Dear Friend,
Continuing to uncover the huge topic of sustainability in fashion. Being an insider in the fashion industry for over 10 years I've got to learn how sales and profit-driven and thus insane this industry has become. Brands chase retailers, retailers chase customers, now brands chase customers directly. There's so much noise in the product offering, the overall clothing quality became poorer, original prices became higher, mark downs became lower, people are forced to buy more and more to chase fashion trends. These two articles give you an idea of how huge fast fashion brands have become. The luxury brands are gradually sunsetting, as their price tags go up, consumers lose interest, sales go down. Just read this to learn more. The industry is on its highest fast fashion consumerism peak and this bubble is going to burst sooner or later. The New Consumerism is slowly but surely starting to emerge when consumers are reassessing their priorities and increasingly asking themselves what they truly value. This Business of Fashion article outlines the 10 factors that define new consumerism, and what this change in shopping habits means for fashion brands and retailers. Must read for anyone who is interested in an ethical approach to fashion, which should be everyone who works in this industry.
From a customer's perspective, I'm noticing the transition to more conscious consumption within my own and my friends' buying decisions. We start buying fewer cheap, disposable fast fashion clothing and choose more timeless, quality pieces from brands we actually care about and believe in. I prefer to buy one dress from my designer friend, as opposed to 4-6 different items at H&M or Zara. I know exactly where my friend produced that item and how much care and time was invested in its design. Makes me appreciate this item so much more. We expect from brands increased price transparency, authentic brand values, open, sustainable production processes, and unique retail experiences. We no longer tolerate luxury brands that ridiculously overprice their products. We believe in brands, such as Everlane, Reformation, People Tree, Alternative Apparel, Edun, Mayet. You can find more of the modern ethical brands here. The topic of sustainability in fashion is very wide-ranging and extremely important to all of us, especially today. I will be touching upon it more in my next newsletter editions, and look at it from the technology perspective.
News Digest:
- How Asos gets 58 percent of customers to buy on mobile - Glossy
- When Designing Wearables, Don’t Put The Technology First - PSFK
- The evolution of retail personalisation, in five charts - Glossy
- 3 things retailers can do to compete with Amazon - Retail Dive
- The end of typing: The next billion mobile users will rely on video and voice - WSJ
- Fashion must fight the scourge of dumped clothing clogging landfills - Guardian
- China’s store of the future has no checkout, no cash and no staff - Business of Fashion
- Here’s Why Stitch Fix’s IPO is the Tech Exit you Should Actually Care About - Fast Company
- Do Your Customers Actually Want a 'Smart' Version of Your Product? - Harvard Business Review
Events
Monday, August 14th - Wednesday, August 16th
10:00am - 7:00pm Nadi X SoHo Pop Up
Nadi X is activated yoga apparel with embedded technology. The sensors in the pants know what pose you are in, in real time and give you feedback with gentle vibrations on the body. Like a subtle massage the pants guide your attention in yoga. Visit this pop up to test drive the pants, purchase them and take yoga classes! Price: Free Location: 390 W Broadway
Wednesday, August 16th
6:00pm - 9:00pm Internet of Fashion - Hands-on Designing Fashion Tech
At the internet of Fashion meet up hosted at Microsoft you will learn how to design fashion tech, AR/VR, business strategies, and gaming. The August meeting focus will be designing innovative wearable with 3Doddler technology. Price: Free Location: Microsoft, 677 Fifth Ave
Thursday, August 17th
6:30pm Women In Tech
Come out for a fun night of networking and candid discussion. Price: Free Location: The Flatiron School, 11 Broadway, Ste 260
7:00pm Enhancing Humanity Through Bioengineering, Synthetic Telepathy & Empathy
With Adam Piore (Author, The Body Builders: Inside the Science of the Engineered Human), Gerwin Schalk (Lab Director and Evangelist, Schalk Lab), David Sauvage (Empath). Price: $15 Location: NYU ITP, 721 Broadway, 4th Fl
Monday, August 21
7:00pm - 9:00pm Fashion Tech Talk - with Nataliya Makulova
My first official meetup!! In the past few months, I'm noticing there are fewer and fewer meetups within the fashion tech space so I thought it's a great time to step up and do something about it! :) I'm creating a series of several meetups, where I will invite amazing guests from the industry and organize panel discussions. On this first one, we are going to discuss what types of fashion tech companies are out there and which ones are striving, where the fashion industry is going and why should we care about fashion tech at all. I will also answer any questions you might have, whether it's on how to get into fashion tech, how to launch a fashion tech start up, etc. Price: Free Location: Flatiron District, TBD
Tuesday, August 22nd
6:45pm AI Product Development - The Future Of Personalization
The world has made tremendous progress in analyzing big data using deep learning & AI technologies. Learn about advances made in personalization, visual commerce, friction-less omni-channel experience and virtual reality that a fashion brand or retailer could use to enter the new era of retail. Price: Free Location: Lifion by ADP, 135 W 18th St, 5th Fl
Wednesday, August 30th
6:00pm IoT NY #46 - Machine Learning In IoT
Discussion, use cases & a demo around how Machine Learning (ML) is being applied in IoT. With Norbert Krupa (Talend). Price: Free Location: TBD
Thursday, September 14th
6:00pm - 8:30pm Dolphin Tank NYC: Fashion Tech
A "feedback-driven" pitch session, Springboard Enterprises' The Dolphin Tank allows entrepreneurs to pitch to investors and industry experts and immediately get actionable insight on their presentation in a friendly, constructive way. Price: Free Location: Davis & Gilbert LLP 1740 Broadway
Cool Products:
- Cornea AI - Use AI to predict the popularity of your photos
- Light Phone - Phone designed to be used as little as possible
- SUPA- a smart sports bra
- Vi - Artificial Intelligence Personal Trainer
- Front Row - Wearable camera for live streaming
Stay inspired,
Nataliya