DeFine

Fashion-Tech is an emerging sector resulting from the intersection and convergence of all stages of the fashion supply chain with disruptive technologies.
Since the early 2000s, the sector has been evolving from online fashion retail platforms and mobile apps through to today where we see technology enhanced wearable products integrating smart-textiles, flexible electronics, smart and biometric sensors, new uses in fashion for innovative materials such as graphene, immersive technologies and digital platforms used for showcasing and selling product, and advanced prototyping and smart manufacturing enhancing production processes.

This project has identified four main reasons/challenges that the European fashion industry faces for the adoption of new technologies:

1. Fashion start-ups & SMEs lack access to cross-sectoral networks and ecosystems are lacking
2. Many traditional fashion incubators and other support organisations don’t have the know-how or links to the technology sector
3. There is a lack of financier networks focused on Fashion-Tech
4. Lack of access to interdisciplinary skills and resources to organise and manage collaborations that can build on a wider shared cross-sectoral knowledge.

This project will deliver to specifically address these challenges and encourage the growth of an ecosystem to support the development of innovative European fashion start-up and SMEs.

The project specific objectives are:

• Develop a European network of Fashion-Tech business support organisations
• Develop a European Fashion-Tech Financier Network to support the growth and scaling-up of innovative Start-ups/SMEs
• Deliver 8 info days and 4 bootcamps for Fashion-Tech start-ups /SMEs
• Recruitment, selection and induction of 25 innovative SMEs/start-ups to take part in the two rounds of the bespoke mentoring programme
• Provide bespoke mentoring support to SMEs/Start-ups working on innovative Fashion-Tech projects
• Communicate and disseminate the project and its results
• Project management, coordination and monitoring
• Evaluate the impact of the project

Partners: 

• Politecnico di Milano (IT)
• Fondazione Politecnico di Milano (IT)
• University of the Arts London – London College of Fashion (UK)
• Institut Français de la Mode (FR)
• European Business and Innovation Centre Network (BE)
• Inkubatorn i Borås AB (SE)
• European Apparel and Textile Confederation (BE)
• Media Deals (DE)
• CEEI Burgos (ES)
• Cyprus Research & Innovation Center Ltd (CY)