Farfetch Aims To Make High-Tech Stores In London

If you thought Rebecca Minkoff’s technologically-advanced retail store was something straight out of your favorite sci-fi novel, you’re going to be stoked to find out that there are more stores like it coming soon. In fact, in order to explore this area of technology-meets-fashion, Farfetch bought Browns to test retail tech.

Quick background: Browns is the ever-so-popular clothing store brand in London and their style is a lot like ASOS. Farfetch decided to dive into retail tech after they created their “Store of the Future” division. How epic is that? Like Minkoff, Farfetch wants to keep the look and style of Browns the same, despite integrating technology. Farfetch also plans to have artificial intelligence programmed into the store so that it can eventually predict what consumers will want just based off the weather.

However, what makes Farfetch’s vision incredibly exciting is that they are thinking about adding a dash of technology into their clothes, rather than only concentrating on technologically advancing the store. By integrating radio frequency identification (RFID) and near field communication (NFC) chips into Browns’ clothing, Farfetch creates easier ways to track down clothing both within and outside of the store. Shoplifters better watch out! But also, shoppers should make sure that those chips are deactivated once they buy the clothing.

Images: brownsfashion/Instagram