FashionTech: Interaction Across Boundaries. Integration practices for design-enhanced user experiences

The purpose of this dissertation is to identify the tools that are necessary to streamline the design process of fashion products with embedded technology. This study endeavours first and foremost to summarise and provide a critical analysis of the state of the art in fashion innovation by referring to both the relevant contemporary literature and market analysis documentation. It especially focuses on FashionTech, a sector which derives from the interaction between fashion and digital technology, and it explores the role played by new technologies in creating interactive experiences for consumers. This work’s theoretical research stresses the great opportunities made available by new digital technologies embedded in products, especially as far as interaction and the generation of consumer experiences are concerned, as well as the widespread interest that pervades markets; on the other hand, it also emphasises their limitations and the open challenges deriving from methodological deficiencies. By using the identified limitations as a premise, the study then introduces a number of methodological tests on the designing of fashion products with embedded technology, which have been carried out both in academic circles and on the market. The outcome of these tests is presented as a methodological proposal and as a tool for integration-based design. This approach allows the study to highlight the need to train professionals capable of playing a cross-cutting role in the integration process between the disciplines and the actors involved.