How this all concerns to fashion you may ask? Let's elaborate on the SMEs exsample. Small and medium-sized enterprises play an important role in development. Of importance are Schumpeterian SMEs, which include start-ups that trigger innovation, boost productivity and bring about structural change. Most of the industry insiders heard about fashion-tech start-ups helping and delivering solutions for the ending point of the chain — the customer. However, a very few heard or even used solutions for the industry itself, helping those professionals and entrepreneurs to deliver their contribution efficiently. The creative industry that hasn't experienced "creative destruction" since emerging of fast fashion and it's consequences. And yet again, the fast-fashion culture is the tip of the spire of consumerization which started about a century ago.

The shift from brick-and-mortar retail shopping to e-commerce hardly can be named destruction moreover creative. What about the idea-product cycle in particular? The independent designer still must travel all around the globe in search of reliable suppliers and manufacturers. Contact them via email or phone, and wait days to receive a decent response. By 2019 in the industry yet so dependent on timing this part of the cycle felt left untouched by the tech. The technology is shaping the future of retail, yes maybe, however, not the future of production and collaboration. Majority of the companies in fashion still using email as the main communication source and at least half of them using email services as digital cloud storage. So, how can we expect innovations from the industry that deeply stuck in the middle of the nineties? Drawing on Schumpeter, four different types of economic upgrading are differentiated on the firm level: product upgrading (better or new products), process upgrading (new technologies or organizations), functional upgrading (shifting or extending the position in value chains to more skilled activities), intersectoral upgrading (extending the position to new sectors by using the skills acquired in the previous sector). According to this gradation where can you place your company now?

Coming back to fashion tech it is utterly important to focus on the production cycle which is still poorly automated. Creating new ways of communication and collaboration as well as exploration can give a massive boost to the $3000 bn. growing market, enhancing its current technological state. Being an independent designer imagine being able to add your suppliers and contractors into one workspace, request goods and services or even let them request everything they need from each other to finish the project, supervise, send invoices and share necessary details — all from one place — your laptop.

While small and medium enterprises (SMEs) may not generate as much revenue individually as a large corporation, they are still vital to the success of the economy. Many small businesses operate locally, their hiring of local people creating a huge impact not only on the local economy but on the overall wealth of a community and its people. One study says that for every $100 a person spends at a local business, $68 will stay in the community, compared to only $43 of every $100 spent at a chain store. While the large scale companies are increasing the inequities of income and concentration of wealth, SMEs are helping to widespread equal distribution of income and wealth.

Moreover, small and medium-sized companies just can not afford overproduction. Why is this important? Let's look at the numbers:
- 30% of all clothing will never be sold or worn, and eventually will end up in a landfill.
- More than 5% of the waste in landfills is textiles. 12.8 mil. tons of waste is sent to landfills annually.
- $52 bn. loss by 2030. Fashion brands would see a profit reduction because of scarce resources and overproduction.
Let's not talk about the fast fashion culture and the throwaway attitude of consumers, let's talk about the business side. In a highly competitive environment, SMEs simply can't afford one third in unsold items, because it's a death sentence for a small brand. Smaller enterprises and independent designers cannot, and do not mass produce their collections, and often produce on-demand thus avoiding overproduction.

Buying a mass-produced item, you have little knowledge or connection to the other end making it. The anonymity hides a twisted web of international factories and supply chains. In fact, 97% of all clothing is produced overseas where fashion industry conglomerates exploit cheap labor in developing countries where eco-standards are low. Small brands or independent designers on the other hand often rely on smaller cooperatives or factories to produce their collections consequently making a contribution to the local economy.

It's hard to believe, however, empowering SMEs today will lead us to a better quality of clothing, a bloom of truly unique designs and techniques, healthier local economy, waste reduction, and effective pollution management tomorrow.