Dear Friend,
Introducing my fashion tech consultancy and event series name: Balanced Fashion.
Our industry has been off-balance for years now, and it all started when the term "Prêt-à-Porter" or "Ready-to-Wear" emerged in the end of the 19th century, the time when clothing manufacturing became to scale dramatically with the increase of cheap labor thanks to mass immigration to the US and the rise of department stores. "Ready-to-Wear" means factory-made clothing, sold in finished condition and in standardized sizes, the polar opposite of the way fashion has been made since the beginning of time, "Haute couture" - made to measure or bespoke garment creation. The gigantic growth and domination of ready-to-wear in the last century have made our industry 2nd polluting industry in the world, after oil. Clearly, this industry is out of balance and the huge changes need to happen in order to rebalance it and bring it to the next level if we want to save our Planet and live longer and healthier lives. Whether it's reducing carbon footprint, recycling old clothing, offering on-demand, made-to-measure manufacturing to avoid unwanted stock or production automatization - adjusting business models would be crucial for fashion business to ascend to the next level for the sake of the industry transformation.
I've been going through an inner transformation for the past 11 months. It's not an easy process but absolutely necessary to awaken, discover my higher self and step into a true conscious evolution. While I am a constant work in progress, I believe now is the right time for me to influence the transformation of my beloved industry as well, as I can apply my experience of my inner journey to a larger scale. The goal for me and for the industry is to become balanced, eventually, reach the right amount of material and intangible values.
The events that I organize focus on just that: re-balancing fashion. And I strongly believe that using technology in a meaningful way will help us reach that balance. That is why I invite fashion tech startup founders to speak about their visions of the future of our industry and educate my fellow entrepreneurs, professionals and the consumers about the endless opportunities out there. Together we will create and support innovative and intrinsically sustainable businesses that contribute to making our industry more efficient, ethical, forward-looking and balanced.
Sign up for my next two events in November: on Wednesday, November 1st I'm hosting Lona Alia, CEO & Founder of Style Land to speak about the future of peer-to-peer fashion rentals and on Tuesday, November 14th, Amanda Curtis, CEO & CoFounder of Nineteenth Amendment to discuss the possibility of the future of stockless retail. Both of these topics fit very well with my Balanced Fashion agenda and I'm grateful to host these two wonderful women who contribute to making meaningful changes in our industry.
News Digest:
- How Dropel Fabrics Is Reinvigorating The Fashion Industry With Tech - Forbes
- How Tracy Sun Went From Studying Neuroscience to Launching Poshmark - Fashionista
- Fashion's Future May Rest On An Old Technology: Glue - Fast Company
- Stitch Fix’s IPO filing, annotated - Glossy
- Digital Closet Startups Want to Give You the Cher Horowitz Experience - Racked
- ‘Sandwiching’: How to outsmart Instagram’s algorithm to drive engagement - Glossy
- Stella McCartney Is Weaving A New Way Forward - Fast Company
- Amazon Has a Luxury Problem - Wall Street Journal
- The Old Fashion System Is Setting New Designers up for Failure - Business of Fashion
- Nike’s focus on robotics threatens Asia’s low-cost workforce - Financial Times
- How Little Gwynnie Bee Can Improve Profits For The Entire Fashion Industry - Forbes
- Artificial Intelligence Can Say Yes to the Dress - Quartz
- ‘I plan to put Zara out of business’: Why fast fashion is Rent the Runway’s biggest foe - Glossy
Events
Tuesday, October 24th
6:00pm - 8:00pm Cool vs. Conversion: A Look at How Retail Personalization is Driving Revenue
Technology already outpaces the adoption rate of today's consumer - so how can we judge which personalization technologies will impact sales? Our panel will discuss today's personalization technology and showcase which tactics are truly adding to the bottom line. We'll also explore how digital in-store experiences and personalization that increases brand affinity can increase customer lifetime value. We'll hear from 4 thought leaders who are bringing innovation to the world’s largest brands and retailers, all while solving challenges of today - and tomorrow. Price: Free Location: 837 Washington Street
6:30pm Social VR: How to make VR more social
A big theme of this week's Facebook VR Conference was social. Let's get together and discuss the intersection of VR and social. Topics will include: Social, Media VR Campaigns, Intro to Facebook Spaces and how to monetize it, VR Dating Price: Free Location: Jump Into the Light 180D Orchard Street
Wednesday, October 25th
6:00pm Women Funding Women
Springboard Enterprises and Dell are committed to accelerating the increasingly powerful role that women play in driving global economic growth. Our 2017-2018 international event series—Women Funding Women—leverages the expertise of investors, innovators, and influencers. The series will focus on connecting women entrepreneurs with capital and involving more women in funding women-led companies. Price: Free Location: The Williamsburg Hotel, 96 Wythe Ave, Brooklyn
Thursday, October 26th
6:00pm Pitch To Investors - RetailTech & FashionTech
WAMVentures Forum kicks off the fall season with Retail Tech & Fashion Tech investors & experts! Meet Sapha Shah, Founder of Retail X Series & Principal of Red Giraffe Advisors; Aubrie Pagano, Co-Founder & CEO of Bow & Drape & Investment Partner with XFactor Ventures; & Irene Ryabaya, Co-Founder of Monarq. Price: $25 Location: ThoughtWorks, 99 Madison Ave, 15th Floor
Friday, October 27th
6:00pm Future Textile Library: Panel Discussion
Wearable Media cordially invites you to our exhibition, Future Textile Library. Come join us in re-imagining our relationship to fashion, textile design, and computational technology as an interactive media. Along with the exhibition, we developed a series of workshops to help the audience to get hands-on experience of creating future textiles. Price: Free Location: The Gottesman Libraries 525 West 120th Street 2nd Floor
4:00pm - 5:30pm Future Textile Library Workshop 1: Intro to Wearables
Wearable Media cordially invites you to our exhibition, Future Textile Library. Come join us in re-imagining our relationship to fashion, textile design, and computational technology as an interactive media. Along with the exhibition, we developed a series of workshops to help the audience to get hands-on experience of creating future textiles. Price: Free Location: The Gottesman Libraries, 525 West 120th, Street 2nd Floor
Friday, October 27th - Sunday, October 29th
6:30pm Hack Trash NYC
Team up with designers, lawyers, policy & waste experts, technologists & entrepreneurs to develop innovative solutions to reduce waste through reuse. Price: $10-$25 Location: Galvanize NYC, 315 Hudson, 2nd Floor
Monday, October 30th
8:30am A Masterclass on Personal Branding with Lisa Shalett
Former Goldman Sachs partner Lisa Shalett was the firm’s Global Head of Brand Marketing and Digital Strategy during the financial crisis. In this role, Lisa worked to create greater general understanding of Goldman’s role in the economy, and humanize the brand - no easy feat at a time when trust in financial institutions was at an all-time low. Price: Free Location: SAP America, Inc., 10 Hudson Yards
Wednesday, November 1st
6:30pm Future of Peer-to-Peer Fashion Rentals w/Lona Alia of Style Lend
Style Lend offers peer to peer fashion rentals and helps women monetize their closet by renting out their clothing and accessories. Women are enabled to access to their dream wardrobe by allowing users to borrow any item at 90% off retail. I'm a huge believer that the business models like Style Lend will thrive in our sharing economy and the rise of conscious consumption. Come and learn about the insights of running a peer-to-peer rental business and learn Lona's vision of the future of fashion industry. Price: Free Location: Galvanize NYC, 315 Hudson, 2nd floor
8:00am Decoded Fashion Summit
With Lisa Green (Head of Industry, Fashion & Luxury Brands, Google), Tracy Sun (Founder, Poshmark), Bill McInnis (Head of Future, Reebok), Riccardo Ulivi (GM, Airbnb Trips), Siddhartha Shukla (Chief Merchant, Theory), Carla Dunham (VP Mktg, Equinox), Yael Aflalo (Founder, Reformation), Ian Dewar (Dir. Analytics, North Face), Guido Campello (CEO, Cosabella). Price: $1000 Location: ArtBeam Studios, 540 W 21st St
Thursday, November 2nd
6:30pm Power of the Female Consumer
We’re bringing together three of the smartest women in the fields of beauty, women’s health and children’s retail to share how they have built their businesses by marketing to the female consumer. We’ll discuss which innovative companies they look to for inspiration, the trends that inform their business strategies, and how they’ve connected and engaged with consumers in building their brands. Price: Free Location: NeueHouse, 110 E 25th St
6:00pm Tech Platforms and Fashion Brands Meet-up
This event is about big data and how fashion brands are using it to target their customers. If you’re a social or tech platform and you believe that you have the right customer info to sell to a brand, definitely sign up for this meetup. If you’re a brand marketer, data analyst or an owner in need of obtaining potential customer data, your solution can be found here. Price: Free Location: Sputnik Space 220 East 23d St, STE 500
Friday, November 3rd
9:00am - 3:00pm Startup Initiative FashionTech Showcase
Eight of the newest, brightest and most promising Italian and American startups in the retail and fashion space will pitch innovative concepts that can be scaled internationally offering both a competitive advantage and an investment opportunity. Price: Free Location: One William Street, 1290 6th Ave
Monday, November 6th
6:30pm TEDxGramercy Salon - Transformation
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. This month TEDxGramercy Salon examines "Transformation". With Abraham Burickson (Founder, Odyssey Works Workshops) & Athena Diaconis (Founder, Median). Price: $25 Location: Rise NYC, 43 W 23rd St, 2nd Floor
Thursday, November 9th
6:00pm The Rise Of AI Powered Assistants
With Noah Goldman (Host, Enterprise Sales Podcast). Noah helps SaaS companies with sales process, lead generation, & team formation. He has held roles in several capacities in both B2B & B2C tech companies from marketing to finance & corporate development. He is also the host of the Enterprise Sales Podcast, a daily show featuring the smartest people in sales. Price: Free Location: Workbench, 110 Fifth Ave, 5th Floor
Tuesday, November 14th
6:30pm - 8:15pm The Future of Stockless Retail w/Nineteenth Amendment
Amanda Curtis, CEO CoFounder of Nineteenth Amendment will speak about her industry-shifting marketplace + production platform to pre-sell + on-demand fashion manufacturing. Price: $10-$20 Location: Voyager HQ, 137 W 25th St., 11th Floor
Cool Finds:
- Modern Meadow - biofabricated leather
- Prkit - Create a professional press kit for your company
- Station - One app to rule them all
Stay Inspired,
Nataliya