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The Story of Fashion and Technology

What do knitting needles and computers have in common? Scissors and 3D printers? We, as twenty-first century individuals, would identify mobile phones, cameras, computers, and printers as examples of technology, but to anthropologists, technology is the knowledge used in “fashioning implements, practicing manual arts and skills, and extracting or collecting materials” (American Heritage Dictionary, 1992). Therefore, technology can be defined as the development and utilization of tools and has influenced human life and dress since prehistory. Knitting needles and scissors remain part of the modern technology operated during the creation of human dress.

History: Text

Quality and long-term wear trumped quantity and short-term trends because clothing production was time consuming.

From the technology-inspired clothing to the rapid sharing of trends through social media and the purchasing of fashion through online channels, the story of fashion and technology became further intertwined in the 2000s.

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