The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Apple Is Back to Being the World's Top Wearable Maker (TechCrunch)
"Apple is once again the biggest selling producer of wearables after its third-generation Apple Watch helped it pip China's Xiaomi to the post. The device is the first from Apple that connects to the internet without being tethered to a smartphone, and took the US mobile giant to 3.9 million shipments in Q3."
Poshmark Raises $87.5 Million, Partners with Amazon on Personal Styling Service (The Business of Fashion)
"A user of peer-to-peer marketplace Poshmark with an Amazon device, such as an Echo or Dot, can make a verbal request, which is routed to a handful of Poshmark sellers who will drop shoppable outfit suggestions into the customer's account, based on customer data and the stylist's aesthetic."
Alibaba's AI Fashion Consultant Helps Achieve Record-Setting Sales (MIT Technology Review)
"Developed by a retail-focused research team within Alibaba, FashionAI — which links chips in clothing to styling screens in the changing room — helped Alibaba generate record Single's Day sales of $25 billion. The technology, installed in 13 stores in China, could help it reinvent offline retail using AI."
For Amazon, the Future of Alexa Is About the End of the Smartphone Era (Fast Company)
"Instead of making users wade through apps to get things done, the goal is to create a simpler and less distracting kind of computing. If Amazon is successful, Alexa could siphon time and attention away from smartphones, in the same way that smartphones have made the PC less relevant."
The Future of Getting Dressed: AI, VR and Smart Fabrics (CNN Money)
"From artificial intelligence and gadgets to smart fabrics and virtual reality, technology is poised to breathe innovation into not only how we dress but how we shop. The most recognisable example is Amazon's Echo Look, but other new entrants are revolutionising how consumers dress."
The nature of livestream transactions makes it hard to identify and weed out counterfeits and fakes despite growth of new technologies aimed at detecting infringement.
The extraordinary expectations placed on the technology have set it up for the inevitable comedown. But that’s when the real work of seeing whether it can be truly transformative begins.
Successful social media acquisitions require keeping both talent and technology in place. Neither is likely to happen in a deal for the Chinese app, writes Dave Lee.
TikTok’s first time sponsoring the glitzy event comes just as the US effectively deemed the company a national security threat under its current ownership, raising complications for Condé Nast and the gala’s other organisers.