The Future of Fashion is Currently Being Disrupted by Students at London College of Fashion, UAL, Powered by Microsoft
Unlocking Innovations Across Microsoft Mixed Reality, AI, and IoT While Empowering Today’s Talent to Transform the Industry of Tomorrow
London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London is continuing its collaboration with Microsoft to inspire the next generation to rethink, redesign and revolutionize the future of the fashion industry. Leveraging Microsoft’s cutting-edge Mixed Reality, Artificial Intelligence, and IoT technologies and LCF’s industry-defining mentors, selected students were invited to participate in a semester-long intensive course that culminates in a final showcase of their prototypes this June.
Following the success of the inaugural Future of Fashion Incubator program in 2018, LCF is running a new program to explore the role of emerging technology in fashion innovation. This year’s initiative, Accelerating the Future of Fashion, takes a more focused approach, challenging students to develop actionable businesses built on Microsoft’s most forward-thinking products. Students were invited to pitch their proposal to a panel of technology and fashion experts for potential inclusion in the mentorship and development program, from which six student teams were selected to participate and develop functional prototypes under the guidance of LCF and Microsoft mentorship. Off the back of the final presentations at the showcase this June, one team will be given the unique opportunity to continue refining their project with a Research and Development trip to the Microsoft campus in the United States.
“Last year we put Microsoft’s cutting-edge technologies into the hands of our students and the results created such extraordinary interest across the fashion industry, we felt compelled to deepen the collaboration”, says Matthew Drinkwater, Head of Fashion Innovation Agency, London College of Fashion, UAL. “This year, by building scalable ideas across Artificial Intelligence, Mixed Reality, and the IoT, Microsoft and London College of Fashion will showcase a road map towards truly digital fashion and retail businesses. We are incredibly excited to be working with Microsoft again on a project that is clearly demonstrating the impact that emerging technologies will have on the future of fashion education, the future of retail experience, and the future of fashion design.”
The prototypes within Accelerating the Future of Fashion pose ambitious new solutions for the fashion industry through the intelligent application of Microsoft technologies like Mixed Reality, IoT, and Artificial Intelligence. From responsive activewear that pairs Microsoft HoloLens with wearable sensor technology to aid athlete rehabilitation, to zero-waste patternmaking that applies Microsoft Azure Cognitive Services to eliminate waste in clothing production, the students at London College of Fashion, UAL, are once again redesigning traditional creation and application methods for a more functional fashion industry of tomorrow.
“For the second year in a row, we are blown away by the creativity and invention of the students at London College of Fashion' says Maruschka Loubser, Director of Brand Partnerships and Campaigns, Microsoft. With the fashion industry evolving at an incredible pace, the ambition of the relationship with London College of Fashion and the Fashion Innovation Agency is to empower students with the tools necessary to innovate and disrupt the fashion industry, and create lasting impact across design, retail or sustainability using technology.”
Students will unveil their final works during a special presentation on June 4 at Old Spitalfields Market, open to the public from 8:30am with an invitational media event commencing at 6:30pm.
For more information, please contact VOCAL or visit www.microsoft.com/inculture/london-college-fashion.