French Fashion Tech
September 4 , 2019
The French fashion tech industry deserves some recognition. President Emmanuel Macron shared his plans in 2017 to make France the “land for startups”, and has since delivered on his words with continuous investment in the field. VIVATECH 2019, held last May is a technology startup even for global start-ups leading the digital formation. With high profile visitors including President Macron himself and Canadian Prime minister Justin Trudeau, the event was a grand success. Global powerhouses Samsung, Google, Intel were also in attendance.
As fashion as one of the France’s major industry, the financial support for fashion tech is also noticeable. Fashion tech is the concept of adding technology to fashion, fabric and ready-made clothes but also the technological integration into the shopping experience as well. French multinational luxury goods corporation LVMH is considered one of the front runners in understanding the technological end in fashion.
A long time leader in luxury goods, technological advances for sustainable growth has always been a main challenge of LVMH. With the pursuance for nothing but the best, LVMH has turned to technological advances for innovation. As such, the luxury goods giant is pouring much effort into fostering fashion tech in a focus to luxury goods, becoming the host of the LVMH Innovation awards for 3 consecutive years.
All participants are expected to propose specific and viable solutions that can stimulate cultural development in the luxury sector as well as contribute to sustainable development. The 30 startups selected this year were presented to the public at the LVMH Hall during VIVATECH.
Winners of 2019
Euveka, the mannequin robot
The Smart and Evaluative Mannequin by Euveka won the award in the robot and drone category. The smart mannequin changes the size of the mannequin in 2 minutes after the desired size is entered into the system. Established in 2011, Euveka connects design software to robot mannequins optimized for personalization for haute couture and even Pret a porter (Ready to wear) products.
Euveka also works for sustainable fashion. The textile industry is one of the top industries to pollute the environment due to the large amounts of fabric waste left over from manufacturing. Euveka helps to minimize textile waste during the production process. Moreover with the diverse range of mannequin sizes, it is now possible to have a smaller number of Euveka products to replace the existing different sized mannequins. In this sense, Euveka presents technological ways of sustainable development in the fashion industry.
Fitle, Transporting the offline shopping experience online
The biggest drawback of online shopping is the difficulty behind finding the right size and Fitle provides a solution to this limitation. When a consumer enters their personal information such as age, height, weight, chest measurements and the brand, Fitle calculates the best size for the consumer.
In addition, with the collect shopping data, Fitle provides the brands with consumer information such as shopping habits or consumer age groups. Thomas Gueguen of fashion brand Amor-Lux says “during the first month of implementation, 40% of sales were made using Fitle”, testifying to the effectiveness of the sizing tool. As such, reducing the barriers between on and offline shopping can ultimately contribute to maximizing the consumer shopping experience.
The fashion industry has long been an industry conservative to change. Yet, with the introduction of a new generation with a drastic change in life style, the acceptance of IT has now become a necessity. Especially the fact that the luxury goods industry, the most conservative out of the industry, should not go unnoticed.
Paris has now become residence for world class technology companies. Looking at the 2015 LVMH recruitment of Ian Rogers, previous Apple Music CEO, it illustrates the importance of fashion tech in luxury fashion. As Rogers said “ It’s not about selling luxury goods, it’s about making the shopping experience luxurious”. Fashion tech is making the consumer experience detailed and enriching.
