New documentary The Next Black explores the future of fashion

Home appliance manufacturer AEG has launched a 45-minute documentary called The Next Black focused on the future of clothing, with the goal to anticipate what washing needs are likely to look like down the road.

Featuring interviews with representatives from heavyweight brands such as adidas through to Patagonia, the film looks to understand what people will be wearing and washing totay and tomorrow, and how the industry can become more sustainable in doing so. It was produced together with production company House of Radon.

It also stars tech-clothing company, Studio XO; Biocouture, a consultancy exploring living organisms to grow clothing and accessories, and Yeh Group, which is pioneering a new way to dye clothes using zero water.

“We talked to designers, innovators and leaders from around the globe – people who are rethinking the way we use clothes. They have a fresh look for the future and are using their passions to fuel change. It’s not just about what we will be wearing but how we produce clothes, how we interact with them and how we care for them,” reads the write-up from AEG.

The content touches on such developments as Lady Gaga’s bubble dress; monitoring an athlete’s performance via their clothing in real-time; and materials grown in a bath tub out of bacteria.

Nancy Tilbury of Studio XO refers to her work during the interview as design engineering that just happens to be dressed up as fashion. “Philosophically as a project we’re really keen to tell people about this transformation in textiles,” she says, demonstrating how coding is being combined with clothing to bring about a fun, playful and curious result that is tranforming the way we dress.

Suzanne Lee of BioCouture meanwhile looks at how the most radical of future innovations could be organic, outlining her process for creating textiles as much closer to brewing beer or making food. The next step, she says, is taking such ideas and concepts from the lab to the market.

Imagining the future is exactly what this film sets out to do, check it out below…

Mink, a 3D printer for make-up, aims to disrupt colour cosmetics market

3D printing just became significantly more relevant to a huge group of consumers. Forget mere filament forms, next up is 3D-printed make-up.

Unveiled by Harvard Business School grad, Grace Choi, at TechCrunch Disrupt in New York today, Mink is a desktop printer that lets users choose any colour and instantly transform it into a wearable colour cosmetic. And by that she means everything from a creamy blush or lipstick to a powdery eyeshadow or foundation.

As reported by TechCrunch: “Most makeup comes from the same basic substrates, from high-end labels like Chanel all the way down to the cheap stuff available at drug stores… Choi sources the same substrate for the Mink so that users can turn any image into any kind of makeup.”

The whole point is to make colour – something the beauty industry makes a whole lot of money out of – that much more accessible for consumers. Rather than paying a premium for such shades, shoppers can now just print them out at home. (Did you know ink is FDA compliant?) With Mink, any image online, or out in the real world can be captured and made into an instant beauty product.

“Mink enables the web to become the biggest beauty store in the world,” says Choi. “It not only unlocks images, it unlocks pixels, so we’re going to live in a world where you can just take a picture of your friend’s lipstick and print it out.”

It’s set to retail at around $300 when it launches later this year. Read the whole story, and watch the Disrupt video which shows Choi demo’ing the Mink printer, here.

Digital snippets: Oculus, Luxottica, Wren, Asos, Nike, Birchbox, Tom Ford, Kenzo

The big tech story this week has of course been about Facebook’s purchase of virtual reality headset company Oculus VR. But there were lots of others to know about too. Read on for an edit…

• Google deal with Luxottica will bring Glass to Ray-Ban, Oakley [WSJ]

• How Wren made a viral video of strangers kissing and increased sales by nearly 14,000% [Business Insider]

• Asos and Nike celebrate 27 years of Air Max with first Google+ shoppable hangout [Marketing Magazine]

• Birchbox, seller of beauty products, steps out from web to open New York store [NY Times]

• Tom Ford joins the world of e-commerce with sexy new web store [Fashionista]

• Kenzo’s virtual aquarium highlights the danger of overfishing [PSFK]

• Chanel releases new Coco Mademoiselle Keira Knightley ad – She’s Not There [The Inspiration Room]

• Lancôme ramping up digital initiatives [WWD]

• How Yoox became the Amazon of the fashion world [Telegraph]

• Why in-store tracking might not be as bad as it sounds [CNNMoney]

• The Shazam of fashion is here, introducing ‘ASAP54′ [Styleite]

• Silicon Valley never talks about the real reason you don’t own a smart watch or ‘wearable tech’ [Business Insider]

 

Fendi drones: tech for tech’s sake or smart #MFW move?

The big story coming out of Milan Fashion Week today was of course about the Fendi drones.

Referred to as a sign of the luxury house’s commitment to “innovation and creativity”, the initiative saw four drones installed with cameras recording its autumn/winter 2014/15 show. As they flew above the runway, that footage was beamed back to those watching online at home.

“The main reason for doing this is to be able to offer impressive images and an experience that even surpasses being at the actual show,” Pietro Beccari, president and chief executive officer of Fendi, told WWD ahead of the event.

So a couple of key thoughts…

First off, Beccari also said the drones – which were powered by Parrot and in collaboration with the creative department of Google – wouldn’t be at all disruptive. “They are small, and we will increasingly get used to such technology,” he said. That might well be the case, but we’re not used to them yet, which meant most people actually in attendance in Milan focused predominantly on the bots over the collection.

Note several of the below Instagram posts, and this tweet from the FT’s Vanessa Friedman:

The audience @Fendi is entirely distracted by the drones. Everyone taking pictures of the sky, not the clothes. #mfw #FTLuxury

— Vanessa Friedman (@VVFriedman) February 20, 2014

As far as publicity goes, that’s not a bad thing of course (more on that in a minute) – fashion shows as entertainment are by no means a new concept, after all.

What should have been spot on though, was the experience for those at home. Beccari said it would be completely “immersive and unprecedented”, thus far better than watching in person from the front row – so what was expected was a high-definition, up-close view.

A dashboard on the Fendi website hosted both a classic stream of the show and the “Drone Cam” to choose from. Like Topshop has done in the past, viewers could take snapshots of whichever they were watching and then share those collection images with their Facebook and Google+ friends and followers.

Unfortunately, the quality of the drone recording was, for all intents and purposes, awful. Up-close and personal? It was not. The shapes of the pieces the models were wearing could barely be made out, let alone the finer details of the line. The snapshot tool did work, as you can see in the screengrab below (which also documents the blurry runway), but the share function didn’t; merely clicking through to Facebook, before just getting stuck.

That was both the case with the live-stream version and the on-demand recording that has been on the Fendi site since. In fact, the recording that is up there now is actually a slightly better version in terms of the drone camera used – a switch was clearly made post live event.

But back to the question in the title of this post, were the Fendi drones merely tech for tech’s sake or a smart Milan Fashion Week move? The answer, I’d argue, is both.

It goes without saying this was absolutely tech for tech’s sake. And by that I mean technology that is essentially pointless (the traditional live stream providing a far more detailed and therefore beautiful view), but is employed on the grounds of the fact it makes for a great, albeit gimmicky, story. This is how most big-budget retail technology launches currently operate.

And a great story it was. Given drones were already buzzworthy thanks to Amazon’s Jeff Bezos’ December 2012 announcement, this was a topic top of mind and tip of tongue for many people, not to mention key members of the press. Fendi captialised on that (smoothly avoiding anything along the lines of privacy or security concerns), and won key coverage in everything from The Guardian to Bloomberg as a result, with New York Magazine’s The Cut, The Times and Fashionista inbetween. The only angle otherwise hyped was the Karl Lagerfeld doll that model Cara Delevingne carried to both open and close the show – and even that also had a Big Brother camera in it.

Let’s not forget this is a big coup for Milan Fashion Week – hardly the epicentre of fashion and tech stories any prior season. Fendi, under the creative direction of Lagerfeld, is also not the first brand you’d think of to lead in this space. Burberry maybe. Diane von Furstenberg perhaps. Even Dolce & Gabbana at a push, but not likely Fendi.

Beccari referred to the company’s investment in the development of its digital content as a bid to speak to a younger customer base. One thing’s for sure, there’s a whole raft of tech (and journo) types who have at least now heard of that brand called Fendi. And on that basis, yep, it was a pretty clever move too.

Remember that time when…

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Why Topshop is focusing on shoppers in-store with virtual reality #LFW experience

What’s interesting about Topshop’s digital plans for London Fashion Week this season, is its focus primarily on the store – on shoppers rather than showgoers.

The British retailer is partnering with a company called Inition to offer consumers a virtual reality experience from its Oxford Circus flagship. Specially commissioned Oculus Rift-based headsets will enable individuals to see its catwalk event taking place in the Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall on Sunday, February 16, through a 3D virtual world – from VIP arrivals and backstage sneak peeks, to the Unique collection show itself. The telepresence technology will make them feel as though the models are walking in front of their eyes, and the celebrities sat right beside them.

This is substantially more advanced than Burberry’s 3D streaming to customers in its stores in 2010. Wired has a great write-up explaining why: “Those wearing the [Inition] headsets – incorporating headphones and the Oculus Rift – will be able to see the live catwalk unfold if they look straight ahead on one virtual screen as well as the celebrities they are sitting ‘next to’, thanks to an 180-degree wide angle on the stream. If they look behind them at a second virtual screen they’ll get a view into the backstage area, where models will be having their hair and makeup done. If the wearer happens to look up, they will ascend into a higher level, where they will be able to see the rafters and a number of 360-degree images of, for example, celebrity selfies. All around the virtual screens and other elements, the environment has been designed to look like the Turbine Hall, with concrete and large girders.

“On top of the live stream will be built a number of animated elements that reflect the theme of decay that characterises the autumn/winter collection. So there will be leaves, flowers and crows that fly around on top of the space. Tweets using a specific hashtag will emerge in the virtual world as petals dropped by the virtual crows.”

Andy Millns, co-founder and creative director of Inition, said: “Virtual reality is the ultimate interface to the digital world with the power to transport the user to another place as soon as they put on a special display. This unique technology has the potential to open up fashion shows to the consumer at home and we believe this will be the first of many executions of this kind.”

Last season, Topshop partnered with Chirp, a start-up that enabled the sharing of content via sound. It was a cute idea, and was fun to play with for those who tried, but the truth is (according to those involved) it wasn’t all that successful. Very few people at the show actually downloaded the app you had to have, let alone then had it open ready to collect the specific sounds emitted as the show took place. The Chirp Garden hosted in the store was no doubt a smarter move in terms of engagement. That said, it led to content shared, rather than an immersive experience.

The headsets for this coming weekend, as abstract as they might look and feel to wear, go back to what opening up show access is really about: making consumers feel involved. And not just via the web or social media, but in the brand Mecca that is the flagship store. Topshop Oxford Circus is arguably one of the best global examples of this – a tourist destination, an immersive consumer experience, and a space that has played host to all sorts of other campaigns; a shoppable Pinterest wall, a series of talks and events for those interested in the industry, a Tweet Shop for Halloween and more.

The one downside with this virtual reality initiative of course is that it’s restricted to just a few. A competition is being held in the run up to Sunday’s show via social media, which will result in five winners who will be the first to experience it. The installation will then be available to further visitors – we presume those who sign up, or queue for it – on-demand, for three days.

But as mentioned, that’s only at the Oxford Circus location, and not any of the other 400+ Topshop stores – directly owned or otherwise – around the UK and the rest of the world.

And that’s part of the issue with in-store tech innovation at present. It’s a costly move, it’s also an experiment most of the time, so it tends to be limited to one place. This campaign specifically is quite a unique example, and undoubtedy one best suited to the flagship on the basis it’s the theatrical homeland of the brand. With most other initiatives, however, the technology – no matter how far away from being a gimmick it is – won’t become more than a PR story if the majority of consumers don’t ever get to see or experience it.

Topshop is referring to this virtual reality installation as not just transporting the viewer, but providing an insight into how we will consume media in the not so distant future. This fashion week, it’ll still largely be an exclusive experience, but the potential is there.

Asos wins tech award at World Retail Congress

Asos won the retail technology initiative of the year at this month’s World Retail Awards, for its Fit Visualiser tool.

Powered by Swedish company Virtusize, the technology enables shoppers to see how well an item might fit based on similar pieces they already own.

As pictured, it plays out in the form of a button next to the colour and size options on a product page (at this point for Asos’ own-brand products only). By clicking on it, users are invited to add measurements of a piece they already have to compare to the one they’re trying to buy.

The tool will then display overlaying silhouettes of the two garments in two-dimensional form and pinpoint the exact variations in bust, waist and length for instance. Different sizing options alongside allow the shopper to work out which to buy.

According to reports at launch earlier this year, using such a tool is proven to reduce fit-related returns, in some cases by up to 50%. Virtusize co-founder, Peder Stubert, said: “Many virtual fitting companies have tried and failed in this area because their solutions have been too costly or inaccurate. Our positive results from the ASOS [six-month] trial signal that there is a bright future ahead for our 2D garment comparison method.”

Other retailers who have used the tool include Nelly.com and Stylebop.com. A video below loosely demonstrates it being experimented with:

Vogue promotes new iPhone 5C as major fashion accessory

Vogue is continuing its focus on tech with a series of online editorial shots this week dedicated to the new iPhone 5C. Titled “How About Them Apples: How To Match Your Outfit to the New iPhone 5C“, the post sees the four new shades of the latest Apple phone coordinated with looks from this season’s resort collections.

“We already know we spend an inordinate amount of time with our iPhones—talking to them, sleeping with them under our pillows—and now, it turns out, we can even dress like them,” it reads. “If we were Angela Ahrendts (former Burberry CEO and newly appointed senior vice president of Apple), we might think of incorporating one of the season’s new shades—which include Day-Glo pinks, yellows, greens, and blues—into our first-day-of-work wardrobe.” The models pose in looks from the likes of Nina Ricci, Michael Kors, Versace, Dior, Reed Krakoff and Ralph Lauren.

The initiative seems like a massive advertorial, or Condé Nast’s attempts at sponsored posts (native advertising) à la Buzzfeed, but the lack of any sort of disclaimer suggests otherwise.

In which case, this should be seen as a pretty huge coup for Apple; it is after all just a plastic coloured phone, now cross-promoted on key Vogue properties including its .com site, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr.

DVF to launch first shoppable Google+ Hangouts

Google’s latest foray into the fashion space comes in the form of live shoppable experiences though the Google+ Hangouts on Air app.

Through a new partnership with the Council of Fashion Designers of America, designers and retailers will be able to broadcast a multi-person video chat while offering viewers the ability to simultaneously browse and purchase products alongside. That functionality is seen in a right hand bar featuring key products, which it is assumed would line up to the content being discussed.

Designer Diane von Furstenberg (also CFDA president) will launch the feature on October 3 at 8pm EST. Using the tool as a form of personal styling, she will talk about three current trends with five of the brand’s biggest fans – selected especially for the occasion.

Lorraine Twohill, VP of global marketing at Google referred to the initiative as a “one of a kind shopping experience”.

Of course shoppable video at large is something that’s yet to be nailed by the industry, with reasons ranging from the technology that’s enabled it to happen, to the disconnect that is seen through the lean-back nature of video compared to lean-in side of shopping. On that basis however, there’s a lot to be said for engaging the consumer when they’re already thinking about the product (in this instance often the very reason they’re tuning in), and providing the easy ability for them to convert.

The experience marries up to Topshop’s Customise the Catwalk initiative in terms of being able to order straight from the runway through the live video being shown. The difference in this case of course is that the discussion surrounds current season. Rather than encouraging pre-orders, brands and retailers can offer live product; therefore capturing intent and delivering on it immediately.

Other brands set to participate shortly include rag & bone, Rebecca Minkoff, and Rachel Zoe. Google is particularly pushing the app’s relevance for the holiday period – retail’s most lucrative time of year, representing up to 40% of annual sales in 2012. It is calling for retailers to use it to “engage with consumers directly around key items or trends they want to highlight”.

#NYFW digital highlight: Tommy Hilfiger’s social concierge

Tommy Hilfiger brought a sense of digital personalisation to those in attendance at his California-themed New York Fashion Week show this season; offering up a service that delivered assets – pictures through to collection information – upon request in real-time.

The “social concierge”, as it was called, saw a dedicated team of 30 responding to emails sent in from showgoers – either providing them with what they were after from a cloud-based library, or directing a team member on-site to capture the request directly. Mashable experimented with this 30-minutes in advance to see what was possible, asking for an image of the designer with a model doing a thumbs up, and got the exact shot back just before the show began, as shown above.

Meanwhile, I requested one of the first looks, a finale shot and an image from behind-the-scenes while the collection walk was in action, all of which I received within 15 minutes of it ending. Mine (included below) were evidently shot on an iPhone, though the service did also incorporate higher quality photography and reportedly a team of digital technicians to instantly edit the shots.

The concept is of course tied to social media sharing. Said the company: “[It] allows the industry to curate and share a new layer of exclusive, customized content on their own digital platforms for their followers during the show.” It added that the aim was to further “emphasise the approachable and inclusive DNA of the brand”.

That access to exclusive content for attendees also continued with the brand’s “Runway Newsroom”, an online portal that opened immediately following the show, once again intended largely for press and buyers. This included everything from a full collection statement to high res images of the line, behind-the-scenes activities and even set design. So too were there sketches from the designer and detailed photographs of the fabrics.

As Avery Baker, CMO at Tommy, told WWD: “There is increased pressure on media and influencers to communicate immediately to their followers. We felt this program would help facilitate and streamline the process for them.”

Two further pieces of digital content were also created for the season:

The first was the result of the brand providing bloggers including Scott Schuman and Susie Bubble with Lytro cameras. These light field cameras allow photos to be refocused after they are taken. In other words, viewers can focus in on the model in the foreground or switch to the crowd behind her just by tapping the screen (see below).

And secondly, it partnered with artist Meagan Cignoli to capture moments in the lead-up to and during its show using Vine and Instagram video (see this one for instance). A separate series of 30-second videos were created by the brand focused on details like the beauty looks, the accessories in the collection and its beach-themed set up.

As with last season, “The Conversation” of the show was captured on a live social media feed displayed in the entrance-way to the venue on 90ft screens.

Deep breath… almost ready to dive into 'Westcoasting' #TommySpring14 #NYFW
http://t.co/xvaAuwsM0D

— Tommy Hilfiger (@TommyHilfiger) September 9, 2013

Giant digital installation anchors Phillip Lim for Target NYFW event

Target hosted an event at New York Fashion Week last night to celebrate the forthcoming launch (September 15) of its 3.1 Phillip Lim line.

Hosted at the new Spring Studios, the party centred around an enormous digital installation – the Stylescape, which is the longest-ever created cinemagraph in fact, comprised of multiple interactive components.

You could blow on a pin-wheel to make a gust of wind breeze across various components on the screen, pull on a cord to see fireworks light up the sky or a string of fairy lights illuminate, and even jump on a spot to get Phillip Lim to turn round from a park bench and smile for your picture. Other sections saw the crowd dancing with one of the virtual models, or giggling as a dog appeared behind a counter.

The initiative took over four months to produce, Refinery29 reported. It was created across six cities, representing a full day-to-night span from one end to the other. It kickstarts with early morning in LA, crossing through Dallas, Toronto, Chicago, and Miami, and wrapping up with a 5am cab in NYC.