What we learnt at the 2023 Vogue Business Technology Forum

This article on the Technology Forum is part of our Vogue Business Membership package. To enjoy unlimited access to Member-only reporting and insights, our NFT Tracker and TikTok Trend Tracker, weekly Technology and Sustainability Edits and exclusive event invitations, sign up for Membership here. The dust is settling after a big year in fashion tech. Brands embraced the metaverse, released NFTs and trialled new ways to incorporate technology into customer touchpoints in store and online. Now, at a pivotal moment, startup founders, fashion and beauty executives and investors are regrouping to take stock of what they learned and what comes next. All of this and more was discussed at the Vogue Business Technology Forum on Thursday, 11 May. Across a series of conversations with speakers including Coach CMO Sandeep Seth, Syky founder Alice Delahunt, OTB Group’s Stefano Rosso, Farfetch’s Carol Hilsum and more, on how technology is shaping the way they interact with customers and operate internally. Vogue Business Members can revisit each session below. Keynote: Coach CMO Sandeep Seth on the role of tech in brand-building In this keynote conversation, Coach CMO Sandeep Seth spoke to Vogue Business’s senior innovation editor Maghan McDowell about his strategy for success, which relies less on old-school KPIs and more on new measures of success, such as engagement time and search interest. A key philosophy, he says, is to extend brand storytelling across platforms in a way that is appropriate to the medium and integrated into wider campaigns, rather than as standalone ideas. “Technology doesn’t come first. What comes first is consumer behaviour, and understanding how consumers live their lives.” Read the full recap here. Keynote: Syky founder and CEO Alice Delahunt on fostering the next generation of design talent During this in-person interview with Vogue Business’s McDowell, Syky founder and CEO Alice Delahunt shared her vision for the digital fashion startup and what she has learned in the months since launching. She discussed how earlier roles in digital innovation at Burberry and Ralph Lauren informed her understanding of digital trends and culture; pivotal moments include when Instagram and the iPhone democratised access to the fashion industry, and a 2020 pilot between Bitmoji and Ralph Lauren was a “proof of concept” of the value of digital fashion. “Digital worlds are real. They are as real as physical worlds,” she said. “It’s really important that the fashion industry understand this fundamental technological revolution, as well as the culture.” Further on, Delahunt shared why investor Alexis Ohanian was at the top of her list when she began fundraising, and how the “traditional” concept of storytelling in fashion still translates into the future. “Any product you have, it’s not so much about the product itself, but the narrative you have around it,” she said about her early Syky experiences. She acknowledges that it’s still early for this new medium, but called for both fashion and Web3 communities to abandon the shortsighted, siloed thinking about who is talented and what can be fashionable. “For the next wave of adoption, it’s really important that we move beyond the group that is Web3 and digital fashion now. We need to expand our horizons to bring new people in,” she said. Going forward, a key goal is for Syky to continue expanding its community; this includes welcoming people who might not have been early adopters of digital fashion or Web3, helping digital fashion talent build skill sets and platforms and facilitating awareness among existing brands. “The creators will come out as some of the biggest creators in the world,” she said, “and the next wave of adoption comes from major brands being adopters of Web3. I think it’s a win-win for everyone.” Virtual clienteling: The long game In this panel, Neha Singh, founder and CEO of 3D virtual stores platform Obsess; Christine Marzano, founder and CEO of 3D clothing try-on tech provider Bods; Christopher Aidan, VP of innovation and emerging technology at The Estée Lauder Companies; and Christina Czap, co-founder and CEO of luxury sales software provider Seer, joined Vogue Business’s McDowell to discuss the technologies offering an alternative to traditional e-commerce. For one, the virtual store strategy is shifting, says Singh; now, brands are seeing them as “always-on” experiences that are updated regularly, because dwell time and average order values from virtual stores can be larger than marketplace-style websites. Obsess research has found that both gamified prompts and avatars can increase time spent and the likelihood of making a purchase. In the future, Singh predicts more personalised experiences, which could be tailored on demand to suit customer preferences. Personalisation is a major theme in virtual clienteling. Czap shared how luxury sales associates are using Seer internally to both scale personalisation efforts and capture data on how high-end customers are interacting with associate-provided content. Marzano shared how brands can personalise the virtual try-on experience through Bods, which borrows from gaming technology to digitally dress customer-created avatars in photorealistic 3D product renders, which can in turn be used in virtual stores or in augmented reality. AR also helps aid in both purchase decision and brand loyalty, said Aiden, who provided a background look into the genesis of Estée Lauder’s new voice-enabled makeup assistant app. In addition to personalisation, a major theme for these new tools is working toward consumer-friendly experiences. Obsess has recently introduced a self-service solution for its virtual store customers, and Seer is designed to be as easy to use as social media. “Many fashion customers are not gamers, and we need to make the technologies we put in front of them easy to use,” Marzano said. “You don’t want tech to scare them away — you want it to enhance their experience.” Investors and infrastructure: Building the next stage of the internet The “metaverse winter” may be here, but investors and founders are busy building under the hood. In this panel, Vogue Business’s US reporter Maddie Schulz spoke to both to find out what’s working now. To Farfetch’s senior director of product innovation Carol Hilsum, who heads up the company’s Dream Assembly Web3 accelerator, the question for startups is: how can the technology enhance digital luxury experiences? “We’re very much built on the belief that the entire luxury industry can benefit from supporting this next wave of early-stage builders and tech companies,” she says. Charles Hambro, CEO and co-founder of metaverse insights platform Geeiq, agrees — and wants to help brands measure their increasing engagement in these virtual spaces. Because metaverse projects as a PR move alone won’t stick anymore, according to Hambro. “As we are moving away from ‘ticking the metaverse box as we want to look innovative’ and budgets are moving away from innovation and into marketing, these metrics have to be properly understood and monitored.” Investors are watching, and they’re keen, despite a downward turn in VC dollars, according to Winnie Lau, vice president at investment firm Blocktower Capital. “Bear markets like this lead to some of the best companies being built,” she says. Lau is focused on the ways in which fashion and culture can lead the charge and steer adoption of frontier technology. As metaverse and Web3 startups continue to build amid the bear market, AI has moved to the front and centre of public consciousness. Brands should be opting-in now to achieve value in the context of what they’re already doing, according to Andrew Wyatt, CEO and co-founder of supply chain management platform Cala, which recently implemented AI into its platform. “Is this here to stay?” he asks. “Absolutely.” Shifting NFT strategies: From collectibles to CRM In 2022, the NFT hype cycle hit its peak and brands opted in. Now, both Web3-native and traditional fashion are looking beyond one-off drops to the ways NFTs can be used to offer consumers utility and build community. It takes time to get it right, says Stefano Rosso, board member of OTB Group, which owns brands including Marni and Maison Margiela, and founder of experimental gamer-focused brand D-Cave by Diesel. For the latter, they adapted Diesel’s strategy based on the shortfalls of its first drop, he tells Vogue Business’s Maddie Schulz. “It was kind of harsh, but it was a good learning curve for us to understand that, when you approach the Web3 community, you need solid Web3 processes.” To this end, Web2 brands are best off working with Web3-native companies, Rosso and Alo Yoga CMO Angelic Vendette agree. The intricacies of blockchain tech call for the expertise, Vendette says — and partnerships win brands respect within the Web3 space, Rosso adds. This is key, since community is at the centre of Web3 projects. Founder of Web3 platform Try Your Best (TYB), Ty Haney, who previously founded Outdoor Voices, wants to harness this to help brands achieve more direct community engagement. “I left the OV experience knowing that the direct to consumer model is not direct,” she explains. “Compared to direct-to-consumer, this is a better business model: leveraging blockchain [technology] allows brands that are structurally reliant on ad platforms today to have a more productive and efficient model.” Consumers don’t need to be privy to the tech to engage. At TYB, the focus is on value-creation, and the user journey is simple and familiar. Alo took a similar approach for its Aspen collection, opting not to leverage NFT or degen jargon for its digital twins, Vendette says. In addition to adding NFT-tied experiences to physical products, Web3-native companies such as Nick Adler’s Mntge are using the tech to manage physical product rollout. For now, the NFC-chipped denim tracks provenance, authentication and ownership. But, the brand is looking forwards. Adler asks: “How do we get more experiential? How can we mix the physical and digital world together?” To receive the Vogue Business newsletter, sign up here. Comments, questions or feedback? Email us at feedback@voguebusiness.com.

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