Malique Morris, Senior e-commerce correspondent at The Business of Fashion, dives into the evolving landscape of fashion tech. He discusses the shift from hype-driven startups to innovative solutions, driven by discerning investors seeking tangible results. AI's resurgence has sparked fresh excitement, with standout platforms like Daydream enhancing online shopping experiences. Morris also examines challenges faced by startups, including competition and user engagement, emphasizing that adaptability is key to transforming the industry.
27:56
forum Ask episode
web_stories AI Snips
view_agenda Chapters
auto_awesome Transcript
info_circle Episode notes
insights INSIGHT
Fashion Tech Boom Overview
The first fashion tech boom was dominated by DTC brands selling online rather than real tech innovation.
Now, the sector is shifting towards startups offering genuine technological solutions like AI-powered personalization.
insights INSIGHT
AI Revives Fashion Tech Investment
Investor interest revived due to real-world AI applications such as generative AI.
Startups like Daydream leverage AI to personalize fashion search and aim to revolutionize online shopping like ChatGPT did for the internet.
insights INSIGHT
Technical Founders Drive Success
Founders with deep technical expertise are attracting investors more than marketers posing as tech entrepreneurs.
Having founders who understand technology at a molecular level allows for efficient product improvement and reduces reliance on large teams.
Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode
After years of disillusionment with fashion tech, investors are once again excited about its potential, but with a very different mindset to the hype-fuelled boom of the last decade.
From AI-powered personal styling apps to virtual try-on tools and personalised search engines, a wave of start-ups is gaining traction – and big backing – by offering real technological solutions to long-standing fashion industry problems.
In this episode, senior e-commerce correspondent Malique Morris joins The Debrief to explore how fashion tech is finally growing up, and which companies are leading this more grounded, results-driven wave of innovation.
Key Insights:
In the previous fashion tech boom, investors were heavily investing in e-commerce startups with little true innovation. “DTC brands … positioned themselves as tech companies because they sold goods online, but there was nothing really revolutionary about them listing products on a website. And I don't know how investors didn't cop to that,” says Morris. Today’s backers are more discerning, favouring startups with clear technical roadmaps and founders who can evolve their product in meaningful ways.
Investor interest in fashion tech reignited thanks to the rise of generative AI. As Morris explains, venture capital had been sitting on the sidelines during a broader funding freeze, but AI’s real-world applications reignited excitement. “Startups like Daydream are building a platform for personalised search using AI tools from companies like OpenAI and Google, and they want to be the ChatGPT for fashion and be disruptive in the way that ChatGPT has changed how we use the internet,” says Morris. “What was once a dream is now closer to being tangible and investors want to be the first ones in on that.”
Today’s investors are looking beyond flashy pitches and prioritising founders with real technical know-how. “Something that is really separating the people who are just trying to raise money and not breaking through from those who are, are having some sort of technical experience, technical expertise,” says Morris. With the complexity of AI and other advanced tools, investors want to back teams that can build efficiently and with minimal lift. “They want to back founders who know what they're doing,” he adds.
While new fashion tech apps offer highly personalised experiences, their complexity may limit mainstream appeal. The question of scale is still unanswered: “There may be a billion people out there who want to do that… There may only be a million. We don't know that just yet.”
The Business of Fashion Podcast 