Sung Rae-eun, chairwoman of the Korea Fashion Association, said Wednesday that "the fashion industry is now facing a paradigm shift amid a rapidly changing technological environment," adding, "We aim to maximize the efficiency of fashion management by utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) agents and to develop management strategies optimized for AI transformation (AX)."
Sung made the remarks in a welcoming speech at the 2026 Global Fashion Forum held at the Grand Hyatt Seoul in Jung-gu, Seoul. "AI technology is now a new source of competitiveness for the fashion industry and a key element of future growth," she said.
The Global Fashion Forum, hosted by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and organized by the Korea Fashion Association, serves as a venue to discuss response strategies and future growth directions for Korean fashion companies amid the rapidly changing global fashion industry environment. This year's forum was held under the theme "Fashion Management in the Age of AI Agents," with about 200 participants including fashion company CEOs, brand officials, designers, and representatives from the distribution and manufacturing sectors.
Kim Yeon-hee, managing partner at Boston Consulting Group (BCG) Korea, who delivered the keynote speech, presented the trend of AI evolving beyond a simple work-efficiency tool into a core partner in corporate management, along with corresponding response strategies for fashion companies. "Adopting AI does not immediately produce results," Kim said, noting that companies should not stop at distributing AI tools to employees but should reshape their work structures themselves on an AI basis, focusing on core functions.
In a special lecture that followed, Anthony Choi, CEO of Provenance, a global investment expert and consumer brand investment firm, explained that the scope of AI utilization is expanding across the fashion industry, including trend analysis, personalized recommendations, inventory management, and customer segmentation. However, he said, "Agentic AI does not delegate the entire shopping process," adding, "Fashion is an area where the joy of discovering products and the emotional value provided by brands are important."
She also diagnosed that the era of "AI agentic commerce," in which AI is involved in consumers' product searches, recommendations, and purchase decisions, has arrived. "In the United States, about 80% of consumers are already using AI, with AI driving significant retail traffic and conversion," she said. "There is a need to respond with 'GEO (Generative Engine Optimization),' which involves organizing content and data so that one's brand can be well exposed in generative AI searches."
