From marketing to logistics, from the sourcing of raw materials to the production of always new products and services, from better warehouse management to the possibility of creating widespread networks of suppliers and customers, according to Henrik Von Scheel ‘Big data are disrupting every aspect of the business’. In the fashion sector, this approach ranges from the exploration of future scenarios to the qualification of the entire system through the harmonisation of all activities tending towards transparency and greater awareness. This contribution is proposed through the critical lens of design as an original catalyst for change, as a tool for methodological, technical and creative reading for socio-territorial and productive transformations, with the aim of providing a general overview of the contemporary state of the art about the use of big data in the fashion industry.