Madrid – Launched in 2021 as a start-up accelerator, and subsequently reconstituted as a true innovation hub, Desigual has just announced the opening of applications for the fourth edition of its "Awesome Lab" programme. This initiative will once again seek out emerging companies with the potential to disrupt and generate a tremendous positive impact on the future development of the sector, and on that of the Spanish multinational fashion company.

Among the main new features and unique aspects of this new edition is the shift in the company's approach to the open call, which is now aimed at all emerging companies interested in participating. Previously, in the 2023 edition, this open call was a secondary activity, subordinate to the company's own search for potential emerging companies to invite to the programme. For the 2024 edition, it takes centre stage, with an extended application period, open from 16 January to 20 April 2025. During this period, all interested start-ups specialising in technology, data collection and management, and artificial intelligence – Desigual’s key focus areas for this edition – can submit their applications. Desigual, once again in partnership with Wayra (Telefónica's investment arm for emerging companies), will review each proposal to assess the start-up’s suitability for the programme. For the fourth year running, “Awesome Lab” will aim to establish collaborations with the most disruptive start-ups and emerging companies with the greatest potential to contribute to disrupting and paving the way for the future of the fashion industry. Desigual encourages seed-stage and Series A start-ups to apply, and with the extended application window, they now have more time to submit their applications proactively. This change, according to the Spanish company, is a response to the "growing demand and interest experienced in previous editions".

In this new edition, "we are committed to expanding the impact of 'Awesome Lab' within the company and in the entrepreneurial ecosystem," emphasised Thomas Meyer, founder and chairman of Desigual, in a statement shared by the company. Through this new edition of the programme, and for the third year in partnership with Wayra, "we want to reach the start-ups with the greatest potential to bring innovation to the fashion sector and capture the most diverse projects.” He concludes, "'Awesome Lab' is one of the tools that allows us to improve our value proposition for customers and continue evolving our products and services through the values that continue to guide us: innovation and creativity.”

"At Wayra, we work to connect large corporations with the most innovative start-ups, and 'Awesome Lab' is the perfect example of how these collaborations can transform entire sectors," says Paloma Castellano, director of Wayra Spain. "Together with Desigual, we are promoting technological solutions that not only harness the power of data and artificial intelligence, but also reimagine the future of fashion.” She adds that this “alliance” “demonstrates how open innovation can generate a significant impact for both start-ups and established companies.”

With an “Open Call” and three “scouting sprints”

Looking back, during the last edition of “Awesome Lab 3.0” in 2023, the Desigual start-up acceleration programme was structured, as it will be in this fourth edition in 2024, with an “open” “Open Call” phase, which has now been reinforced, and three periods of exploration and analysis of the most innovative solutions emerging in the market, known as “scouting sprints”. These two phases of the same edition resulted in the analysis of more than 400 start-ups – over 300 during the “scouting sprints” and nearly 100 during the “Open Call” phase. This led to the commitment to launch four new pilot projects with four emerging companies selected from the 15 chosen for evaluation from the “scouting sprints”, and the six presented during the “Pitch Day” organised by Desigual, from the 100 submitted and evaluated through the “Open Call”.

As a result of these commitments, the four pilot initiatives undertaken in 2024 joined the 10 initiatives launched as a result of previous editions, with emerging companies that Desigual continues to monitor closely. They are evaluating the possibilities of extending commercial relationships with some of these start-ups, which they aim to scale through this acceleration programme. As mentioned, the programme is designed to identify new ideas and solutions with the potential to contribute decisively to the future of fashion and the Spanish company. To achieve this, Desigual not only has the "Awesome Lab" programme but also the "Create the Future" initiative, launched by its management team. The aim is for the multinational Spanish fashion company to become, within the next two years, a company capable of taking "full advantage" of the possibilities of data management and artificial intelligence to drive and create differential value within its operations, both creatively and in its management model. These are precisely the areas the company is expected to focus on in the three “scouting sprints” that will take place under the umbrella of this fourth edition of “Awesome Lab”, starting with the first one, which will focus “on marketing and the opportunities to accelerate and enhance creativity through AI content generation and asset management optimisation”.

“Over these three editions, we have developed our ability to identify and nurture cutting-edge technological solutions that help us improve in priority areas for the company, and for the sector in general,” says Juan Sánchez Ramirez, IT Governance & Innovation Manager at Desigual. “This puts us in a privileged position to continue accessing the most disruptive start-ups and offer them the knowledge, the human team and the international capacity of a company like Desigual to test their ideas and develop tools that can make a difference,” he points out. This process is "closely linked" to Desigual’s other "ambitious project", "Create the Future". This initiative, explains the management of the Spanish multinational fashion company, aims to "ensure that, within the next two years, Desigual is a data-driven company that takes full advantage of the possibilities of artificial intelligence." Opportunities have already been identified in "improving internal processes through automation and artificial intelligence", "integrating innovative tools for advanced analysis and creativity", and "the use of digital assistants".