Defining Fashion Tech the 19th Amendment way
Whenever Amanda or I have to explain our industry, we usually default to "fashion tech." The majority of people usually stop, tilt their head, scrunch their eyebrows, and ask, "What - exactly - is fashion tech?"
Our answer is consistently, "a company that uses technology to disrupt the fashion industry." It's simple enough for people to understand and it gives us leeway in terms of who we can lump into this category.
But the definition we like the best is from Third Wave Fashion who describes it as:
"...tech startups that are focused on the fashion world...that have at least two of the following three qualities: social elements, disruptive technologies, and innovative business models."
Closer! From the same article, Rob Sanchez, founder of Fashioning Our Industry Conference, says,
"Fashion technology companies are fundamentally rethinking how we shop, purchase, design, source, manufacture, alter, swap, try on, or otherwise engage in the fashion world.”
That's it!
Here at 19th Amendment, we combine the best of both online and offline elements (a must in fashion), using the technology piece to redefine discovery and aid dissemination to customers across the world and process-oriented, local manufacturing to provide the best value for small-scale, specialized designs. Though every fashion tech company is approaching a specific fashion-related problem (whether it be sourcing like Maker's Row, discovery and sales like Poshmark, or sustainability like Modavanti), we all see the same need to foster and facilitate that spark of forward-thinking creativity that makes fashion such an exciting piece of everyday life.
