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In the Alternate Reality of Silicon Valley

BoF editor-in-chief Imran Amed recaps the week in the business of fashion.
U2 performing in San Jose | Photo: The Business of Fashion
By
  • Imran Amed

SAN FRANCISCO, United States — It is often said that technology is the new rock 'n roll. There was no better proof of this than the other night in San Jose, when U2 frontman Bono name-checked "Sheryl" (Sandberg of Facebook) and "Jony" (Ive of Apple) and "Laurene" (Powell Jobs, widow of the late Steve Jobs) during a concert, in the same way that we in fashion might refer to "Karl", "Miuccia" and "Marc".

Technology also played a prominent part in U2's show, with a huge double-sided screen running the length of the SAP Center arena, illuminated with striking animations and pop art-like renderings of U2's greatest hits. At times, the band performed within the narrow space between the two screens, becoming part of the animations themselves, to great effect.

Later, Bono asked the crowd: "What do you think? We're not afraid of tech. We like innovation," savvily playing to the local crowd, which most certainly included thousands of people employed in Silicon Valley’s ever-booming technology scene, which is experiencing some of the highest private company valuations in history, due to a surfeit of private capital — and a race to find places to invest it.

According to local reports, Uber's valuation jumped $15 billion within the space of one week, in its latest round of funding, to an eye-popping $50 billion, an unprecedented figure for a private company. Pinterest is reportedly raising money at a valuation of more than $10 billion, while Slack, the fast-spreading business productivity tool that is only about a year old is now worth more than $2.8 billion. According to Fortune magazine, more than 100 private companies are now valued at more than $1 billion. In Silicon Valley-speak, they are called "unicorns".

So how does fashion-tech fit into all of this? There are a few fashion "unicorns" amongst these high-valued startups (Global Fashion Group at $3 billion, Trendy Group at $2 billion, Warby Parker at $1.2 billion, JustFab at $1.1 billion and Farfetch at $1 billion). But, interestingly, none of these companies are based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Fashion barely makes a blip in the frothy world of technology in the Valley, and is certainly not an investment priority for most venture capital firms here.

Several fashion-tech entrepreneurs have said to me that investors here fail to understand the power, influence and scale of the fashion sector in their investment strategies. Because they don't understand it, they prefer to avoid it. Perhaps that is because fashion entrepreneurs have also failed to understand and employ technology when building new businesses — most of the fashion "unicorns" are really just traditional e-commerce companies, as opposed to technology platforms.

Fashion is a $1 trillion global industry still ripe for disruption, not just at the marketing and commerce front-end that touches the consumer, but all along the fashion value chain. And with plenty of money sloshing around, the opportunity is there. The question is, who is going to seize it?

Enjoy our top stories for the week gone by:

Does Fashion Need a Global Council?
A global organisation could solve key issues in the fashion industry, from scheduling conflicts to model health, argues Colin McDowell.

How Personal Shopping Makes People Spend
At the luxury level, personal shopping services make customers spend significantly more. How do these services work? And can they work on the high street?

Lad Mags: No Longer Just Sports, Cars and Sex
'Lad mags' like Maxim are moving away from their traditional cocktail of cars, sports, drinking and sex towards more sophisticated, fashion-conscious content.

China's Unlikely Invaders
Far from offering retailers a promised land of milk and honey, China's department store sector is clearly a troubled market. So why the surge in interest from foreign names?

The Great Mall of China
With two-thirds of Chinese luxury purchases now made outside mainland China, the whole world has become a Chinese luxury shopping mall. Who is benefitting most?

Stephen Galloway's Magic Touch
Courtesy of 032c, BoF brings you an exclusive profile on Stephen Galloway, a 'creative movement director' who guides models on how to move and pose, delivering moments of engineered serendipity.

Imran Amed Founder and Editor-in-Chief

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