The Intersection of Fashion, Immersive Technology, and Sustainability: A Literature Review

Lyndsay Mesjar (), Karen Cross, Yang Jiang and Josie Steed
Additional contact information
Lyndsay Mesjar: School of Creative and Cultural Business, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen AB10 7QG, UK
Karen Cross: School of Creative and Cultural Business, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen AB10 7QG, UK
Yang Jiang: School of Computing, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen AB10 7QB, UK
Josie Steed: Gray’s School of Art, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen AB10 7QD, UK

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 4, 1-22

Abstract: Fashion industry emissions, resource use, and waste are attracting increasing consumer and government attention, with broad agreement that a new approach is required along the supply chain. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, a move to digitalisation facilitated an accelerating interest in digital applications, including immersive technologies such as augmented and virtual reality. This systematic literature review explores the intersecting topics of fashion, immersive technologies, and sustainability to determine the trends, examine the solutions offered, and discuss the implications of immersive technologies for sustainability. Four resources were consulted (Scholar, SCOPUS, WOS, and ProQuest), resulting in 74 articles for the review. Grey literature was included due to the currency of the topic and gaps in the available academic literature. The findings highlight immersive technology uses in the fashion industry, which are part of a move towards sustainability. These technologies are used to reduce online returns, educate consumers, reduce waste in design and manufacture, and remove the need for physical items. However, issues include high energy costs, consumer reluctance, and skill shortages. Results suggest future research and industry discussions should focus on empirical studies to measure the sustainability impact of immersive technologies, monitor technology diffusion and uptake, and measure the industry skills gap.

Keywords: sustainable fashion; fashion industry; immersive technology; virtual reality; augmented reality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/4/3761/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/4/3761/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:4:p:3761-:d:1072802

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().