New York, NY (PRWEB) February 07, 2013
Next Thursday, Feb. 14, Zac Posen, Candy Pratts-Price, and Foursquare will come together for the first tech event to ever hit the runway at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. The Decoded Fashion Forum & Hackathon Finale will feature top executives from Rebecca Minkoff, Michael Kors, Swarovski, Google, and Tumblr, as well as the top five ideas from the worlds first Fashion Hackathon, held last weekend in New York City.
The Decoded Fashion Forum, held from 10am to 2pm, aims to merge the worlds of fashion and tech, and showcase emerging technologies from around the globe that strive to address specific challenges in the fashion industry. The event includes an unprecedented crossover of Fashion and Tech including a Zac Posen interview by WIREDs Editor-in-Chief Scott Dadich. The full speaker lineup can be found at nyc.decodedfashion.com.
The event is also the finale of the worlds first Fashion Hackathon by Decoded Fashion, a 24-hour event with 550 registered and 78 competing teams held at The Alley NYC on Feb 2-3, 2013. About 300 hackers – 40% women – participated in a variety of projects.
There are endless possibilities for technology in fashion, but they are unexplored. The merge of the two is not just about fashion needing tech. It’s also about tech understanding the real pain points of the fashion industry and developing the best solution,” says Decoded Fashion founder Liz Bacelar.
At 11:20am, the five top teams will present their ideas on the runway. The judging panel features CFDAs CEO Steven Kolb, Style.coms Dirk Standen, Fashion Designer Zac Posen, Rebecca Minkoffs CEO Uri Minkoff, and Gilt Groupes Chairman Susan Lyne. The winning team will receive $ 10,000 and the chance to have its app launched by the CFDA.
“The Decoded Fashion Hackathon was a groundbreaking event where hundreds of incredible ideas, thoughts, and plans to accelerate the fashion industry were shared, said Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, Decoded Fashions Executive Producer and CEO of SWW Creative. As the Decoded Fashion Forum & Hackathon Finale is fast approaching, we are beyond excited to showcase the five incredibly talented finalist teams from the Hackathon who will undoubtedly pave the way for the future of fashion and technology.”
The five finalist teams are:
42: personalizing the brick and mortar experience by way of best online commerce;
Avant-Garde: matching products with customers by visually analyzing products and social media streams to understand exactly what they want right now;
Coveted: a 1-click platform for brands to sell their products through shareable Tumblr images;
Fashion Dashboard: commerce optimization through competitive social media and merchandising analysis;
SWATCHit: a P2P platform connecting global designers with emerging market artisans and overseas producers.
Decoded Fashion will partner with Rightster for the event to enable a live stream of the finale on nyc.decodedfashion.com. The stream will be available across the web to engage fashion and tech fans globally. Media can access the stream to embed on their sites here: http://rightster.com/videos/decoded-fashion-hackathon-awards-live.
ABOUT DECODED FASHION
Decoded Fashion is the first event series connecting the worlds most innovative startups to Fashion, Beauty & Retail forerunners. Decoded Fashion was conceptualized and launched by Liz Bacelar to accelerate innovation at the intersection of fashion and retail. The first Decoded Fashion forum was launched in April 2012 at Lincoln Center, with the support of the CFDA. It brought together over 600 attendees from 220 different brands. This past November, the event was launched in London with the support of the British Prime Minister’s Office and an audience of 350 attendees from over 200 brands.
Bacelar works closely with tech communities around the world to connect the best new technology from emerging startups and established companies with leaders in Fashion & Retail. For more information, visit decodedfashion.com or follow us on Twitter @DecodedFashion.
Her partner, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff was the Inaugural Director of Fashion for Lincoln Center, acts as a Fashion Consultant to IMG Worldwide, and is widely recognized for her contributions to the American fashion industry. Wolkoff is also the founder of SWW Creative, a new agency that provides innovative collaborations within the spheres of fashion, beauty, sports, entertainment, and technology. SWW Creative forges personal and professional relationships across global power industries; advising brands, companies, and individuals as they seek to build advantageous ventures and superlative initiatives.
ABOUT COND