Michael Bryzek, CTO and founder of Gilt Groupe, speaks to students on March 3 during "Fashion Tech: More Tech or Fashion?
Fashion Tech: More Tech or Fashion?
By Janice Weber
The newly launched Fashion, Arts, Media & Entertainment (FAME) Law Center, in conjunction with the Cardozo Startup Society, presented the first in the 2015 spring series of Fashion Law Talks: “Fashion Tech: More Tech or Fashion?”
With its strong entry into the digital world, the fashion industry—-and the many startups and innovative online businesses it has spawned—has not only weathered a deep recession, it has grown and prospered. Aaron Wright, Director of the Cardozo Tech Startup Clinic, opened the March 3, 2015 event: “What is driving that growth: Is it the technology? Is it the fashion? Or is it a combination of both?” The evening’s guests all play major roles in companies that have leveraged high tech, developed new and highly disruptive business models, and helped transform the fashion business from a garment center wholesale/retail model to a mobile app-driven, online, virtual fashion marketplace.
First up, Michael Bryzek, Chief Technology Officer and one of the founders of Gilt Groupe, a highly successful global online shopping company and the first “flash sales” company in the U.S. Described in the press as a viral marketing phenomenon, Gilt delivers a virtual version of a designer sample sale to millions of members world-wide through its mobile app.
Gilt CTO Bryzek was followed by a panel representing the stars of tech/fashion online marketing: Liz Bacelar, founder and CEO of Decoded Fashion, a global event series designed to connect fashion, beauty and retail with tech startups and established tech companies; Ariel Nelson, co-founder of Jack Erwin, a NYC startup designing and selling their collections of men’s handmade shoes “at fair prices,” direct to customers—online and at their Tribeca store in NYC; and Katherine Prime, VP of Operations for Spring, a New York e-commerce startup that gives customers access to some 100 brands (and growing) displayed on their virtual sales floor and sold direct to them through its app, named Apple’s iPhone Best of 2014.
After the discussion members of the audience—Cardozo Startup Society members, fashion designers, tech developers and coders, small business owners and entrepreneurs, lawyers and lawyers-to-be—were invited to chat one-on one with the panelists, a rare opportunity to share experiences and ideas with some of the brightest pros in the business.
