Deutsche Telekom, together with attractive partners like Intel and adidas, is looking for young, talented individuals with ideas for smart fashion and services that make life easier. The Fashion Fusion challenge is in full swing. Not long now until the high-profile panel of judges reveals who's one step ahead at the intersection of fashion and technology.
A lot has happened since the twelve finalists of the 2016 Fashion Fusion Challenge moved into their Berlin-based workshop – the Fashion Fusion Lab. Visionary tailors and technicians are working full steam to create masterpieces worthy of victory in January. Their hard work is benefiting from extensive support in the form of a well equipped workshop with all the latest technology, including a 3D printer, laser cutter, sewing machines, and soldering stations. Coaches and experts are also on hand to offer the finalists their professional advice. The young participants have attended three master classes to learn more about fashion, styling, tech fashion, technology, and how to pitch to investors. Experts included Dr. Holger Laabs from Osram, stylist Julia Freitag, and Prof. Jingyuan Cheng from TU Braunschweig. Deutsche Telekom's Fashion Fusion team wanted to give the competition participants access to qualified professionals from a range of fields to help with their work. One or two of the finalists have more of a technical focus and need help with styling, while some of the designers need technical support. And a few artists have really creative products but need ideas for potential business cases.
The finalists in the Fashion Fusion Lab are a varied lot, full of contrasts and perfect for providing mutual inspiration. The panel of judges has chosen young students, start-ups, fashion designers, and tech professionals, all of whom are working on extremely diverse projects – from wearables and tech accessories to functional wear and high-tech couture. In addition, the teams' projects are at very different stages of development. Some teams were already established prior to the competition and are already marketing products. For them, this adventure is the opportunity to meet additional experts who can help check their work and open up new networks. In contrast, other teams were completely new and were looking for like-minded individuals to help them realize what at that stage were still just ideas. Designers needed techies for their visions, and vice versa. But, far from seeing the situation as unfair, the participants welcome the diversity of expertise and products that has been amassed as part of the competition. For many of them, it's actually an advantage.
And speaking of advantages: Why has Deutsche Telekom decided to move into uncharted territory with the Fashion Fusion initiative? Fashion isn't our thing at all. Why are we investing time and money in developing young start-ups from the smart fashion scene? Because this is exactly where we see ourselves. Digitization is revolutionizing the fashion industry. And digitization is our thing. We want to be the strong partner to the movers and shakers of smart fashion, big and small. We operate the platforms for the Internet of Things (IoT). Now, especially thanks to Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), applications in the Internet of Things can be realized on a large scale.
And fashion is increasingly becoming part of the Internet of Things. Tim Höttges gave a reminder of this during his visit to the Fashion Fusion Labs. "We'll never be a fashion company, but what we can do is supply the telecommunications services and secure connectivity that smart fashion needs," said Höttges. "Learning about the demands of this trend with promising young talents from the fashion and technology industries is exactly the right move. Together with attractive partners including Intel and adidas, we want to give these start-ups a shot at turning their innovative concepts into reality." What is more, it's a great opportunity for us to integrate our services into something visible, something personal.
As a well-established DAX-listed company, we have also generated valuable momentum for smart fashion that will get other big players noticing it as a business area with plenty of potential. Some have already visited the Labs to see the innovative projects that are being worked on by the finalists – a few of which have the potential to make a real and lasting difference to everyday life.
The finalists will present their products to the panel of judges on December 16th. The big awards show will then be held in January as part of the Berlin Fashion Week, where the teams will showcase their projects to the public and the three winners will be announced.
Smart fashion: Deutsche Telekom makes clothing intelligent
Twice a year Berlin becomes a magnet for designers, makeup artists, models, media representatives, buyers, and stars. The city can once again show its colors as a fashion capital. Because it's Fashion Week. For a couple of years now, another kind of designer has been seen around the capital. Designers with the same eye for fashion, but technical know-how to go along with it. Knowledge of bits and bytes. Which is exactly what they need for the kind of runway fashion they design. Smart fashion – apparel that can do more than simply look good. And that has earned its place at Fashion Week.