I have been at the Mélange tradeshow for the past two days where I was invited to speak as an expert on a panel about social media and the connected generation of consumers. While I was there I got to meet many interesting people in fashion and technology and I will have some exciting interviews on the blog soon! I also got to listen to many panelists talk about the upcoming trends in the fashion and technology marketplace and where they think the direction of wearable tech is going. We heard from many industry experts and innovators. Check out the categories below for all the latest updates from each area.
Apps
Melange held a "Best of the Beach" contest (Silicone Beach) for new apps and these were the three finalists.
Livit
Founded by Adam Blazer this app is all about sharing and connecting travel and lifestyle stories from real people.
Donde
Donde is my personal favorite from this list. Donde is a fashion app where anyone can search for their next outfit with just a few taps. Donde uses new image recognition software to find images from thousands of brands on the web that fit your search criteria. You can make purchases or mark items so that the app will notify you when they go on sale so you never have to leave the app! I am so excited to see how this app will change the way people shop online. I think there are so many practical applications for Donde. You can download it now on the app store!
Fashiontapapp
The fashiontapapp was founded by Amy Roiland of A Fashion Nerd. A fashion tap is for fashion bloggers and other users to tag their outfits and beauty items so everyone can see who they are wearing. It includes a buy button so that users can easily purchase the items they like straight from the app.
Social Media
We heard from many social media experts at Melange this week including, the director of social media for Toms shoes, the SVP of Shoedazzle, fashion bloggers, the VP of BCBG Max Azria, and myself.
Sarah Tabbush the director of Social Media for Toms shoes shared that she felt that some of their bigger social media channels were straying away from the brand image that they wanted to represent and so they decided to open a Snapchat account in order to stay young and fresh as well as connect with their fans. She said that she believed that content should be organic and that followers are not interested in seeing very posed and perfect images for marketing. Ann Lawrence co founder of the site Pink51.com shared that she also believes it is a important to create a community feeling through social media. We also heard from Alon Caidor the CEO of TV page and Eric from Invodo that video will be the next big thing in internet advertising. They believe that video will increase the attention span of the online consumer which is about 8.5 seconds right now to up to 30 seconds. We saw a transformation of the web from 1999 to 2015 with pictures and videos increasing dramatically on all the websites. We also heard from several omnichannel marketing experts on how to use social media to engage your followers. They recommended that brands focus on using social media to gain awareness and create a brand image but not for sales. Several marketing experts at the show, including a representative form Li & Fung Associates Business Intelligence, cited studies showing that brick and mortar was still the most successful sales rate. Using social media to entice customers to come into the store can be more beneficial to a brand then trying to sell on social networking sites. We heard from Amy Roiland and Jordynn Schafer that many people are moving away from Instagram and going towards live video feed social networking sites such as Periscope. I've also included a video of my panel covering how millennials and centennials use social media as consumers. There were many interesting marketing trends explored at Mélange this year.
Wearable tech
Misfit
We heard from two experts in the wearable tech industry at Melange. First we heard from Tommy Chang VP of ecommerce at misfit. You may have heard of misfit the wearable tech health accessory. It can track your daily activity and sleep patterns. Tommy Chang talked to us about the direction of misfit and their new developments. He believes the new direction for wearable tech is to focus on things that are fashionable and functional. They are developing new items that will be made form durable materials such as metal. They are also focusing on technology that won't need charging. They want to develop accessories that will have durable batteries that can be taken anywhere and changed out around every 3 months. They are also working on a really exciting project with their partner Swarovski. It will be a wearable fitness accessory made out of a Swarovski crystal that has solar charging capabilities. It is still in the developmental stages but they believe it will only need a few minutes of sun exposure to stay charged all day. I am very excited to see the new things misfit has in store!
The next speaker we had was Kristine Upseleja a professor of Textile science at FIDM. She is considered an expert in the field of innovative textiles. Her presentation included companies that were working on things like growing textiles form bacteria, creating textiles connected to the internet, hearables, and 3D printed clothes. She believes that the future of wearable tech is actually going towards hearables such as the German brand Bragi. Basically earbuds that don't need to be connected to a phone or ipod. Bragi is mainly focused on fitness and health right now. They can tell you calories burned, pace, etc and they are even waterproof so you can play music while swimming! She also showed photos of a designer who printed her entire collection on a 3D printer in her own home. The 3D printer is definitely in the future for wearable tech. She also showed a presentation of a company who is working on textiles that can be connected to the internet such as the Twitter dress that Katy Perry wore in the iTunes music festival. Check it out
here. The new innovations in this field are very exciting!
Experiential marketing
Another important trend in the fashion marketing and advertising world is experiential marketing. Many industry experts believe this is the way of the future for fashion marketing. There are many new companies popping up in this industry with different ideas on how to approach experiential marketing and engage the consumer.
Blippar
Blippar is a software for smartphones that allows users to "blip" things by waving the smartphone over an item. The item then appears in 3D on the smartphone and customers can even try on the item. So far they have worked with brands like L'Oreal and Vogue. Check out the video to see how it works
here.
Holograms
We heard from Ashley Crowder CEO and founder of Vntana a holographic systems company that provides interactive holograms for brands in stores. I loved the Vntana idea and I think it will definitely bring customers back into stores. Another holographic system was Zugara. They are a system of holographic mirrors that can be installed in stores to allow you to try on clothing in different colors that might not be available in the store. Seeing yourself in the mirror is really fun. You can check them out in person at the Rebecca Minkoff store on Melrose Avenue right here in LA.
Beacon Marketing
Beacon marketing is a new idea of location based marketing where users can download different apps that will let them know about sales and other things happening at the stores around them. Marie Driscoll of Li & Fung believes that this will become a big trend for 2016.
I also interviewed the young designer of the capsule
collection which included all types of handbags encrusted with Swarovski
crystals in different ways. According to Khirma, the young New York based
handbag designer, she was excited to be a part of tshis collection. She relates
to the YoungArts initiative because after finishing her undergraduate degree
she was on her way to law school when she realized she wanted to be a designer
and she believes that ages 15-18 are often some of the most critical years for
figuring out what you want to do. She enjoyed working with the Swarovski crystals
as a medium because the Swarovski brand is all about texture and that is something
her own handbag line also embraces. She said, “the designs are all named after women I have met
who inspired me because when you think about what makes a person beautiful it’s
all the different textures and layers coming together.” She wanted to represent that in her designs as well and
played with different ways to incorporate the crystals such as embroidery and crystal
encrusted clasps. The Khirma line is all about being fearless and feminine and
making it all happen inspired by Khirma’s own experiences.
