among the first in Italy required to report material origin and composition in a structured way.
FAQ
When will the Digital Product Passport become mandatory for clothing?
Not yet: the delegated act specific to textiles is expected between late 2026 and early 2027, with effective obligations for brands estimated between late 2028 and mid-2029.
Will buying from Shein or Temu cost more from 2026?
Yes: since 1 July 2026 every non-EU parcel under €150 pays a flat €3 duty, on top of the VAT already owed.
Do AI-designed clothes raise a copyright problem?
It’s an open issue: lawsuits over who owns the rights to an AI-generated design are ongoing in various jurisdictions and need to be followed case by case, there is no single settled answer yet.
Is mycelium leather as widespread as animal leather?
No, it remains a niche material used mostly by innovative brands or in capsule collections, not a mass-market alternative to traditional leather.
Is second-hand fashion online really growing?
Yes: Vinted, Europe’s leading platform, closed 2025 with €1.1 billion in revenue (+38% year on year) and €10.8 billion worth of merchandise exchanged between users (+47%).
The wardrobe of 2035
If today’s two forces keep running in parallel, ultra-low-cost e-commerce on one side, DPP-mandated traceability on the other, the wardrobe of the next decade could look like a hybrid: garments with a scannable digital identity, second-hand markets as structured as new-goods retail, materials derived from agricultural waste sitting alongside next-generation synthetic fibres. The open question is whether the transparency imposed by regulation will actually change consumption habits, or remain just one more label to scan.
Sources
- ESPR Regulation (EU) and Espace, the EU Digital Product Passport registry
- European Commission, data on non-EU parcels and the abolition of the de minimis threshold
- Vinted, company data on 2025 revenue and merchandise value exchanged
- Aura Consortium, blockchain traceability initiative in luxury
WGSN, industry reference for trend forecasting
