Fashinnovation: Addressing AI, Adaptive Apparel and Advocacy
The 11th edition of Fashinnovation Worldwide Talks took place on Wednesday at the Lectra Innovation Center in New York City. The “World Cup for fashion” explored the intersection of fashion, technology and sustainability.
Co-founders Jordana and Marcelo Guimaraes kicked off the global event series with a bit of history on their platform promoting a more sustainable and inclusive fashion industry. Marcelo Guimaraes noted he and his partner Jordana founded Fashinnovation six years ago with the “simple yet ambitious goal” of connecting the silos within the industry to drive more positive impact.
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“When I see the power of what happens in these rooms—when we have the startups and the enterprise and the tech all coming together and speaking to one another on how to make the industry improve—it does take all of us to come together and do it together,” Jordana Guimaraes said. “For me, collaboration is key; that’s really how we move the world forward.”
And one piece of the moving-forward puzzle is adaptive apparel.
In a fireside titled “Fashion is Inclusion and Responsibility,” DEI and fundraising professional Pamela Shainhouse moderated a conversation between two heavy hitters in the adaptive space: the Runway of Dreams Foundation’s Mindy Scheier and longtime fashion financier, Gary Wassner.
“There’s roughly 1.3 billion people on our planet that identify with a disability; it’s the largest minority in the world and the only minority that every single one of us could be a part of at any point in our life,” Scheier said. “So why aren’t we thinking about this enormous population—and the $13 trillion being left on the table every year by not including people with disabilities?”
Wassner, the CEO of the Hilldun Corporation and industry veteran of 48 years, said as an industry, “we have an enormous responsibility,” as the effect that clothing has on any given individual—consider dopamine dressing, for starters—gives one a sense of identity.
“When we think about people with disabilities, when we think about people with diversity concerns or people who feel different than the average person, we need to serve their needs and understand that they, too, want to feel good about who they are when they present themselves to the world,” Wassner said. “Sustainability and diversity in fashion is critical to everyone, not just people who are different. We’re all different.”
The solution, of course, is to create a product that is both sustainable and diverse—while also addressing what consumers want.
Shainhouse questioned if tackling the solution to this problem could be outsourced to artificial intelligence (AI).
“Texting was developed as a communication tool for those that could not communicate in a typical way. Electric toothbrushes were developed for those that couldn’t brush their teeth in a typical way,” Scheier said, noting she could go “on and on and on” about all the innocuous inventions rooted in solving inequities. “Technology not only helps with the adaptive, universal space, but it’s something that all of us could be taking care of, bringing more consumers to be able to wear the same products.”
Meanwhile, the founder and fashion designer of his namesake label, Andy Yu, seems to believe in outsourcing to AI for all sorts of reasons outside of efficient design.
During the panel “Fashion is Sustainable Supply Chain,” Yu employed AI to answer a question posed by Joseph DeAcetis, founder and president of Potro, a menswear brand “celebrating the Latinx community.” The question was intimate, asking how Yu’s personal upbringing influenced his approach to sustainable fashion.
“Growing up, I was constantly surrounded by diverse tradition. My heritage taught me the importance of sustainability,” Yu read off his phone. “This background influenced my design philosophy today as I strive to create fashion that combines culture, tradition and environment.”
Khanh Le, founder and CEO of the Vietnam-based on-demand manufacturing platform Inflow, also addressed how AI can make fashion more sustainable, as Inflow said it utilizes AI technology to optimize the supply chain.
“We keep hearing about AI but just to find the right way to apply is understanding data; different outputs and different inputs of data like what people are wearing, what’s trending,” Le said. “Our tool is helping [retailers] understand exactly what’s trending. Also for our factory partners, we’re using AI to help them optimize their production lines. . . to produce faster and better as well.”
On the topic of managing data—with or without AI—Tapestry’s vice president of ESG strategy, Logan Duran, discussed how the Coach parent tackles transparency. A “big part” of the challenges within transparency, especially as a multinational holding company, is “managing the data,” Duran said.
“Nothing motivates folks like a public facing commitment,” he continued. “The fact that we’ve got leadership willing to sign up for a relatively ambitious goal . . . I think that definitely motivates within the ESG space, we are bringing folks together, were influencing the organization.”
Summarizing the ethos of the event, William McDonough, chief executive officer of McDonough Innovation, emphasized the need for industry innovators to continue to push for equity, inclusion and sustainability.
“Fashion is a verb,” he said. “So get up and do something.”
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