The CISL free virtual accelerator program is aimed for tech innovators and fashion entrepreneurs to fast track sustainability in the fashion industry

Technology is the best ally that the fashion industry can find. From fiber modification to circular design principles and supply chain transparency, recent developments in tech along with the right education and principles can help achieve a more sustainable fashion industry.

That is the goal of the CISL Accelerator. This free virtual accelerator program is looking for early-stage start-ups and entrepreneurs with tech-driven innovations that have the potential to transform the sustainability of the fashion industry.

This free accelerator program will bring together a select cohort of innovators to help fast track their sustainability solutions. Delivered over six weeks of interactive online sessions, with contributors from the United Nations, the University of Cambridge, and experts from the fashion, investment and tech sectors.

Part-funded by the European Union’s European Regional Development Fund, the CISL accelerator program is specially designed for innovators in sustainable fashion and available for free to SMEs based in England. The accelerator is particularly interesting for innovators working in the areas of:

· Material innovation and biotech – such as fibre innovation, enzymology and molecular biology

· Manufacturing and processing – supply chain transparency, blockchain technology, water and chemical use, waste reduction, and energy efficiency

· Packaging and delivery – innovation in packaging materials, shipping and logistics, and waste reduction

· People-centered solutions – improve health and safety for people in garment production, consumer education on sustainable consumption, and post-consumer solutions.

The accelerator consists of a six-week virtual program. The online sessions will be delivered every Wednesday from 9 September – 14 October, between 10:00 – 13:00 (only one exception: 14:00-16:00 on 23 September due to a speaker’s time zone), with a time commitment of between 2-3 hours per week. During those sessions and throughout the program, applicants will be able to explore the social and environmental challenges facing the fashion industry; to learn from leading innovators driving change in the fashion industry; to build their pitch, with insight on business planning, marketing, and storytelling; to hear from investors on the do’s and don’ts for accessing start-up funding and to build a network with other innovators in sustainable fashion.

Programme overview

Week one: Introduction and challenges – meet the cohort and explore the biggest challenges facing the fashion industry in its bid to be more sustainable

Week two: What does good look like – Understand the changes needed to revolutionise the fashion industry and learn about the tech innovations that are pioneering change.

Weeks three-four: Business labs – learn about start-up essentials of business planning, marketing, storytelling and pitching readiness.

Week five: Global market trends and lessons learnt from systems thinking – Explore the various challenges in different markets and learn how to apply systems thinking to ensure a resilient business model

Week six: Pitch practice – receive peer to peer, investor, and industry expert feedback on your innovation

Participants in the accelerator program will have the chance to learn from top industry experts, both in sustainability and from the fashion industry. Some of the contributors are Michael Stanley-Jones, Co-Secretary, UN Alliance for Sustainable Fashion, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP); Cath Tayleur, Senior Programme Manager of Business and Nature, CISL; Matthew Drinkwater, Head of Fashion Innovation Agency, London College of Fashion, UAL; Atul Bagai, Head of Country Office, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP); Ishwari Thopte, Business coach, advisor & tutor at LCF, former program manager at Centre for Fashion; Wendy Yu, Founder and CEO of Yu Holdings; Sean Ansett, President, At Stake Advisors; Shaunie Brett, Sustainability Consultant, Sussed Consulting; among others.

There is no doubt about the high impact that the fashion industry is having on the environment. The fast fashion industry dominates the market and is especially demanding on resources and workforce. It accounts for ten percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, depletes natural resources -particularly water-, uses harmful chemicals in great quantities, and generates vast levels of waste and micro-plastic pollution once in use. Likewise, garment production is one of the world’s largest and most labor-intensive industries with estimates of 75 million people worldwide and mostly women. Crucially, the supply chain funnels more money toward modern slavery than any other industry besides tech. We need a more sustainable fashion industry so rapid innovation is needed to revolutionize the fashion industry as we know it.

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post CISL Virtual Accelerator To Help Entrepreneurs Achieve A More Sustainable Fashion Industry appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.

Fashinnovation held a successful panel discussion on July 11th at WeWork in NYC, introducing their new concept “Fashion Is To Love”, which derived from its mission of showcasing innovations via ways of technology which are shaping the fashion industry. This served as the countdown to its 3rd edition of the conference, which will be held on September 4th, 2019.

The evening consisted of a mix of entrepreneurs, innovators, influencers and fashion veterans, as they sipped on wine and exchanged ideas at WeWork, NYC. The awe-inspiring speakers for the evening were: Sandra Campos – CEO, Diane Von Furstenberg; Michael Ferraro – Executive Director FIT/INFOR DTech Lab; Jaclynn Brennan – Founding Partner eSTYLAR and Jordana Guimaraes – Co-founder, FASHINNOVATION. An announcement was made, promoting the idea that Fashion is the voice to represent love – a blue heart being its symbol.

After hosting two successful events in the past year – during NYFW – with speakers which included: Google, J. Crew, NASA, FIT, EBY, Levi’s, Havaianas, UN Global Compact, IBM, etc., Jordana & Marcelo Guimaraes (Founders at Fashinnovation) saw a common tie in all of the talks: LOVE!

“Based on where all of the trends in the fashion industry are nowadays – transparency, storytelling, sustainability, collaboration, inclusivity, etc. – love is the emotion that it all stems from” says Jordana Guimaraes. “We are excited to keep growing this community of innovators, who are shaping the fashion industry via technologies” continues Marcelo Guimaraes. The 3rd edition on Sept 4th, 2019 will be a full-day event inaugurating New York Fashion Week, bringing together innovation & technology in the Fashion Industry via panel talks, fashion show, brand features & tech activations, red carpet interviews, and much more.” 

There will be 50+ diverse speakers, in the mission of inspiring & sharing knowledge, including Susan Rockefeller, Shelley Zalis: CEO, The Female Quotient, Carry Somers: Founder, Fashion Revolution, Brie & Nikki Bella: The Bella Twins, Burak Cakmak: Dean of Fashion at Parsons, Bill Wackermann: CEO at Wilhemina, Dana Davis: VP of Sustainability at Mara Hoffman, The RealReal and so on.

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post Fashinnovation: Fashion Is To Love appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.

Get ready for the new fashion industry revolution. A revolution that leaves no one behind and it is fair and sustainable for everyone involved in it. Besides, it is all about accessibility. Those are the three pillars Samanta Bullock has based her brand new collection from. A new collection that promises to not forget those that are usually forgotten by the industry.

The collection will be presented on Saturday, on 15th June, from 7:00 p.m., at the unique landmark building Bradmore House in Hammersmith, London. The emblematic place will host the launch party of the innovative, inclusive and sustainable brand, Samanta Bullock.

A lavish night with a catwalk show, live music, drinks, goodie bags and lots of fun is waiting for you. The first collection of Samanta Bullock, developed in partnership with emerging international designers, will be shown first on the spot.

“It’s an unprecedented collection, fully adapted for both sitting and standing positions. It’s for everyone, including wheelchair users”, says the entrepreneur Samanta Bullock, professional model, athlete and inclusion activist.

How it all began

Being a wheelchair model from an early age, Samanta Bullock has always felt frustrated by the lack of high-quality clothes available in the market for people with physical disabilities.

After a few years of fighting for inclusion in the fashion industry, Samanta began to question herself: “What is the use of having more disabled models on the catwalks, if there are no clothes made for these consumers?”

Samanta then decided to join forces with innovative designers and to develop her own brand, tailored to her own needs, such as more practical zippers, waist-high trousers, cropped jackets with vegan leather details on the sleeves to prevent to dirt them on the wheels of the chair, sustainable jewellery inspired in the force of transformation of nature, body creams specially developed to help activate the circulation of the legs, among other novelties.

Following the slow fashion movement, Samanta explains that the philosophy of the brand is to prioritize quality over quantity. Launching two collections a year, the men’s line will be added next year, by 2020. “It’s better to invest in stylish, high-quality and comfortable pieces than buying clothes that just last a few washes, and do not fit well on the body”.

Marketplace

Unfortunately, the lack of choice of clothing adapted to the physically disabled has been a harsh reality faced by potential consumers until nowadays.

While the main players in the fashion industry struggle to call attention to the customers distracted among so many options available in the market, 20% of the world’s population, with a spending power of US$ 1 trillion, go completely unnoticed and ignored right under the noses of the large corporations.

It is the international market for people with physical disabilities.

In the United Kingdom, the term “Purple Pound” refers to the spending power of the 13.3 million people with disabilities in the country, with a potential consumption of £ 249 billion per year!

Loss

According to a recent survey by the ‘We are Purple’ organization in the UK, companies lose approximately £ 2 billion a month, ignoring the needs of people with disabilities. Physical stores no longer make £ 267 million a month because they are not physically accessible. And 75% of people with disabilities have already had to leave an establishment due to lack of accessibility and care,

It is also expected that the first collection of Samanta Bullock will be available online starting from that presentation.

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post Fashion and Innovation: Samanta Bullock’s First Sustainable And Inclusive Collection appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.