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>>Hi guys, I'm Louise Rowe and I'm here talking to fashion insiders as part of the Skype Conversations
series. We're in very trendy Shoreditch home to London's most edgy street styles and it's
a fitting place to talk about how cutting edge technology has opened up the fashion
industry. Joining me on the sofa right now is José Neves founder and CEO of global high
end e-tailer Far Fetch. How are you doing today?
>>Very well, very well.
>>Good. Thank you for joining us. And it's not just you we have other people joining
us on Skype all around the world. So from New York is Craig Arend on of fashions first
street style photographers and the founder of website Altamira, Models Off Duty, Craig
how you doing?
>>Good, how are you?
>>Good thanks. And we've got Lauren Sherman writer and editor at large of Fashionista.com
one of my favorite websites, it is huge, we love it. But that's not all, Lauren you are
a legend, you have written for Elle.com, on the Wall Street Journal, the Style.com as
well, huge, huge website. So thanks for joining us Lauren.
>>Thank you.
>>Last but not least, also in New York is Edwin Mullon founder, CEO and creator of Fashion
GPS, one of the industry's most indispensable technology systems to date. Edwin thank you
for being with us too.
>>Thank you.
>>So, lets kick it off with Lauren. What has been the general impact of technology on fashion?
Big question to open up with.
>>Yeah it's a really big question, I mean, I think obviously it's changed everything.
But, I think the biggest thing is it's made everyone in the industry more accountable.
Everything you do now can be tracked, everything can be accelerated, so it's made people a
lot more accountable and it's made everything move more quickly.
>>Super fast. Before somethings even come on the runway we've already seen it on Twitter
and Instagram backstage right? And how do you think technology enables creative opportunities?
>>Yeah I think that we are living in the era of the entrepreneur and that is very, very
true in fashion. Whether or not you are doing an e-commerce start-up or a blog or your,
you know, a personal stylist it's allowed people to kind of build their own audiences
and create really cool, interesting businesses that might not have existed 10 years ago.
>>José I'd love to come to you on that note. As the founder of an e-commerce company your
success clearly hinges on technology, could you ever have predicted how successful that
would be?
>>I've always been an entrepreneur, and my first business was actually when I was 19
years old, it was a technology business. So I was a coder before I even understood anything
about fashion, and then I just stumbled upon fashion by chance in 1996. I moved to London
, so I always had this, you know, dual track of technology and fashion. And it was really
clear to me back in 2007 when I had the idea that the online channel was going to be vital
for, for retailers in general and for independent fashion boutiques, and all they needed was
a platform and a company that really loved them and understood them and provided them
the tools to.
>>The leg-up.
>>Yeah.
>>And Craig on to you, how has technology helped to shape your career as a fashion photographer?
Because I love your story.
>>Originally I was inspired by the message boards back in around 2004 and 5 at Fashionspot.com.
And my progress as a photographer is strictly due to social media and the internet 100%.
I got my bookings and my booking value, I would say at the beginning of my career mostly
from the blog.
>>And now Instagraming for New York Times, doing alright.
>>Instagraming for the New York Times, adapting to the rise of the power of mobile tablet
technology.
>>Yeah. That's not so bad, you're doing alright Craig. Edwin I'd love to ask you, how do you
think technology has made the fashion industry more efficient?
>>I feel like we're just at the beginning. But I feel when I think about this data, you
know, data is so important in what we are doing and how we are tracking it. So I feel
like data is going to be a pretty important part of how the fashion industry is going
to become more efficient.
>>I'm in absolute awe of all of you, the way that you have predicted and also kind of jumped
off the cliff a little bit because nobody can predict what is going to happen with technology.
Lauren back to you, technology and fashion, you've written about it extensively, it's
a subject close to your heart, how do you think it's changed in recent years with fashion
embracing the technology?
>>Well I think that José is a very special case and that he does have both tracks and
I think that was the big issue for fashion for a long time is that everyone was creative
and no one really wanted to understand the technology, maybe they wanted to use it. I'd
say in the last 2 or 3 years there's been a lot more investment in fashion start-ups
and therefore more technology people have been more interested in it. But I think that
it's taking quite some time and most publishing houses and most ecommerce sites are still
not there in terms of really, really going all for it. It's companies that kind of start
from the ground up, Far Fetch, Another Kind is another one, that seem to be the most successful
on both ends of the stick.
>>So Craig, back in 2007 you were one of the first ever street style photographers and
it doesn't seem that long ago, but since then it's just become a phenomenon. Just standing
outside Lincoln Centre at Fashion Week just everyone seems to be a photographer now thanks
to the camera phone, how do you stay ahead of the curve?
>>I stay ahead of the curve by recognising that in the same way as Google and Ebay and
Style.com exploded onto the desktop scene back in 2000 to 2003, so we are now in an
equal oppurtunity era of like the "application era". So I study sites like Mashbowl popular
sites, a favourite of mine is the singularity, and I even spend time on the application store
on the iPhone finding out what the marketplace is responding to by figuring out which apps
have been downloaded the most, which ones are the top-grossing apps and by doing my
research that way.
>>That's some good tips there. Edwin, you designed the Fashion GPS specifically as a
tool for the industry, and I mean it's blown up, it does a lot of different things. Could
you explain to people what Fashion GPS is all about?
>>So, originally the system is built to do sample management. So if you are a PR agency
and you need to send out samples to say the media, traditionally our Fashion GPS would
take about 40 minutes, we are able to take that whole process down to a couple of minutes,
and I think where I became passionate, because I was doing other things apart from creating
databases, I think at the time I was creating video games as well, I actually had my heart
set on other things. There's a lot of manual, things are still done on paper, I don't get
why people spend an hour to do something when technology can actually simplify it. Especially
the interns, because you know fashion closets you have these interns that spend hours trying
>>You've changed their lives Edwin! I think interns around the world will be grateful
to you. And also there's another part of Fashion GPS which is more to do with the editorial
side, say Fashion Week, scheduling, how did that come about?
>>Yeah, just how could we make fashion shows more efficient. So we started working with
IMG and Mercedes Benz in 2010, if you kind of think about what happens with just New
York Fashion Week we have streamlined the whole process by introducing barcodes and
a community GPS radar and it hasn't stopped there, for me I'm really looking at the industry
worldwide, how can we help. At the end of the day, when you really start to think about
the fashion industry, what actually happens. You know you've got the fashion side, the
fashion shows, the samples and then you've got the cad-cam, the business side of the
industry, so what we are really looking to do is to help the whole industry connect and
make things more efficient.
>>Okay. Craig, Models Off Duty has now become a term that's been coined, and obviously that's
the name of your blog and your website. Have you seen models using technology "off duty"
and what do you tend to see them doing because some of them are very, very savvy now with
social media?
>>I do meet a lot more models now who are just savvy with Instagram, and they get selfies.
>>Oh yeah.
>> So they get likes that way, and you know they shoot behind the scenes action that your
typical teenage girl wouldn't be able to see in unless it was for their Tumblr posts or
their Instagram posts.
>>Yeah or teenage boy Craig. And Lauren, do you think technology enables high fashion
to be more accessible?
>>Yeah, I think one thing that is really interesting, I mean obviously the internet has made fashion
much more democratic and I think you know teenagers and people just starting to become
interested in fashion are much more better educated than they were 15 years ago. But
I also think that 3D technology is something that the fashion industry is going to have
to think a lot about in the next 5 or 10 years. I was at a FT summit in New York last January
and they talked quite a bit about how 3D technology and counterfeiting. So I think you know technology
is really exciting but it's also a little scary, so it can be great for designers and
it can be not so great so it's going to be a really great next 5 years I think.
>>Definitely, I mean livestreaming too, Burberry was one of the first brands to do do that
with their show and sites like Moda Operandi anyone can now buy straight from the runway.
Who are the other market leaders in you opinion?
>>I love Moda Operandi I think it's really interesting, obviously Jose has done some
really interesting stuff.
>>It's lucky you said that because he's right here.
>>I'm talking to him about omni-channel, stuff that I'm interested in what he's going to
do because I really think that the future is shopping in, not only online but connected
to in real life as well. Not only is there a lot of great content but when content and
commerce work well together that's just the most exciting thing.
>>Yeah. Ok, Jose, retail, such a huge part of the fashion industry. How has technology
changed retail?
>>It changed a lot, though actually 90% of fashion sales still happen offline.
>>90%!
>>Yes. Online is just 10% of the market.
>>Wow.
>>So I think actually what we are seeing is just the tip of the iceberg.
>>Yeah, I had no idea it was so low.
>>It's really exciting because fashion is the second largest ecommerce category and
I think there is going to be a myriad of new business models, new ideas. But fundamentally
I think the merge of the physical world with the digital world is the next big thing.
>>Definitely. You guys must be pretty kitted out, I've got to ask which tech tools do you
use in your creative life? Jose, start with you.
>>It's pretty predictable really, smart phone, laptop, nothing too gadgety I'm afraid.
>>No UFO stuff no?
>>No.
>>I'm disappointed! Somebody else give me something weird and wonderful. Lauren what
do you use?
>>Does City Bike count?
>>Yeah.
>>Because it's a technology thing I'm a huge proponent of City Bike. I know in London you
guys have, what do they call them the Boris bikes or something?
>>Boris bikes. You gotta love it.
>>You know obviously that's an in real life thing but it's our bike technology and it's
changed the way I commute in the city, so that's my favourite thing right now.
>>That's great. Eddie, what were you saying? You love the City Bikes?
>>I do, that's how I get around as well. You know when you're like trying to catch a cab
and you can't get it and you know there's the bike there, so it's easy to get and you
drop it off, so you know it's fantastic. I love that. I also luver Uber as well.
>>That's a brilliant one. Craig, what do you love?
>>I'm a definite fan of Photoshop's application that I use on my iPad. So if I'm working under
like a tight deadline condition I have a camera cord that I can connect directly to my camera,
which is back there, and it goes to my iPad and I can do some photoshop work while I'm
out. Like during Fashion Week I can do work to meet deadlines.
>>What's that one?
>>It's a Photoshop application.
>>It's that one like make beautify me or something that just makes you flawless instantly for
those of us who can't properly use photoshop, that's an amazing one.
I loved those answers that basically revolved around bicycles. I can understand bicycles.
Ok guys, quick fire round. If you can answer each question in no more than 5 words please.
Ok Jose, starting with you. How will we be shopping in 2020?
>>Omni-channel is a bit of an industry buzzword. Basically it's what's available somewhere
is available anywhere.
>>Ok, anywhere in the world.
>>Anywhere in the world.
>>Omni-channel . Alright, creatively which tool could you not live without?
>>Drop box.
>>Ok, love it. I know how to use that. Ok, Craig over to you. How will we be shopping
in 2020?
>>Mobile tablet technology applications.
>>Creatively what tool could you not live without?
>>Currently Instagram and Photoshop.
>>Ok, thank you Craig. Eddie, how are we going to be shopping in 2020?
>>I feel there's going to be a lot that's going to happen with, especially mobile and
also entertainment, for example you can be watching a film or a tv you'll be able to
shop it and buy it. I feel there's going to be a big shift in that.
>>Ok, and which tool could you not live without?
>>The tool that I can not live without is Skype, I use it all the time, I use it to
communicate with my developers, with my team, I use it when I'm travelling abroad, it's
the best way for me to get in touch, you know send files, yeah.
>>Thanks Eddie. Last but not least Lauren, how will we be shopping in 2020? My answer
is just for shoes, still shoes.
>>For lots of shoes, I'm just going to copy Jose because he's the expert on this one and
say Omni-channel.
>>Ok, and creatively what tool could you not live without?
>>Definitely my smart phone. It's the center of my world.
>>Oo popular answer. It was an absolute pleasure, we really appreciate you time, your advice,
it's been fascinating. Thanks for joining us all around the world, and to you guys at
home there's more fashion industry insights on the Skype Collaboration project so go and
take a look and get involved. Thanks for joining us. Bye. Bye guys.
>>Bye, thank you.