Fashion Hackathon set for MBFW New York, winning app to be launched by CFDA

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week New York is set to host a “Fashion Hackathon” this February, tasking teams of tech hackers with building an app that solves a challenge facing the industry.

Hosted by Decoded Fashion, who has previously run conferences focused on fashion and technology in both New York and London, the initiative will see fashion and retail executives joining 30 teams on the morning of February 2 to discuss their pain points, the technology they currently use, and the technology they wish existed.

These conversation will inspire the hackers to come up with the new apps, designing and building them within the space of 24 hours.

The best three will then have until February 14 to prepare (with mentorship) for a finale due to take place at MBFW. There they will present to a panel of judges from both the technology and fashion worlds, including Steven Kolb, CEO of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), Harrison Weber of The Next Web, and Benita Singh of Source4Style.

The winning team will win cash in the region of $15-$25k as well as the opportunity to have their creation launched by the CFDA.

WGSN sponsors Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week

Online fashion forecaster WGSN is set to sponsor Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York.

The service, which has provided creative and business intelligence for the apparel, style, design and retail industries since 1998, will also host a trendzone in the grand lobby of the event space.

WGSN’s CEO, Julie Harris, said: “Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York is the highlight of the seasonal show calendar and a must-attend event. We are delighted to be embarking on this exclusive relationship giving WGSN’s 38,000 global subscriber base privileged and exclusive access to all the runway shows in New York through WGSN.com as well as live expert analysis on site in the WGSN TrendZone.”

Visitors will be privy to catwalk trend briefings as they happen, access to the WGSN.com site on one of the free work stations, and be able to explore the recently launched Vogue Archive, featuring every page of every issue of American Vogue from 1892 until today.