Hype or Reality: AI as a Disruptor of Fashion Retail

Ruth Marciniak ()
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Ruth Marciniak: Glasgow Caledonian University

A chapter in Fashion Marketing, 2025, pp 295-324 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract ‘No area of life or business will be insulated from AI, in the same way that there’s no part of society that hasn’t been touched by computers or the Internet’ (Kenneth Cukkier author of “Big Data” quoted in Abnett’s article for the Business of Fashion). The capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI), particularly in forecasting, design, and demand planning, are of appeal for fashion retail, a trend-driven industry. In this chapter, AI is examined. It explores claims regarding AI as a disruptive technology, altering the way that fashion retail undertakes its business activities and the extent to which large investments made in AI research bring returns for investors. The chapter draws on Christensen’s disruptive innovation theory to better understand AI’s impact on fashion retail. It concludes that AI is reshaping fashion retail by both sustaining and disrupting innovation. The chapter offers two contributions to retail research. Firstly, it contributes to the existing body of knowledge that focusses on the transformative impact of technology in retail. Secondly, through a critical assessment of AI used in fashion retail, it provides insights into sustaining and disruptive innovation.

Keywords: Fashion retail; Disruptive innovation; Artificial intelligence (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-031-82571-2_11

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-82571-2_11

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