How Fashion Innovates Their Collections: Radical Vs Incremental Innovations
365 days of fashion: the e-ncyclopedia of fashion
Thursday, December 7, 2023
The fashion industry talks a lot about innovation, which is a key part of the development of fashion and luxury brands. But can you make the difference between the different types of innovation?
Today, we want to talk with you about two types of innovation: radical vs incremental. The level of change and impact they have on existing products, services, or processes is different.
Let’s see the characteristics of each and compare the differences between them. We will also share some examples applied to the fashion industry.
Incremental Innovation
If you observe the evolution of collections of almost any fashion brand, you will see there are some “slight” changes from year to year. This is called “Incremental innovation”, and it refers to small, gradual changes and improvements made to existing products, services, or processes, building on existing foundations and knowledge. It tends to have a shorter development and implementation timeframe, allowing these changes and improvements to be integrated smoothly into existing systems more easily.
Let’s look at some examples of incremental innovation in fashion.
If we look at the products, incremental innovation can be seen in the modification of existing designs that enhance the durability, comfort, or sustainability of clothing through:
The introduction of new variations in colors, fabrics, and prints. See Valentino’s Pink PP or Michael Kors’ new print.
Expanded sizing options: Brands that introduce a wider range of sizes to their collections follow incremental innovation.
Product customization
Integration of technological enhancements used for example in thermal clothing.
Another good example of incremental innovation is