THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
There were some seriously powerful voices heard at this year’s Fashion Tech Forum. Speakers like Angela Ahrendts, Virgil Abloh and will.i.am shared a lot of insider insights, but one message was absolutely clear: the antiquated fashion industry that exists today needs some serious updating—right now—or it’ll be run over by the tech savvy.
Leave it to will.i.am to put it even more bluntly: “Fashion has not realized how their jobs are not going to be around 10-20 years from now,” said the rapper, musician, producer, TV personality and now tech entrepreneur. "[Fashion brands] better start thinking of how to bring new things to people or else the G is not going to be a freaking Gucci, that shit is going to be Google."
The good news is that it’s not too late, yet. Insert Karen Harvey, the influential force in fashion that founded the Fashion Tech Forum in 2013 to bring fashion and tech leaders together. Fast forward four years later, and the industry is finally ready for her: “Honestly, back then the technology side thought fashion was easy and the typical fashion CEO didn’t really believe this was going to happen. Some did, but not all. But, what’s changed now is we’re all here.”
And we need each other. "No one company, no one person has it all .... We’re interdependent," said Harvey. It’s that need for partnerships that led her to Flex, the company that reportedly makes about 75 percent of the world’s wearables and has offered tech solutions for fashion legacy brands like Nike and tech giants like Google.