The launch of AFC FashTech Lab (FTL) 2.0 was held today at University of Technology Sydney.
Style Atlas is proud to have played a central role in developing the inaugural FashTech Lab programme in 2022 and is excited to collaborate with our FTL partners and participating brands to continue the success of this unique programme. The partners that have come together to make FTL possible include the AFC, City of Sydney, SME@UTS the other tech partners; Bandicoot Imaging, Couture CAD and Ponz Studio. FTL 2.0 will include the following participating AFC member brands that will be guided through the implementation of our digital sampling workflow over the coming months; Country Road, Jac+Jack, The Upside, Manning Cartell, Iordanes Spyridon Gogos, Liandra Swim and Ihraa Swim.
Attendees of the launch were welcomed by Andrew Parfitt, UTS Vice Chancellor and President; Leila Naja Hibri, CEO of the Australian Fashion Council and Councillor (Waskam) Emelda Davis from the City of Sydney and the event MC'ed by Dr Lisa Lake, Director - Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Fashion & Textiles.
The launch featured a panel discussion moderated by FTL project lead Tracey Hamilton and including, Violeta Tentomas, Founder of FTL 1.0 participating brand West 14th; Annette Dockerty, Program Lead SME@UTS and Style Atlas' own Founder & CEO, Pete Smit. The group discussed the findings and key experiences of all the stakeholders in FTL 1.0 and the opportunities that the digitisation of the sampling process represents for the industry.
Guests where then invited to view a selection of the digital samples created during FTL 1.0 in the amazing Data Arena facility at UTS. An immersive and interactive presentation of the these digital garments, in larger that real life, was made possible through the Data Arena's impressive technology and helped emphasise the potential of digital sampling for all the attendee's.