Startups are the latest trend in fashion and
they're bringing women entrepreneurs to the
forefront of the fashion-tech industry.
Fashion-savvy tech startups from New York City
to Silicon Valley are becoming the most sought
after commodity in the fashion and retail world--
and most of them are led by women.
You don't have to look far to see the interplay
between fashion and retail companies and
technology. Nordstrom acquired online mens'
fashion play Trunk Club last week. Target,
American Eagle Outfitters and Wal-Mart now have
tech offices in Silicon Valley. Wearable technology
is finally hitting the mainstream.
"We are at a critical juncture for fashion,
technology and retail," Karen Harvey, head of
Karen Harvey Consulting Group, a retail and
fashion executive consulting and recruiting firm
told MarketWatch . "The war just got bigger for
talent. Neither sector is necessarily at a place
where you are grooming the right talent to build a
sustainable brand for the future."
New York Shines a Spotlight on Fashion Tech
Firms
New York City has aimed its sights on becoming
not only the fashion capital of the world, but also
the fashion-tech capital. Recently, it hosted New
York Fashion Tech Lab Demo Day, a partnership
among the Partnership Fund for New York City,
Springboard Enterprises and 10 major fashion
retailers.
The principal organizer of the program, New York
Fashion Tech Lab (NYFT Lab), is a startup
accelerator program that is working toward
dramatically increasing the number of fashion
industry jobs in New York City, which currently
account for 6 percent of all jobs in the metro
area. The U.S. apparel market is the largest in
the world at about 28 percent, or $331 billion
value, according to Statista.
New York City offers unique opportunities for
companies and entrepreneurs to blend technology
with a booming fashion market. It boasts the
highest concentration of large corporate
technology users in the world. According to Maria
Gotsch, President and CEO of the Partnership
Fund for New York City, that's why NYFT Lab is
actively working to find startups that meet the
city's core industry needs.
The NYFT Lab program chose eight of 120 startup
and growth fashion-tech company applicants for
this year's Demo Day program. They will have the
opportunity to use their work to solve major
problems for retailers.
Female Entrepreneurs Dominate the Fashion Tech
World
While this publication has recently covered the
technology industry's failure to be inclusive to
women, the fashion tech industry is a notable
exception. Indeed, fashion tech has become a
prime opportunity for women in technology, as
evidenced by five of the eight Demo Day firms
having women founders.
Demo Day addresses a critical funding problem
that female tech entrepreneurs often run into,
whether they plan in the fashion arena or in other
tech niches. According to Forbes , many high-
potential, women-led companies are
underfunded--just 20 percent of angel-backed
firms and 13 percent of venture-capital-backed
firms are women-led, but that's changing.
Pipeline Fellowship trains wealthy women to be
angel investors , and Golden Seeds and
Springboard are venture capital funds that will be
launching this year to target women-led
companies.
The good news is that NYFT Lab is allowing
women fashion tech entrepreneurs to get better
access to funding sources.
For example, Jade Huang, the founder of
StyleSage, created a real-time strategic analytics
web platform that answers questions designed for
retailers about consumers such as what designs
they are drawn to, and how to price and produce
items. This was an innovative program in the
fashion-tech space, but due to Huang's lack of
credibility, she initially struggled to get funding for
her development.
That changed when she was chosen for the NYFT
Lab program. Huang has since partnered with Gilt
Group, a pioneer in utilizing data in its business,
and Intent Media, a predictive analytics company,
to take her company to the next level.
Gotsch said she believes it is in established
companies' best interest to work with startups on
innovative technologies. It also helps startups
gage what the bigger companies are looking for in
terms of new technology.
By strengthening startups led by women, New
York City hopes to strengthen the economy,
create jobs and push innovative products and
services. There are a number of companies that
are good to women entrepreneurs . It's just about
having the right inventive ideas and finding a
company that will bring those ideas to life.
