Decoded Fashion returns to Milan for 2014

The British start-up going by the name Viewsy stepped on to the winners' podium in Milan yesterday. They were announced as one of the winners and awarded ten thousand euros by “The Fashion Pitch”, a contest held by Decoded Fashion.

After previously being hosted in New York and London, the competition landed in the Italian fashion capital. The winner, who was chosen by the public via Twitter, was the Italian start-up company Xyze. They have developed new technology to improve clothes fitting by using an electronic bracelet that takes measurements.

In other words, Milan had its debut as an incubator for high-tech fashion related projects, which according to the protagonists of the fashion system can find a practical application sooner than expected. For instance, Renzo Rosso, owner of Diesel and Chairman of Otb, immediately declared that his love of technology was born and bred within his companies. E-commerce makes up about 6 percent of revenue now for this company.

“I've always used technology to bring together managers and employees and to share information. Now we are able to track garments. We are working on Avatars, we are working on clothes in 3D. We can create ‘the Asian fit’, ‘the Brazilian fit,’ as if they were real. Prototypes are already coming out 100 percent finished”, said Rosso. He added, “three years ago I said that all my companies should become iPad-dependent. The beauty of the web is that if you communicate digitally, you cannot lie; you have to build a relationship with the customer. I am active on all social media”, said the Diesel boss, arguing that technology and the use of the web can also be a lever for the Made in Italy brand. “I am an advocate of Made in Italy. With the C.a.s.h. project we are helping a lot of companies”. C.a.s.h., an acronym meaning Facilitated Credit Suppliers Help, is the project, which was born last July out of the alliance between the Otb-Staff International group and Ifitalia, BNP Paribas Group. The agreement enables Otb suppliers to access credit at an interest rate of about 2.5 percent. To this date, it is still unknown how many companies have applied and which have been approved; Otb Head Office are only saying: “a lot of them”.

So the funding projects are Italian as ever, at least in origin, with many of the labels being Italian on which another e-commerce company has built its success. “There are 721 products by Fendi on Farfetch. We are allowing plenty of room for Italian talent to grow, we have brands such as Marni and Etro. We believe our mission is to offer the best creators”, said José Neves, founder and CEO of the London based company started in 2008, which is currently one of the leading marketplaces for boutique.

The next edition of Decoded Fashion is planned for 22 October 2014 in Milan

It is precisely e-boutiques and e-showrooms, as well as any systems which can facilitate e-commerce, that the contestants of “The Fashion Pitch” wagered on. “Over 100 applications received and 7 finalists”, explained Francesco Bottigliero, CEO of Fiera Digitale, who organised this year's Decoded Fashion, along with Pitti Immagine, in partnership with Tecnamedia (the next edition is set for 22 October 2014, again in Milan). The start-up also paid a great deal of attention to all mobile transactions, which came no surprise. “I think we have to understand how the customer behaves. Many want to purchase on the move. We have been working on the interactive capability of apps”, said Sarah Watson, Group Mobile Manager of the Net-a-porter Group.

Isabella Naef