Fashion Tech Disruptor Breakfast Ends In Suspenseful Tie

Brandon Holley,CEO, Everywear; Karen Lau, CTO, Furnishr; Julie Vargas. Director, Product Management, Digital Solutions, Retail Branding, Avery Dennison, Kathryn Cavanaugh, Partner, Grace Beauty Capital; Jason Rabin, President, North America & Global CMO, Global Brands Group; Deborah Weinswig, Managing Director, Fung Global Retail & Technology

Disruptor Breakfast Winners: Brandon Holley, CEO, Everywear; Karen Lau, CTO, Furnishr; Disruptor Breakfast Judges: Julie Vargas, Director, Product Management, Digital Solutions, Retail Branding, Avery Dennison; Kathryn Cavanaugh, Partner, Grace Beauty Capital; Jason Rabin, President, North America & Global CMO, Global Brands Group; Deborah Weinswig, Managing Director, Fung Global Retail & Technology Source: Breakfast with the Disruptors, Fashion Tech Companies, May 2, 2017; Fung Global Retail & Technology

 

This week, Fung Global Retail & Technology hosted its latest installment in the Breakfast with the Disruptors series. The event, which featured fashion tech companies, was held at Global Brands Group’s new Innovation Lab in the Empire State Building, and more than 200 attendees packed the room.

Following opening remarks, Deborah Weinswig, Managing Director of Fung Global Retail & Technology, introduced the event’s sponsors and the judges for a pitch competition among the eight participating startups. The startups then introduced themselves and pitched their businesses. While the judges deliberated over which startup would win, Weinswig gave a presentation on the revolution that is under way in the US retail environment and the top eight global retail trends.              

Marleen Vogelaar, Ziel; Brandon Holley, Everywear; Karen Lau, Furnishr; Amanda Curtis, Nineteenth Amendment; Evelyn Nguyen, Mirror That Look; Joshua Adam Brueckner, Air Tailor; Deborah Weinswig, Fung Global Retail & Technology; Liron Slonimsky, Awear Solutions

The Startups: Marleen Vogelaar, Founder & CEO, Ziel; Brandon Holley, CEO, Everywear; Karen Lau, CTO, Furnishr; Amanda Curtis, Co-founder & CEO, Nineteenth Amendment; Evelyn Nguyen, CEO, Mirror That Look; Joshua Adam Brueckner, Co-founder & CEO, Air Tailor; Deborah Weinswig, Managing Director, Fung Global Retail & Technology; Liron Slonimsky, Founder & CEO, Awear Solutions

Eight startups competed for a cash prize:                            

Air Tailor is an on-demand clothing alteration and repair service that provides consumers with an affordable and convenient tailoring experience. Through an extensive network of tailors, Air Tailor partners with retailers to provide flexible and scalable alteration services. 

Awear Solutions created a mobile app that helps fashion companies understand product usage post-purchase and engage with consumers in real time. The solution relies on a digital chip embedded in garments. The Awear mobile app allows consumers to be rewarded for wearing their purchased apparel and to receive targeted promotions.

Everywear is a B2B software platform that partners with brands and retailers to offer personalized styling services. Everywear’s back end plugs into retailers’ databases, collecting user preference and purchase data that is used to offer customized outfits and product recommendations.

Furnishr is an interior design and home-furnishing platform that makes furnishing spaces convenient and affordable. Its website provides everything from interior design to delivery and assembly services. Once a customer purchases a room design, all furniture and décor items will be delivered and assembled.

Mirror That Look uses artificial intelligence–powered visual search technology for fashion goods to enable consumers to get real-time, shop-the-look results and compare prices across brands and retailers. The technology detects all of the style elements of an outfit in a photo or video and shows the user matching products from brands and retailers.

Nineteenth Amendment is an on-demand marketplace and production tool for brands and designers that allows them to pre-sell designs, test designs, gather shopper feedback, and work with a team of small-batch manufacturers to produce pieces.

Smartzer is a B2B interactive video platform designed to make video that is clickable, shoppable and interactive from look books, catwalks and other fashion content. Users can simply click or touch items they see on the screen to reveal more information about products and add them to a shopping wishlist.

Ziel is an e-commerce platform that creates on-demand, private-label activewear for lifestyle brands. Brands sign up, and Ziel handles design, production, inventory management, online and offline sales, and customer payments.

The pitch competition ended in a tie, with winners Everywear and Furnishr each winning a $2,500 cash prize.

The Fung Global Retail & Technology team looks forward to hosting more Breakfast with the Disruptors events in the near future.

The pitch competition ended in a tie, with winners Everywear and Furnishr each winning a $2,500 cash prize.

The Fung Global Retail & Technology team looks forward to hosting more Breakfast with the Disruptors events in the near future.

Other pieces you may find interesting include: Top 10 Takeaways from Day 1 of Global Retailing Conference 2017Top Five Takeaways from Day 2 of Global Retailing Conference 2017World Retail Congress 2017 Day 1: Terry Lundgren, Sir Ian Cheshire and Jo Malone Offer Thoughts on the Retail Revolution

@DebWeinswig
@FungRetailTech
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