“Technology can never surpass human creativity, but there is greater potential when the two are combined. And I’m confident that Samsung is up to the task,” said Lee in English at the second annual Conde Nast International Luxury Conference in Seoul.

The speech marked Lee’s first-ever formal debut on the global fashion stage, six months after she became the head of Samsung C&T’s fashion arm, Korea’s largest apparel group.

A graduate of Parsons School of Design, the 43-year-old Samsung heiress has been expanding her influence in the Korean fashion industry, while her elder sister leads the conglomerate’s hotel and duty-free unit. She is the youngest daughter of Samsung Group chairman Lee Kun-hee. Samsung Electronics vice chairman Lee Jae-yong, is her older brother.

At the center of the fast-moving digital age are the millennials -- a new generation of tech-savvy consumers who extensively make use of social media and share fashion trends and product knowledge in real time.

As these millennials move into their prime spending years, the luxury and high-end fashion sector must quickly embrace inevitable changes in the way they market their goods and communicate with consumers,” Lee said.

Virtual reality, for instance, can bring fashion shows into people’s living rooms in real time while offline store experiences could go online with 3-D body scanning and virtual fitting rooms. Big data analysis can help brands analyze consumer experiences and develop better products.

“If the industry acts quickly and embraces technology, I think that future luxury will be limitless. The possibilities are limitless. And that is a future we can all look forward to,” Lee said.

Capitalizing not only on Samsung’s tech expertise, but also Seoul’s high design potential and Korea’s growing cultural clout in Asia and elsewhere, Samsung C&T’s fashion unit is also prepared to lead the globalization of K-fashion.

Over the past 10 years, the Samsung Fashion Design Fund has been nurturing and launching young and talented Korean designers in the global fashion scene -- including JUUN.J, Eudon Choi, Richard Chai and Steve Jung and Yoni Pai.

“More young (Korean) designers are gaining a chance to show their work to a global audience and it’s just a matter of time before we produce our own global brand,” Lee said.

“Seoul is also the ‘ideal place’ for future luxury,” Lee said. With the growing influence of Korean pop culture and art across Asia, Korea is the optimal “test market for emerging (fashion) markets in Asia.”

As for Samsung’s potential to build a new luxury empire in Asia -- the “LVMH Group of Asia,” as conference host Suzy Menkes put it -- Lee envisioned the gradual expansion of Samsung Fashion overseas over the next five to 10 years.

“The point is to emphasize the ‘modern way.’ We will find what consumers want and act real quickly, (given) customers move faster than do companies these days,” she said.

This year’s Conde Nast International Luxury Conference brought together some 500 officials from the global luxury and high-end fashion industries in Seoul to examine the present and future of the Korean and global luxury market. The symposium will continue through Thursday.

By Sohn Ji-young(jys@heraldcorp.com)