The Fashion Techie

Fashion and Social Media Leaders Speak on the Future

February 10th, 2010

Image: Purple Future by Metaldoll

This year at the Fashion Techie we’ve been thinking about the future of fashion and technology. We’ve reached a new decade this year, at NYFW there are more social media and fashion events than I can count and many companies have stepped forward and embraced fashion and technology as a part of life.

Even though fashion is late to the social media and technology scene, we’ve made amazing strides over the last two years. I’ve personally been blogging about fashion and technology since December 2007. After 4 years its very obvious that change is in the air.   I recently did a post on Fashion 3.0 and what it means; the response we received through email  has been tremendous. As a result, we’ve reached out to the leaders of Fashion and social media (Etsy, ThisNext, Stylefeeder and Kaboodle) and asked them one question….

What path do you think fashion and technology will take in the next 5 years?

Tyson Woeste | Head of Product for Curatemedia (Parent company of ThisNext and Stylehive)

Fashion and technology will be about all the same things they are today. I think the difference will be what’s hard and what’s easy. It used to hard to design, manufacture and sell a line. Technology is making all those steps easy- the tools of design, production, and retail are available to anyone with sufficient talent and motivation. But with these tools in everyone’s hands, the hard part will be getting noticed. This is true to some extent today, but I think it will become more extreme over the next 5 years. It will be about developing a brand, getting attention, and connecting to an audience. At Curatemedia, we refer to this problem broadly as “discovery” and it is the purpose of the company- connecting people with the products, brands, stores and trends that matter to them. As thousands and thousands of brands and stores proliferate online it will be harder and harder to find the best thing for you as an individual. Curatemedia’s goal is to sift through this confusion, curate the web’s vast offerings, and offer the very best product discovery and shopping experience anywhere.

Manish Chandra | Founder and CEO of Kaboodle

Fashion 3.0 is about people. Certainly the fashion itself continues to play a central role, but people are the conduit for that fashion, more than they ever have been before. Certain people, like magazine editors, have always had influence, but now droves of individual shopping and fashion enthusiasts have the tools and the platforms to convey their own brand of influence. Technology in a Fashion 3.0 world connects individuals across the country and around the world and helps break down boundaries, allowing (and enabling) every individual to find and define his/her personal style and not be bound by parameters like geography. Fashion 3.0 is about global influence combined with smart local decisions and Kaboodle is well-positioned to facilitate both.

Alison Feldster | Style Editor, Etsy Blog

As the style editor for Etsy’s blog, a fashion junkie and a bonafide Internet addict, I can only hazard to dream of where the world of fashion will be in 2015. The fact that 13-year-old blog wunderkind Tavi of Style Rookie is muse for fashion favorite Rodarte, featured in glossy magazine spreads and sitting in the front row of runway shows, attests to the fact that the aristocratic world of “Fashion with a capital F” is dying a slow and painful death. The industry that once dictated the trends to its readers is now gleaning influence from a new set of sources: street style photographers like Garance Dore and the Sartorialist, trendsetting style bloggers (and Etsy lovers) Susie Bubble and Queen Michelle of Kingdom of Style, and the many talented independent Etsy clothing designers — such as knitter Yokoo and accessories guru I Heart Norwegian Wood — who have chopped down and made kindling of the rigid ladder that once had to be climbed. Etsy allows these designers to divert the typical path to design renown and make a name for themselves in a supportive community of artists and craftspeople.

As for the future, I think that what was once viewed as the “alternative” route to success will become the norm. Web 2.0 has legitimized crowd sourcing as an extremely valuable way to find new voices and unique viewpoints. The true trendsetters will be making their names through viral blog posts and small-scale production of innovative clothing lines — with an enthusiastic and engaged audience propelling them toward the mainstream. I believe the intersection of fashion and technology will be centered around the innovation of individuals — not big name corporations dictating what’s “hot.” Trend forecasting, be gone!

Stay tuned tomorrow for our one on one interview with Manish Chandra, Founder and CEO of Kaboodle.