How Can Technology Save Fashion? CLO Virtual Fashion Has the Answer

CLO Virtual Fashion is a software company revolutionizing the design process. Here, CEO Simon Kim shares how CLO's technology can help fashion be more sustainable.

Alexa Tietjen

When it comes to the integration of technology and fashion, the focus tends to be on the retail experience. But what if the best use was to streamline the design process?

Simon Kim thinks this is the future, which is why he left his job in Silicon Valley as a venture capitalist six years ago to become the chief executive officer of CLO Virtual Fashion, a software company that gives users the tools they need to design more efficiently and more sustainably.

“CLO [the program] allows designers and pattern makers to make more accurate designs in less time," Kim said. "It’s a way to design smarter. The fashion industry has been designing for the last 20 years [with the] same process. We’re having a lot of innovation in terms of supplies and retail, but not much on the design development side. It’s about time that we have a smarter way of designing."

Kim joined CLO Virtual Fashion as CEO in 2012, but has been involved as a potentia