August Innovation Round-up

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Welcome to the Fashion Innovation Round-up, a monthly summary of the most salient stories at the intersection of fashion and technology.

AUGUST 2022 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Early this month, the world lost iconic designer Issey Miyake, leaving a gaping hole in the fashion imagination. Miyake was known equally for his technology-driven clothing and his playful runway shows. At the same time, Tommy Hilfiger is betting big on the business of avatars with their recently announced Parallel Tommy Hilfiger. Virtual influencer Lil Miquela has been named the face of Pac Sun and startup Nreal raises $15 million to make augmented reality glasses people will actually want to wear. If what’s happening in August is a sign of what’s to come this fall, it promises to be an eventful September at the intersection of fashion and tech.

WEARABLE TECHNOLOGY

 

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DIGITAL FASHION

Anyone doubting the importance of virtual goods needs to take a closer look at China and Nike right now:

  • This month, sales of Chinese digital collectables hit 150 million yuan (more than $219 million), and this number is expected to maintain a growth rate of about 150% in the next few years. In 2026, China’s digital collectables sales are expected to reach 15.112 billion yuan (upwards of $22 billion)
  • New data on the ROI of NFTs shows that Nike has made more than $93 million in revenue from selling virtual items

AVATARS

Avatars aren’t just fun and games, they’re big business, which may explain why Roblox has filed a copyright lawsuit over copycat avatars. Other brands including Blueberry and Tommy Hilfiger made strides in this space in August, while Genies launches their much-anticipated storefront:

 

NFTS

  • Meta will be extending NFT support to Instagram, allowing users to connect their digital wallets and share artworks they purchased while automatically attributing the artist.

 

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  • New York Fashion Week has launched NFTs in collaboration with digital payment platform Afterpay.

 

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AUGMENTED RETAIL

MARKETING

  • Virtual influencer Lil Miquela has been named the face of Pac Sun

 

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Don’t miss Electric Runway founder Amanda Cosco on stage at Elevate Toronto. Amanda will be interviewing Matt Bolivar, the retail vertical lead at Snap.

Pssstt… if you’re not following us on TikTok you’re missing out!

 

 

 

 

Amanda Cosco
Amanda Cosco is a Fashion Futurist and the founder of Electric Runway