Augmented reality: How YOONA Technology and BetaRoom are bringing the fashion show into the living room
The world of fashion lives from the feel of the fabrics, from colors, cuts and great staging. Can this be transferred to the digital world? Anna Franziska Michel is transforming design processes with her start-up YOONA Technology , relying on artificial intelligence (AI). The algorithm is trained with drawings, prints and mood boards and creates new designs on this basis. At the MediaTech Hub Accelerator, she met augmented reality expert Peter Kolski from BetaRoom . With his company, he produces storytelling formats for ZDF, Spiegel and Sky News under the slogan “Meaningful AR”. The MauAR app published by BetaRoom takes Berliners on a walk through the formerly divided city along the Berlin Wall via smartphone and augmented reality (AR).
Now Anna Franziska Michel and Peter Kolski have combined their expertise in AI and AR to revolutionize the fashion industry, as they say. The YOONA Virtual Showroom app was launched in January. Based on YOONA’s end-to-end solution, AR represents the final link in the cycle. The B2B software enables designers to work in a customer-centric way and have complete collections developed based on algorithms. The AR app then brings the designer’s latest models, presented on a real-size avatar, into every living room. Anyone looking for a new coat can use it to view the garment in real size from all directions and examine details such as seams or the back view. In this way, designer pieces can be shown before they are even produced. Peter Kolski compares the opportunity offered by the technology to the internet: “Everyone has access to digital information. We simply bring even more reality into it. Fashion is more tangible this way.” Digital representation thus becomes an extension of the designer’s arm. They continue to work artistically, but thanks to the app or YOONA technology, added value can be generated. It also offers them the opportunity to show their pieces without expensive and elaborately staged fashion shows and physical stores. For small independent designers, such as those working in Berlin, this brings worldwide visibility.
Both brought their respective perspectives and passions to the development of the app: as a fashion designer, Anna Franziska knows the ups and downs of the industry and knows how difficult it is to keep a label on the market financially in the long term. Peter Kolski attaches great importance to storytelling and makes full use of the technical possibilities of AR. As a programmer, he is also able to implement the next steps immediately without having to commission anyone else. Changes and add-ons can therefore be implemented and presented quickly. Similar in their approach, instead of lengthy planning and prototyping, both decided to initially launch the minimal product on the market as an extension of the YOONA software tools, which will then grow organically. The app is available to download from the Apple App Store and is easy to use. Iteration will follow in the ongoing process. It is conceivable that the app could be developed in different directions. After all, the pure 3D representation of designer models is not enough: store implementations or the simulation of the entire Fashion Week are being considered. “The challenge here is to translate the magic and the live experience directly into AR,” says Kolski. The approach also offers the advantage that, compared to real fashion shows, the pieces are not produced purely for the show and later lie unsold in warehouses or have to be disposed of. A digitally enhanced fashion show saves resources, as there is no need to send the models back and forth. YOONA’s AI technology already focuses on this sustainable aspect: historical data (e.g. collections from the previous season), millions of images, trend data and performance analyses are collected and then incorporated into the design process. This means that nothing is designed that the customer won’t buy, but rather a customer-centric approach. Nonsensical processes that have become ingrained over the years are eliminated.
Anna Franziska is currently conducting user tests with companies to adapt their requirements to the app. “We show what is possible, how you can operate worldwide as a designer, whether you are a company or an independent label. Technology is the avant-garde here and Berlin should become a pioneer.”
More about the MTH Blog
The media technologies of the future are already being used today – not only in the entertainment sector but in a wide variety of industries. For our MediaTech Hub Potsdam blog, we talk to tech enthusiasts, entrepreneurs and researchers once a month and tell the stories behind their innovative business models, ideas, projects and collaborations.
