How Does Digital Technology Inspire Global Fashion Design Trends? Big Data Analysis on Design Elements

Abstract

Digital technology has changed every process of the fashion industry significantly. Using big data analysis methods such as text-mining, network, CONCOR, and content analyses, this study aims to understand the impact of digital technology trends from the fashion design perspective. The influence of digital technology on fashion design elements (e.g., color, print and graphic, textiles, and style and details) was evident through various keywords related to digital technology, humans, and nature, and the relationships between these keywords were confirmed. The analysis of the implicit meanings and directions of the derived keywords resulted in four clusters: (1) human- and nature-oriented design in the digital world as a new reality; (2) new textiles reflecting digital technology; (3) sustainable design technology; and (4) new utility fashion in the digital space. This study proposed a new design research methodology in which big data were incorporated and could be applied to educational curricula, allowing students to derive practical design elements through big data analysis and serving as a guide for planning and developing technology-inspired designs. Practically, it provided specific information on the direction of digital-technology-inspired fashion design trends, which could assist fashion designers and aspiring entrepreneurs in planning.