News
September 3, 2025
New report: explore how real-time tools could transform fashion
Fashion is no stranger to 3D technology—designers have been using 3D tools to create and visualize garments for many years.
But the industry is now facing a number of new challenges and headwinds that mean firms are evaluating a fundamentally different model for their use of 3D technology.
This model goes beyond the use of traditional 3D tools and into the uncharted waters of real-time 3D: the use of game engine workflows to add that powerful ingredient—interactivity—that opens the door to new and innovative opportunities like virtual try-ons, digital runways, and clothing physics simulations.
But the industry is now facing a number of new challenges and headwinds that mean firms are evaluating a fundamentally different model for their use of 3D technology.
This model goes beyond the use of traditional 3D tools and into the uncharted waters of real-time 3D: the use of game engine workflows to add that powerful ingredient—interactivity—that opens the door to new and innovative opportunities like virtual try-ons, digital runways, and clothing physics simulations.
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‘The Real-Time Roadmap'
Ready to explore the opportunities real-time technology is opening up for apparel and footwear companies? Read The Interline’s new report ‘The Real-Time Roadmap’ today.Moving to a real-time mindset is about far more than outputs—it’s a totally new way of thinking about the fashion pipeline. Interactive 3D technology offers the promise of a truly scalable, company-wide value chain—one in which important decisions are made quickly without sacrificing creativity, allowing everyone across the business to participate.
Fortnite X Balenciaga
Game engine technology can be the single thread that starts with the designer concepting garments and goes all the way through to merchandizing in virtual showrooms, marketing—whether via traditional renders and videos or even in metaverse platforms like Fortnite—and on to e-commerce with 360° product views.
The digital assets created in the design phase can be reused across all the other touchpoints, saving vast amounts of time and money—particularly in comparison to the traditional approach of using physical samples.
And with game engine-powered 3D garment configurators, consumers can customize the color and fabric of clothing in real time, providing the data needed to fuel powerful CRM strategies and opening up direct-to-consumer business models.
To better explore the crossroads the industry is facing, Epic Games recently partnered with fashion technology magazine The Interline.
They’ve drawn on their extensive knowledge, experience, and contacts in the industry to produce ‘The Real-Time Roadmap’, a new report that explores the use of real-time technology in fashion along with the exciting new opportunities this technology opens up for fashion houses, designers, and visualization experts.
The digital assets created in the design phase can be reused across all the other touchpoints, saving vast amounts of time and money—particularly in comparison to the traditional approach of using physical samples.
And with game engine-powered 3D garment configurators, consumers can customize the color and fabric of clothing in real time, providing the data needed to fuel powerful CRM strategies and opening up direct-to-consumer business models.
To better explore the crossroads the industry is facing, Epic Games recently partnered with fashion technology magazine The Interline.
They’ve drawn on their extensive knowledge, experience, and contacts in the industry to produce ‘The Real-Time Roadmap’, a new report that explores the use of real-time technology in fashion along with the exciting new opportunities this technology opens up for fashion houses, designers, and visualization experts.
Why is now the right time for this report?
The fashion industry is a relative newcomer to real-time technology. While interactive 3D workflows are increasingly widespread across automotive, architecture, film, and TV, the use of game engines in fashion is still in the early adopter phase.
That transformation is set to pick up pace, however, thanks to the convergence of new developments including snowballing global uncertainty; fresh pressures being applied to technology investments and headcounts; ongoing integration challenges; and more.
To meet these challenges, many fashion firms are starting to explore a radically different model for 3D. This fresh approach opens up the possibility to build upon the successes that have been enjoyed by those fashion firms that have already made the foray into digital product creation (DPC).
What’s more, it provides a path to significantly extend the value of digital assets. It could create a way to dramatically expand the 3D community—from creators to consumers. And, crucially, it could transform the way enterprise decisions are made and how fashion brands tell their story, both internally and externally.
Real-time 3D is not just a technological improvement—it is a fundamental platform shift that will redefine how digital content is created, experienced, and interacted with.
Jaden Oh, Founder of CLO
Designed by Diane Wallinger, for The Interline. Staged and rendered in Unreal Engine by Malachi
What will you learn?
In ‘The Real-Time Roadmap’, The Interline shines a light on some of the burning questions that fashion firms are asking right now: what exactly is real-time 3D in a fashion context? Where does the industry’s existing ecosystem of 3D tools and processes fit in? And what have other industries accomplished with real-time technology that fashion could learn from?
The report reveals how a shift toward real-time 3D could usher in a new era for apparel and footwear companies when it comes to creating, collaborating, and communicating.
Read ‘The Real-Time Roadmap’ today and get insights into the creative and commercial business cases for real-time workflows in fashion, and as well as a practical roadmap forward. This report will:
- Define real-time 3D: the tools, the processes, the workflows, and how they interact with current DPC platforms and processes.
- Explain the differences between real-time rendering, digital fashion, and the business opportunities that exist for fashion in video games.
- Benchmark, with the help of leading brands and industry thinkers, the progress that fashion has made with DPC—and provide an outlook for what the industry wishes to accomplish next.
- Break down what a real-time 3D content creation and decision-making pipeline will look like, and where it borrows best practices from other sectors.
- Look behind the curtain at tools, content, marketplaces, MetaHumans, and workflows from one of the leading real-time engines and ecosystems.
- Underline it all with perspectives from key brands, educators, and industry experts.