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Savile Robot: the Digital Future of Bespoke Clothes
How designers are future-proofing fashion’s oldest crafts
Ferragamo
In the corner of Salvatore Ferragamo’s Bond Street flagship, a man in a very expensive three-piece suit and a VR headset is moving his hands in strange directions. He pushes, pulls, drags and flicks. If you didn’t know any better, you’d be forgiven for thinking he’d become lost in the Matrix, overtaken by a new digital parasite; Zuckerberg is behind the wheel! It’s okay, though; all of his faculties are in order. He is the store’s manager, demonstrating Ferragamo’s new technological partnership with Microsoft, in which virtual reality is deployed to create and render the brand’s most exclusive bespoke shoes. On the plush carpets of central London, the old craft of handmade Italian footwear is being thrust into the digital age.