East London industry collaboration The Fashion District has launched two
\nprogrammes for fashion and technology businesses, as part of its wider
\nplans to make London the “global hub of fashion technology”.<\/p>\n
The first initiative, the Innovation Challenge Prize, is calling upon
\nfashion and tech companies to bring new tech solutions for the industry’s
\nchallenges and drive future growth in the fashion industry. Open to
\nsmall-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the challenge prize is calling on
\ncompanies that believe that their business could change the way people shop
\nand revolutionise the retail supply chain.<\/p>\n
Designed to find solutions to industry issues and provoke the next big
\ninnovation, the prize in collaboration with the Fashion Innovation Agency
\nfrom London College of Fashion, UAL, is looking for SMEs who utilise
\nrobotics and automation, artificial intelligence, internet-of-things,
\naugmented\/virtual reality, technologies that enhance customer experience or
\nconverge digital and physical shopping.<\/p>\n
The entry deadline is September 30 and the winner will receive 15,000
\npounds cash from sponsor Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield to help develop their
\nretail-tech innovation, as well as a 12-month membership with Stylus.<\/p>\n
This year’s judging panel includes Carol Hilsum, director of innovation
\nat Farfetch, Richard Bonner, head of store development at John Lewis and
\nPartners, Matthew Drinkwater, head of the Fashion Innovation Agency at the
\nLondon College of Fashion, and Myf Ryan, chief marketing officer at
\nUnibail-Rodamco-Westfield.<\/p>\n
Also launched is the London Fashion Fund, which offers investment to
\nscale the businesses of London’s emerging fashion talent fromseed-fundedd
\nby the Mayor of London. The fund is targeted at “early-stage” fashion and
\nfashion-tech businesses, rather than start-ups, with the aim of
\n“accelerating their growth and create a stable and prosperous business”. It
\nwill also act as an intervention fund adding value to the business through
\nadvice and access to networks.<\/p>\n
Selected businesses will be “innovators with an environmental and social
\nconscience and the potential to disrupt the fashion ecosystem”, added The
\nFashion District, and they can be from many areas of the fashion industry
\nincluding, design, technology, product, service, retail, manufacturing,
\ntextiles and re-newables. <\/p>\n
The fund is looking for these businesses to demonstrate market traction
\nwith revenues typically over 100,000 pounds per year or if pre-revenue they
\nwill have tested their market.<\/p>\n
The initiative was kick-started by the Mayor of London’s Good Growth
\nFund regeneration programme, with the aim of backing the capital’s best
\nfashion entrepreneurs, to support enterprise, create jobs and boost
\neconomic growth.<\/p>\n
As a co-investment fund, it links public and private investors, offering
\nconvertible loans for up to one-third of their funding need, to a maximum
\nof 30,000 pounds with the balance provided from other funding sources.<\/p>\n
Deputy mayor for business, Rajesh Agrawal, said in a statement: “London
\nis the world’s creative capital and I’m urging businesses to apply for the
\nLondon Fashion Fund. This is a great opportunity for designers,
\nentrepreneurs and tech talent to take the next step in developing their
\ncreative businesses here in London.”<\/p>\n
Justine Simons, deputy mayor for culture and the creative industries,
\nadded: “London is at the heart of the global fashion industry and the
\nFashion District provides crucial support for the talented designers and
\nfashion businesses in our city. The Challenge Prize and the London Fashion
\nFund will encourage innovation and boost new and emerging talent, creating
\njobs and supporting fashion tech businesses in this fast-growing
\nindustry.”<\/p>\n
The Fashion District aims to drive economic and social transformation in
\neast London, building on the area’s heritage of fashion and innovation, by
\nbringing together fashion, technology, business and education to “meet,
\ncompete, collaborate and innovate – nurturing talent, generating new jobs
\nand developing new products”. <\/p>\n
The Fashion District is driven by a partnership convened by London
\nCollege of Fashion, UAL, with the Mayor of London, London Legacy
\nDevelopment Corporation (LDDC), the British Fashion Council (BFC), UK
\nFashion and Textiles, Unibail Rodamco-Westfield, Poplar HARCA, The Trampery,
\nFashion Enter, Here East, Newham College and the London Boroughs of
\nHackney, Haringey, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest.<\/p>\n
Image: by rawpixel.com from Pexels<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
East London industry collaboration The Fashion District has launched two programmes for fashion and technology businesses, as part of its wider plans to make London the “global hub of fashion technology”. The first initiative, the Innovation Challenge Prize, is calling upon fashion and tech companies to bring new tech solutions for the industry’s challenges and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1766\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}