On September 7, the 7th Worldwide Talks took place with over 60 speakers from different parts of the world. The event welcomed an online global audience with talks about technology, innovation, diversity, sustainability, and more.
Jordana Guimarães, our Co-founder, opened the event by highlighting the importance of connecting people and improving the industry. In addition, Jordana shared how 2022 was such a big year for Fashinnovation with a collection with YesAnd, the 1st Miami Talks with the launch of The Fashion Forward Fund, and the new Fashinnovation Ventures.
This edition also addressed some of the industry’s issues, where it needs to improve and people making a difference. Conversations were tailored around functional clothing, inclusive businesses, Gen Z, Web 3.0, metaverse, menswear, community and content creation, the business side of fashion, fashion law, retail, wholesale, fashion law and more.
Keep reading to learn about all the panels and discussions held on the 7th Edition of the Worldwide Talks!
7th Worldwide Talks
Fashion Is Meeting Sustainability on a Large Scale
The first panel at the 7th Worldwide Talks welcomed Roberto Funari, CEO of Alpargatas/Havaianas. The discussion was moderated by Leisha Chi-Santorelli, News Desk Editor of On-The-Day, BBC UK & Foreign News Content.
Roberto Funari started with an inspiring insight on how bringing an emotional connection to a brand is important. “Havaianas is a brand that has an enormous affection with consumers,” he said.
Havaianas is a Brazilian brand of flip-flop sandals created and patented in 1962. In the event, Roberto Funari said they are more than 30 percent bigger than at the beginning of the pandemic.
Fashion Is Endeavoring Towards Real Inclusivity
“Inclusivity champion” is how Catarina Carvalho, the Founder of Mensagem de Lisboa, described Samanta Bullock, Founder of SB Shop, Co-owner of London Represents &100 Most influential Disabled People UK.
Samanta is also a former number 1 wheelchair tennis player on the Brazilian national team. She was a model before the accident and by looking around the industry, she started thinking about changing it through inclusivity.
“When we change live people through fashion, I am going to be changing my life as well,” she shared on our 7th Worldwide talks.
Fashion Is Raising Awareness of Functional Pieces & the Disabled Community
For sure, the fashion industry needs improvement regarding functional pieces and acknowledges that people with disabilities are very different from each other.
In this edition, Fashinnovation focused on highlighting even more the disabled community. Ana Carolina Dalcolmo, an Influencer and Social Media Expert was able to moderate this amazing panel that talks about inclusivity in the fashion industry.
The audience was inspired by the experiences of the incredible ladies Madison Lawson, a Fashion Journalist & Model, Isabella Marie Duarte-Crespo, the founder of HiddenUnderwear and Erica Cole, the CEO and Founder of No Limbits.
Fashion Is Seeing a World of Possibilities Through Glasses
Caito Maia is the founder of a Brazilian glasses brand and always points out the power of wearing Chilli Beans. With Chloe Melas, Entertainment Reporter for CNN, the talk was a lesson for those who want to make a significant impact in the industry with innovation and personality.
In Brazil, Chili Beans don’t have any competition and Caito explains that by how they work in the retail world: “We created a business with a very strong personality. That is something that makes the difference.”
Caito Maia also shared with the global audience that you can find a way in social media to tell your brand’s story and use that to grow in the market. “We use it (social media) a lot and we see small companies that became big because they found a way to do storytelling through social media.”
Fashion Is Supporting Local Business Through Entrepreneurship
Moishe Mana is the Founder & CEO of Mana Common, a platform for urban revitalization and community building. Aligning with Fashinnovation ideas, this talk was special for highlighting local businesses and their impact on the market.
Moderated by Jennifer Ortakales Dawkins, the Senior Reporter on Insider, the global audience was able to learn about Moishe Mana’s story in the entrepreneur life, and how his creations started impacting the industry.
The entrepreneur shared incredible insights on building a community and supporting local entrepreneurs. “We must help these fashion designers to build and create,” he said. Moishe also stated that “fashion is just like art” and it is important to look way further at what is in front of us.
Fashion Is Creative & Innovative Menswear
Spencer Phipps, the Founder of PHIPPS, and Armando Cabral, Founder of Armando Cabral, talked with Lucy Maguire, VOGUE Business’ Trends Editor. At the 7th Worldwide Talks, they both shared their path in the industry as creators in the menswear market.
A relevant topic of this panel was the definition of masculinity. According to Spencer Phipps, “the conversation on masculinity or gender as a whole has evolved. We are not the same 1950s ‘I am a man’. You can be a girl, you can be a boy, you can be queer, you can wear a dress in a masculine way… Is an interesting conversation to bring into that space.”
In addition, Armando Cabral spoke about gender in the menswear market. Besides being a man-focus brand, he said: “In terms of our design, they are very timeless (…) it can be gender diverse. Men or women can wear our shoes. But it is something we don’t advertise.”
Pitch Competition
As you already know, the 7th Worldwide Talks is a place to celebrate and give space for innovators. On this edition of the Pitch Competition, six founders presented their companies and ideas to a panel of three judges: Stefano Galassi, Julie A. Evans and Jacqueline Blackburn.
The competitors were:
- Online shopping platform Online shopping Kisse;
- Market Intelligence platform OpenWardrobe;
- A platform for considerate consumers to discover & have a say about the sustainability efforts of their favorite brands All Things Considered;
- Mody, a Software Development that provides innovative and customizable shopping experiences based on the body size of your customers;
- StyleSearch, a search engine that lets you find and shop the same and similar-looking items that influencers wear on Social Media.
And among them, the winner of this edition was ZERO10, an AR fashion platform providing innovative tech solutions for brands entering the digital world.
Fashion Is On-Demand Production for a Sustainable Future
Ronen Samuel took the stage for 15 minutes to change people’s mindset on how innovative Kornit Digital can be. The company is writing on demand the operating system for sustainable fashion and textile production.
Kornit’s CEO said that “currently, brands need to plan at least six months out to meet consumer demand. Kornit shortens that cycle to a few days, changing the equation of supply and demand.”
This topic started as an extremely detailed lesson and continued as a panel, guided by journalist Jade Scipioni. The global audience could learn how Kornit enables innovative applications and other features of its services.
Founded in 2003, Kornit Digital is a global company with offices in the United States, Asia-Pacific, Europe, and India. “Our way, the demand comes first, and then you meet it, all while unleashing creativity. And you can do it locally, nearer to the consumer”, shared Ronen Samuel.
Fashion Is Transforming Jeans into a Storytelling Art – Ian Berry & Jordana Guimarães
When you do what you love, people can see it and get impacted in a deeper way. Ian Berry is an artist making incredible work only on denim jeans. He cuts up thousands of pieces of recycled denim and makes photorealistic pieces.
Denim production uses a lot of water and it’s also a damaging pollutant. Ian’s sustainable work is a way to transform potential waste into storytelling art, improving how we preserve our planet.
Fashion Is Fighting For What’s Right: Black Lives Matter
“My career is more of a calling.” Fashinnovation was pleased to have the Award-winning Human Rights Advocate and co-creator of Black Lives Matter Ayo Tometi who made sure everyone left the event as a different person.
Black Lives Matter started out as a chapter-based, member-led organization whose mission was to build local power and to intervene when violence was inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes.
At the 7th Worldwide talks, Ayo emphasized the importance of fighting against anti-Blackness in every pillar of our lives. She shared: “The movement for justice is not only related to the education system, or the justice system but about all institutions in our society, and it includes fashion.”
Ayo Tometi and Morgan Evans from Vanity Fair also spoke about the fashion industry issues and how the fight hasn’t ended yet. After all, racial and social issues come in a long and complex historical way. “Paying fair now doesn’t exclude the lack of paying in the past. There is a long way to go.”
Fashion Is Creating an Innovative, Disruptive & New Media
It may be cliche, but it can’t be more real: “You have to be yourself and never give up,” said David Fischer in the panel with Fashinnovation’s Head of Content Júlia Vilaça. The talk was about Highsnobiety, which unites community, content and commerce, and its creativity in fashion content creation.
It wasn’t supposed to come out as a business as David Fischer shared. “It (Highsnobiety) was really just me playing around with this blog that I created and then being surprised by about hundreds of people shortly after coming to it and reading it every day.”
David Fischer also highlighted their commitment to supporting young talents and “always being into support the next generation (…). Highsnobiety is a destination to be kept ahead of the curve.”
Fashion Is The Business Side of Retail & Wholesale
Lauren Cooks Levitan, the CFO of Faire, and Laura Ganoza from Foley shared their knowledge on this panel moderated by Author, Founder and CEO of Retailu April Sabral.
They both told the audience their perspectives on retail and wholesale, with the pandemic’s impacts and the clients’ behavior. “One of the issues is companies still trying to adjust to a changing marketplace,” said Laura Ganoza. Foley & Lardner LLP provides award-winning business and legal insight to our clients.
Lauren Cooks Levitan also shared what she was facing in her business. “Companies are looking their way to grow their business (…). They are looking for ways to find new customers. We hear them asking, ‘how do we reach a larger audience?’ And that’s one of the things we focus on.”
Faire is an online wholesale marketplace built on the belief that the future is local — there are over 2 million independent retailers in North America and Europe doing more than $2 trillion in revenue.
Fashion Is An Exceptional Customer Experience
Every company needs to know how to effectively support its customer, and technology can help with that. Stephanie Rae Bateman is Strategic Partner Manager at Gorgias, a company that builds a multi-channel helpdesk integrated with e-commerce merchants’ back-office.
The panel was moderated by Christine Hall, an entrepreneurship reporter at TechCrunch. They both provided a talk with lots of information about consumers’ needs and leveraging support to increase sales.
Stephanie Rae Bateman shared how the company works to be innovative in this sector. She said that copying and pasting text for customer support is a bit outdated, and Gorgias does it differently. “If anyone reaches out, it will create a ticket. You will be able to see that order information and any other apps that you have integrated.”
She also shared that they have some really exciting features like “machine learning, that can detect the sentiment of social media comments. (…) This is really helpful for marketing teams.”
Fashion Is Stylishing The Gaming World
The 7th Worldwide Talks sought to deliver the biggest insights and perspectives on internet innovation and Web 3.0. And that’s what this panel did. In addition, this talk addressed how fashion permeates the real world and makes us create identities in the game world.
Moderated by the Senior Strategist and Partnerships of Area 17, the talk emphasized the power of the game and fashion connection. Just like Joost Alferdinck, Chief Product Officer of Dtail by PixelPool, said “nowadays fashion brands are really embracing these technologies and seeing the benefits of it.”
The CEO of Zepeto Jay Lee firstly shared his toughs on the definition of fashion: “It is about expressing yourself through wearables.” He continues and talks about stylishing in the game world: “The game characters or avatars (…) are not wearing around naked. You gotta wear something. The expression of fashion kinda goes into the gaming environment as well.”
In fact, Gary Plunkett, Chief Commercial Officer of Dtail by PixelPool, emphasized how fashion can leverage things and take vantage of the digital environment. “A 12-year world will not be able to afford a high fashion look in the physical world but in the digital, for a fraction of the cost, you can dress your avatar in a very avant-garde way. That’s super interesting.”
Fashion Is Biotechnology & Innovative Materials
The industry is increasingly innovative when it comes to new materials and biotechnology. On the 7th Worldwide Talks, Sophia Wang, the Co-Founder & Chief of Culture of MycoWorks, told the brands’ story and their work using Fine Mycelium.
“It is an interesting path for artists for sure,” Sophia Wang describes how they work prioritizing quality, art and creativity. Lisa Kesselman is the Assistant Coordinator Center for Continuing and Professional Studies of FIT and moderated the panel.
The panel was a conversation full of key information about the company’s innovative processes and how they grew and gained space in the market. “We’ve had essentially non-stop demand and interests and our mission as a company is to grow so we can meet the demand that we are seeing with this material.”
Fashion Is Bringing Eco-Conscious Values Into a Scalable Mode
“Sustainability and inclusion should be something should that everyone thinks about no matter where they are set in the organization and what their role is,” said Rohit Burman, the Vice President of Sustainability and Inclusion of Calvin Klein. This panel teaches how big companies work or can better implement this culture.
Moderated by Alexandra York, an Entrepreneurship Reporter from Business Insider, they both discussed the importance of educating on diversity and eco-conscious values. In addition, Rohit Burman talked about his role and how Calvin Klein promotes these values from within the organization.
Fashion Is Spreading Purpose & Sustainable Values
Steph L Dickson is the Founder of Green Is The New Black & Co-Founder of UNTAM3D. She moderated this panel, highlighting how values and purposes are implanted in the fashion industry. The talk was about promoting ethical practices in business models and production processes.
Just like Aarav Chavda, the Founder of Inversa Leathers said, “for us is all about starting with positive input and managing the entire ecosystem. (…) We like to think of ourselves as moving beyond just sustainability. (…) To do that, you have to look at the entire ecosystem.”
Katina Boutis, the Director of Sustainability at Everlane shared her insights on the opportunity for innovative actions through sustainability. “Fashion industry has the ability to change on a cultural level.”
Fashion Is Solutions & Innovation
Chico’s FAS is a company of three unique brands – Chico’s, White House Black Market and Soma. This panel brought together these different perspectives and ideas to teach about innovation across different pillars in fashion.
Tijana Ibrahimovic moderated with 3 experts from these brands. We had Holly Wilson, Vice President of Concept & Design at Soma, Melloney Birkett, VP of Concept & Design at Choco’s and Danielle Konotop, VP of Design & Concept at WHBM.
Fashion Is Aligning Technology & Sustainability in a Scalable Way
Ben Conway is the Co-Founder & COO of VNTANA and Tracey Mancenido is the Director of Digital Product Creation at Tommy Hilfiger NA. Together with Martina Fuchs, a Business Journalist at Xinhua, they shared insights on clothing production, digital improvement and their commitment to sustainability.
Ben shared the next big tech trend: “I am super excited about what’s gonna happen in 3d advertising next year.” VNTANA is a first-of-its-kind 3D Infrastructure Platform that makes 3D accessible across all platforms.
And when asked about the future of 3d advertising, virtual fashion and the intersection of technology in the sector, Tracey Mancenido said: “The reason why fashion is so important to us is because it is a contract for identity and self-expression. We have already started to create different versions of ourselves in social media (…) I believe virtual fashion is going to play a huge role.”
Fashion Is The Second-Hand Market
“I have been wearing second-hand all my life,” shared Lucy J Norris the founder of Secondhand Styling UK. It is efficient when you know the purpose is to minimize unnecessary production of waste.
Together with the Executive Director of Fashion Revolution Brazil and Sustainability Editor of VOGUE Brazil Fernanda Simon, they shared the necessity to contribute to the circular economy.
“Even today, there are many consumers that are overwhelmed by the position of where the planet is. We know it’s not good, but where do we start?”, said Lucy J Norris. This talk permeates all the characteristics and impacts of the second-hand market. In addition, it presents, in a critical and detailed way, the future of it.
Fashion Is Technological Platforms For a Traceable Supply Chain
Luca Tonello is the General Manager of Dedagroup Stealth & CEO of Zedonk. “The matter of having a technology platform is that you have all the data,” he addressed. In this talk, he shared his story in the business and how his platforms work aligned with a better and improved supply chain.
Besides that, the panel also discussed the issues of evolving supply chain management and the tech platforms’ solutions to it. Alyssa Hardy is a Fashion Journalist and Author of Worn Out: How Our Clothes Cover Up Fashion’s Sins and moderate the talk.
Fashion Is Haute Couture & Artistic Luxury
“Haute couture is becoming not only wearable but also very much an installation.” This is how Syrian-born designer Rami Al Ali started the panel on our 7th Worldwide Talks. According to Rami Al Ali, haute couture is becoming even more artistic.
The designer spoke to the audience about his creative processes, his connection to fashion and much more. Moderated by Marie Driscoll from Coresight Research, Inc., the panel was enriching to understanding the intersection of art in luxury fashion.
Fashion Is the Transcendent & Transformative Power Beyond Clothes
“Rejection is God’s protection” is Anna V’s mantra. The model and Wellness Expert shared her knowledge of how the colors and textures we wear reflect on our personality and mood.
In addition, the panel, moderated by Internet Culture Reporter of Buzzfeed Steffi Cao, was important in providing insights into how fashion is empowered. This talk was important to teach the audience about finding your personality and understanding yourself.
Fashion Is Community, Inclusion & Engaging Content
This edition sought out leading experts to educate the audience on different subjects.
TikTok is a social network for sharing short videos that have generated an immeasurable impact in recent years. In this panel, CeCe Vu, Lead at Fashion & Beauty Partnerships at Tiktok, and Courtney Neal from Kyra Media talked about content creation, engagement and audience.
In this talk, CeCe Vu talked about the creative side of the business world and how she always wanted to work in the creative field. So with a broad eye, she could see the opportunities to work in fashion. In addition, she shared: “Tiktok is a home to a huge amount of joyfully content.”
Like this article? Then don’t forget to read this one: Web 3.0: How to Innovate in the 3rd Generation of the Evolution of Web Technologies?
