Five Fashion Use Cases for Apple's Vision Pro that Tell us About the Future of Computing
Apple's first spatial computer could change everything, from the way we design and merchandise to the way we consume content.
It has been a decade since designer Diane von Furstenberg sent models down the runway wearing Google Glass, and Apple’s announcement this week of the company’s entry into the head-mounted display product category seems to be a full circle moment.
The Big News
In case you missed the news, Apple has launched its first spatial computer, the Apple Vision Pro. The device blends digital content with the physical world, creating an infinite canvas for apps that scale beyond the boundaries of traditional displays. This first-generation device will retail for $3,500 USD and will be available next year.
Before you balk at the price tag or the look of it, remember that first iterations of projects are always costly and clunky, and as technology develops, the price drops over time, and so does the bulk (the first general purpose computer weighed 30 tons and took up 1,800 square feet of space; Today’s average laptop is about 3.5 pounds and can fit in a briefcase!)
Apple seems to justify the cost by pointing out that Vision Pro could replace your TV, your surround-sound system, and maybe even your laptop computer. As for the fact that it looks like ski googles, just keep in mind that none of the use cases in the forty-five minute promotional video showed anyone wearing the device out in the wild. Instead, it showed depictions of people at home, in hotel rooms, and at the office tapping into a new way to connect, create, and consume content.
Vision Pro separates itself from the rest with a high-resolution display system that packs 23 million pixels across two displays, and custom Apple silicon in a dual-chip design. The device also features an array of sensors, cameras, and LiDAR scanners that enable users to control the operating system with their eyes and hand gestures. Early reviewers have said its the closest thing to telepathy they’ve experienced, since it’s almost like the computer is reading your mind (it’s not, it’s reading your retinas!)
Headsets from competitors have come and gone, while others remain on the market with dwindling sales numbers and massive losses. With Apple’s device, the company is validating a product category at a time when the tech industry is in need of some much needed magic. And who else to bring the magic than Bob Iger from Disney, who was on stage alongside Tim Cook in Cupertino to share that Disney will be partnering with Apple on bringing content to the Vision Pro?
Until now, the headset category has been reserved for gamers and enthusiasts, but where Apple goes, culture flows. Apple’s Vision Pro could be the product that pushes us into the next wave of computing.
A Vision for Industry
With the inclusion of “Pro” in its name, Apple signals this product is for professionals, and of course, any company that’s in the business of creating products, experiences, or content should be paying attention. When it comes to fashion, it’s easy to imagine some early use cases based on past experiments in mixed reality. Here are five I can think of:
1. Design
When the HTC Vive was first released in 2016, one of the early use cases was for fashion illustration through a program called Google Tilt Brush. Creators could illustrate a dress you could actually walk through and experience in an entirely new way.
With the Vision Pro geared towards professionals, it’s easy to imagine it will be used for fashion design and manufacturing. Applications like Clo3D (or some version of it) could be used in XR for creating and altering true-to-life 3D garments and collaborating with manufacturers in real-time (Nike is already modelling shoes in virtual reality!) The next generation of designers will create in a way that makes much more sense for the 3D world we live in.
2. Education
Learning about fashion history in a textbook is a flat experience. Spatial computing gives students the opportunity to immerse themselves in collections or costumes from the past. Can’t fly to Graceland? Explore Elvis’ famous outfits via a virtual museum. The following is a video walk through of a VR Fashion Museum created by the Vancouver Film School and Elia Youssef for the Oculus Headset as a student VR Project.
3. Runway Shows
While Apple showed an example of how the Vision Pro can enhance watching sports, this kind of immersive experience can also be applied to consuming fashion content. Runway shows, which are ripe for disruption, can now be made into 3D content. Again, this idea isn’t new; When I was in Moscow for Mercedes Benz Fashion Week, virtual reality was being used to bridge the gap between designers and consumers (skip ahead to 4.00 in the below video to see what I mean).
4. Merchandising
Merchandising has become increasingly 3D over the years. While flat, jpeg images of products may have been the norm since the beginning of eCommerce, customers today expect a much more immersive experience. Over the years, I’ve watched as a number of SaaS startups have jockeyed to become the 3D-provider of choice for fashion brands to bring product images to life. Customers want to be able to zoom in and rotate objects when they’re shopping online. With the fidelity of Apple’s Vision Pro, and its ability to capture 3D video, we’ll be able to walk around and inspect items we’re considering purchasing.
5. Retail
The Vision Pro has the potential to radically change the retail experience. For the past decade, websites have been behaving more like stores, and stores have been behaving more like websites; This crossover between digital and physical has led to a number of startups specializing in virtual shopping experiences. For more on this, listen to my recent conversation with Olga Dogadkina of Emperia VR on the Electric Runway Podcast.
The How, Not the What
Now is not the time to draw conclusions, but it’s certainly a good time to be excited about the future of fashion and tech. As promises of the metaverse dwindle, Apple comes to us with a product that’s the how of spatial computing, not the what. Now it’s up to developers to fill in that void, and the fashion industry is certainly watching.
What do you think about the Apple Vision Pro and its impact on fashion, media and culture? Let me know in the comments.