THE IMPACT OF DIGITALIZATION ON SUSTAINABLE FASHION

In addition to being an important sector worldwide, the fashion industry significantly contributes to various environmental, social, and economic issues. The fast fashion system arising from the industrialization process leads to overconsumption and causes materials to turn into worthless items. The Brundtland Commission introduced the concept of sustainability in 1987 to combat this situation, which evolved into the circular economy model in the 2010s. Additionally, during this period, significant transformation has occurred in the industry, along with the positive and negative aspects brought by digitalization. Digital technologies, despite having the potential to accelerate design and production processes, also possess the ability to reduce waste and increase resource utilization. This article investigates the impact of digitalization on the fashion industry with a special emphasis on the environmental, social, and economic consequences of fast fashion and efforts to mitigate these effects. The fundamental research question is: How do digital technologies contribute to waste reduction and more efficient resource use in the fashion industry?. The article applies literature review and practice-based research methods to discuss the role of digital technologies in sustainable fashion and present the results. Consequently, following an analysis of the literature, an empirical investigation was undertaken. The article provides a fresh viewpoint on sustainability within the framework of digital integration, and its implementation has yielded noteworthy outcomes.