This past weekend, Denimbro presented Denimbruin: Celebrating denim & workwear designed and Made in California. A three day event. It.Was.Awesome. And, Saturday night’s invite only event at AB Fits in SF, was a highlight of how fashtech is accelerating community building, production, and retail.
From July 27 – 29th, Denimbro hosted a series of events highlighting denim designed and made in California. But what really struck your admittedly denimhead correspondent is the fantastic growth of the community because of advances in technology.
Yes, the workwear on display was handmade using good old fashion machinery and sweat. But the design-centric and customization movement is being driven by technology that allows consumers to learn about brands/designers, connect with other denimheads, and generally build a community. Put simply, technology is allowing designers to engage with consumers at a level never before seen that will transform the off the rack business model. Not to mention discovery, curation, and even production, since tools and materials are easier to acquire.
Saturday night’s invite only event at AB Fits highlighted the intersection of fashion and technology. There were designers and representatives from Rising Sun, Mister Freedom, Jack/Knife (Nick I’ll see you soon!), Tellason, Taylor Stich, and even Blue Blanket from Italy. Also there were the community builders, Styleforum, DS Lite, and of course, your’s truly for SF Fashion+Tech.
The explosion of the global denim community highlights the importance of technology and community building. Yes, technology opens up new ecommerce channels. And yes, technology allows conversions and user profile tracking. But technology also increases the ability to share knowledge, learn about new brands, and build communities. Check out Sam’s blog, if you can read Chinese: blog.sina.com.cn/blubluu.
As designers learn how to leverage these new tools. And, equally important, as entrepreneurs learn how to build better tools for designers -cough cough, entrepreneurs go engage with the community you are trying to help! – lifestyle focused communities and affinities driven business models will only grow. In the fashtech space, where fashion = expression. And, expression = changing preference profiles. Community building technologies will continue to increase in importance.
So besides the event being awesome. Tip of the hat to denimbro. Entrepreneurs should look to these spaces to learn more about communities and target audiences. Oh, and for those that keep saying “men don’t like to shop.” Well, this was a men’s targeted event, with men wearing denim that was customized, unique, handcrafted, and often much more expensive than off the rack. For those entrepreneurs there, it was exciting and full of opportunity.
I can’t say it enough: awesome event. Thank you to Denimbro and all the brands that participated.
A few shots in case you missed it.
