Fifteen Moments that Defined #FashionTech in 2015 👗📲 powered by @electric_runway
1. Silicon Valley Fashion Week
While the Valley's foray into fashion may have been unexpected and even awkward, Silicon Valley Fashion Week marked the moment in history where the tech world realized it could no longer sideline fashion.
2. Apple Watch X Hermès Collaboration
In addition to witnessing the launch of the Apple Watch, this year also saw a number of collaborations between big-name fashion and tech companies. Apple's collaboration with luxury brand Hermès demonstrates just how entangled the relationship between fashion and tech has become, and gestures to the opportunities in luxury wear.
3. Chromat's Adrenaline Dress
Chromat showed the world what's possible for fashion tech beyond wristables at New York Fashion Week, stealing headlines with its Adrenaline Dress. Powered by Intel, the Adrenaline Dress is a responsive garment that transforms based on the wearer's body. The dress awakened us to the ways fashion tech can serve as an extension of the sensory system and sets the stage for a second wave of emotive (rather than quantitative) fashion tech.
4. Zac Posen Light-up Dress
Intel wasn't the only big-time tech company at New York Fashion Week this year: Google also stepped into the fashion spotlight via a collaboration with Made with Code and Zac Posen, showcasing a little black dress that literally lit up the room with 500 LED lights.
5. Anouk Wipprecht for Audi
Fashion tech designer Anouk Wipprecht outdid herself this year with four smart dresses supercharged with car parts. Commissioned by Audi, Wipprecht created garments that highlighted innovations in the German car maker's new A4 sedan. Wipprecht experimented with projection mapping, sensors, 3D printing, and more.
6. Electric Runway Launch Party & Future Fashion Runway Show
We're proud to have launched our brand at the Maker Festival in Toronto. Electric Runway is a global platform for exploring the intersection of fashion and tech. While we're on the subject of shameless self-promotion, we also redid our website and launched a podcast, too! 👗📲. Learn more at www.electricrunway.com
7. Rebecca Minkoff Interactive Mirrors
When it comes to the future of retail, Rebecca Minkoff knows what the customer of tomorrow wants. The designer teamed up with eBay to open a digitally connected store in New York complete with connected walls and interactive mirrors that display aspirational videos and images as well as product options.
8. Tommy Hilfiger Announces In-Store VR Experience
Rebecca Minkoff isn't the only name in the game when it comes to fashion-forward retail experiences: This year, Tommy Hilfiger announced it will offer an in-store virtual reality experience. Shoppers are transported into front row seats at the Tommy Hilfiger catwalk via a Samsung Gear VR headset. While the headsets are only available in select stores, the move demonstrates more retailers are looking towards technology to stay relevant.
9. Behnaz Farahi’s Caress of the Gaze
Using multi-material 3D printing, designer Behnaz Farahi created an interactive cape/crop top that recognizes and responds to the gaze of others. The project asks, what if clothing could behave as an artificial second skin, capable of changing shape and operating as an interface with the world? While Farahi's design was conceptual, it foreshadows a future of fashion that's not only responsive but also expressive.
10. EasyJet X CuteCircuit Collaboration
If you thought light-up clothing would remain in the realm of conceptual runway shows and Burning Man parties, Cute Circuit proved you wrong this year. The fashion company teamed up with British airline EasyJet to create a line of illuminated uniforms that will display information on the bodies of air stewards. While the uniforms won't roll out until next year, the collaboration demonstrates how fashion tech could creep its way into different industries in unexpected ways.
11. Third Wave Fashion Magazine Launch
This year marked the launch of Third Wave Magazine, the world's first print magazine dedicated to covering the intersection of fashion and technology. Operated by Liza Kindred in New York, Third Wave promises to be an industry staple for years to come. Check out their website at thirdwavefashion.com to learn more.
12. Ralph Lauren Polo Tech Shirt
Hermès wasn't the only luxury brand experimenting with wearables this year: Ralph Lauren launched a Polo Tech Shirt, a high-performance shirt woven with silver fibres that interface with the wearer's iPhone to provide real-time metrics such as heart rate and breathing depth. Although the smart shirt is meant for the court or track rather than the street, it's a clear indication of fashion's foray into sensors and smart textiles.
13. MIT bioLogic Second Skin
MIT's tangible media group turned heads in 2015 with the announcement of their bioLogic Second Skin, an innovation in textiles and technology. Animate cells are harvested in a bio lab, assembled by a micron-resolution bio-printing system, and then transformed into fashion that responds to the wearer's body heat and sweat. The opportunities for athletic wear and even streetwear are endless.
14. Project Jacquard
In the summer of 2015, Google announced Project Jacquard, a collaboration with Levis to weave touch and gesture interactivity into fabrics. Two of the biggest names in tech and fashion are coming together to make something exciting, and while we don't know what the final product will look like (or do), we can't wait to see what's in store for the future of fabrics as our clothing begins to connect us to the internet of things.
15. FitBit IPO
FitBit was the largest Initial Public Offering for wearables ever, raising $731 million and valued at $3.4 billion. While it may be a far cry from fashionable, FitBit helped launch wearables into mainstream consciousness this year, and showed the world that there's money—and opportunity—in fashion tech.
What was your most memorable #FashionTech moment of 2015? Tweet us @Electric_Runway to let us know.
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