From apparel manufacturers and gym businesses to emerging fashion brands, the benefits of integrating AI and ESG into their working processes are clear. This was a key focus of the Makalot Innovation Day Digital Fashion Forum, organized by Makalot Industrial and mentored by the Small and Medium Enterprise and Startup Administration, MOEA. The forum aimed to share how the supply chain - from upstream to midstream to downstream - should collaborate with local Taiwanese innovation tech startups to unlock digital potential.
The speakers are leading industry pioneers who work with international Startups to expedite the integration of technology and fashion. Each panel discussed how AI tools can help with "precision production," reducing waste, lowering costs, accelerating Time-to-Market, and improving corporate ESG performance.
At the panel on digital fashion, Leslie Holden (second from the right), co-founder of The Digital Fashion Group, said the interoperability between traditional industries and startups is crucial
Photo: Makalot Industrial
An open mind towards digitization and using AI is crucial
AI design and precision production are the leading tech applications in digital fashion. Leslie Holden, co-founder of The Digital Fashion Group, believes that the interoperability and communication between traditional industries and startups and between people and technology are crucial. Elly Cheng, Director of Digital Product Development at Makalot Industrial, also points out that conventional manufacturers must keep an open mind towards emerging technologies and embrace change.
Jac Hsieh, CEO and co-founder of TG 3D Studio, said AI is a powerful tool and can be highly helpful. The fashion industry can first test new designs in the virtual world to get consumer feedback, optimizing and accelerating product development while saving significant costs on sample production and shipping.
Edison Chen, the founder of Meta Intelligence, mentioned that AI could significantly shorten the time from design to launch. He added, "Generative AI not only speeds up the design process but also uses data analysis to understand market demand better, making the fashion products more competitive in quality and quantity, attracting more customers, and effectively reducing inventory backlog."
At the panel on sports tech, host Evan Sheu, Director of Product Innovation at Makalot Industrial, along with Kevin Cheng (first from the left), Deputy Director of Industrial Technology Research Institute, Thibaud Brunel (second from the left), co-president of La French Tech Taiwan, and John Edward Caraccio (second from the right), Chairman of World Gym, discussed the main tech applications in fitness
Photo: Makalot Industrial
Tradeoff between design and manufacturing wearables
Technology has enabled location- and time-agnostic training activities with smart features that create an interactive and immersive experience. John Edward Caraccio, Chairman of World Gym, the largest fitness chain in Taiwan, stated that wearable tracking devices with AI features are the dominant application of fitness technology. Digitalizing and gamifying exercise can attract more people and make exercising more enjoyable, achieving the "3M effects" - More people, more workouts, and more improvements.
On the manufacturing side of sports technology, Kevin Chang, Deputy Director of the Industrial Technology Research Institute, said they currently face three significant challenges. The first is the innovation gap between design and manufacturing, where manufacturers often find it difficult to process complex designs, so the supply chain has come to rely on a single strategy partnership, which increases the risks of manufacturing. The second challenge is the feasibility of mass production. And the third is the rising pressure from the government to localize manufacturing. Chang added that in the future, they might need to bring Taiwanese manufacturers to other countries to comply with localization regulations and meet market demand.
Thibaud Brunel, co-president of La French Tech, and Evan Sheu, Director of Product Innovation at Makalot Industrial, agreed that sports technology has more to offer. It will improve people's lives by managing their fitness, well-being, and medical care.
Alice Li (second from the right), co-founder and COO of Rosetta.AI, Johnson Lin (second from the left), Director of Sustainable Development at Makalot Industrial, and Kuan Chen, founder of Story Wear, talked about how tech applications can reduce waste and avoid overproduction
Photo: Makalot Industrial
Precise production to avoid overproduction
The fashion industry is also committed to environmental protection and waste reduction. Alice Li, co-founder and COO of Rosetta.AI, stated that precision production is critical to waste reduction. The company provides data-collecting solutions that analyze consumer behavior. Collaborating with retailers, Rosetta's AI can make recommendations and optimize the shopping experience. By precisely targeting customers' demands and preferences, retailers can have less inventory backlog and avoid overproduction.
Johnson Lin, Director of Sustainable Development at Makalot Industrial, pointed out that fashion technologies such as 3D fitting, market analysis, and digital design services can reduce waste from the source, saving much fabric for samples and minimizing waste and energy consumption. Using technology, from the ideation of cradle-to-cradle (C2C), waste reduction can be fully embodied, creating a circular economy in the fashion industry. "We hope Makalot can lead the suppliers to work better on sustainability," Lin added.
Students from the Department of Fashion Design at Shih Chien University created the virtual fashion show with Portal: M, which presents current trends in fashion sustainability
Photo: Makalot Industrial
Digitalization unlocks more potential - Portal: M and students from the Department of Fashion Design, Shih Chien University, work on a virtual fashion show at the InterContinental Hotel Kaohsiung
Towards the end of the forum, Makalot showcased a big, virtual fashion show at the WA-RA Japanese restaurant at the InterContinental Kaohsiung, a luxurious hotel owned by the globally renowned IHG InterContinental Kaohsiung Group. It was the hotel's first collaboration with a fashion show.
The virtual fashion show, projected onto the 30-meter-high skylight at WA-RA, was created by Makalot and Portal:M's digital content team. It rendered the physical runway into a fantastic digital performance with original music and three-dimensional details. In the Multiverse, it was a combination of the creative energy of science fiction, the surreal beauty of dunes, and next-generation fashion styles.
Makalot Innovation Day
While physical fashion runways require an extensive workforce and resources, Makalot Industrial believes virtual fashion show is a more sustainable alternative where designers can leverage their unrestricted territory of imagination. This work went viral on social media. It can influence brands and designers considerably.