Businesses need to decipher, compile, analyse, and draw conclusions from an almost inexhaustible stream of information. This also needs to happen quickly so that the information can be of use in a lightning-fast global market, creating challenges beyond the capabilities of the human brain.

Chandadevi Giri's research examines how computer-driven AI technology can help the fashion and apparel industry to understand society at large. Through three case studies, Chandadevi Giri intends to show how companies' decision support processes when it comes to customers' consumption patterns and advertising campaigns' efficiency can be improved upon and complemented with the help of AI technology.

“My research addresses problems that the fashion and clothing industry has not previously faced. I wanted to show how to use data and information from social media, customer interactions, and sales figures to make better forecasts – in combination with AI technology.”

The fashion and clothing industry is a fragmented, complex industry where all steps in the chain are interdependent. As a result, the amount of data and information all too easily becomes difficult to assess and understand. Chandadevi Giri believes that the industry needs to be transformed in order to become more efficient and to be able to benefit from all the information and data that are available. Digital solutions and big data analytics could be a powerful tool for facilitating and assisting not just sales, but all parts of the chain. Through this type of analysis, companies can become more competitive and can more swiftly make changes to meet customers' needs and conditions.

AI research is in full swing right now and its applications can seem almost endless. By applying its technology, concepts, and methods to the fashion and clothing industry's forecasts and sales strategies, she identifies new possibilities.

“I want to continue my research career. My goal is to use the knowledge I have created through my doctoral thesis work in more areas in the fashion and textile industry. Sustainability, circular fashion, global supply chains…There are a lot of possibilities.”

Chandadevi Giri defended her doctoral thesis titled Data Driven AI Techniques for Fashion and Apparel Retailing on 15 October 2021