California Apparel News

With the lightning-fast pace of Web technology, developing applications one day can become dated the next. So what can companies do to stay ahead of the curve?

A group of experts gathered together at the Coloft workspace in Santa Monica, Calif., on June 13 for the “FashionCampLA: The Impact of Technology on the Fashion, Apparel and Retail Industries” conference to discuss emerging Web trends and technologies in the areas of retail, e-commerce, marketing, public relations and technological fabrications, among other topics.

“People are used to Facebook, Twitter and blogging. So what’s next?” said event organizer Macala Wright Lee of digital fashion marketing website FashionablyMarketing.Me (www.fashionablymarketing.me). The conference discussed “how to put together the pieces of what’s next as far as technology goes and how certain things have evolved and what’s going to take hold in 12 to 24 months,” Wright Lee said.

The event—whose sponsors included websites Mashable, Clashe.com and Ustream; beauty brand Lamik Cosmetics; and online sewing community BurdaStyle—featured talks from Philip Warbasse, chief executive officer of multimedia firm Warbasse Design; Matt Szymczyk, chief executive officer of interactive marketing agency Zugara; Crosby Noricks, senior marketing strategist for online marketing agency Red Door Interactive and founder of PRCouture.com; author and “fashion technologist” Syuzi Pakhchyan; Darryl Jung, chief executive officer of online lookbook community Clashe.com; and Christina Gagnier, intellectual-property attorney and partner at Gagnier Margossian LLP, as well as Internet and new-media attorney Lisa Borodkin.

Attendees at the conference included Forever 21, American Apparel and XCVI Clothing; marketing firms Elle Communications and Gorgeous PR; Web startups MyNines.com and SenseofFashion.com; and local fashion bloggers. Wright Lee said another conference is in the works for August.Here are a few highlights from the conference:From QR to augmented reality

Warbasse opened the conference with an introduction into the emergence of QR (Quick Response) code technology, which is predominantly used with mobile devices such as smartphones. A QR code is a two-dimensional barcode that can be applied onto various forms of media such as print publications, product packaging and digital media. QR codes are then scanned by cameras found on smartphones and then read by a QR reader to take the user to a mobilized web page often featuring exclusive or enhanced content.

Warbasse described how QR code technology could be used to integrate marketing and bridge the gap between print and digital media. He identified its value in the marketing front to keep users and customers further engaged. He provided examples of apparel brand Polo Ralph Lauren and designer Norma Kamali both conducting QR code campaigns at the retail level in which customers who scanned codes received special discounts or found information that went beyond the bricks-and-mortar stores.

While QR code technology is still in its infancy, Warbasse forecasted that by the holiday season this year, consumers will see more of these types of QR code campaigns, and by next summer it will reach a social tipping point in North America.

Szymczyk then discussed the growing adoption of augmented reality. Augmented reality is real-time technology that often overlays the physical world with virtual computer-generated imagery that is often triggered through an indicating marker held up to a webcam or sometimes even via mobile devices.

Szymczyk discussed how augmented reality is used in advertising campaigns and product placement to retailing with in-store kiosks and e-commerce. “It’s really the future of how you’ll interact with digital information,” Szymczyk said.

Szymczyk focused on how augmented reality can enhance the e-commerce experience and make it more in line with the offline social shopping aspect. “Online shopping has been very static and utilitarian in terms of very text- and image-based with no interactivity or emotion coming from the site or product itself,” Szymczyk said.

Zugara, along with product-recommendation platform Rich Relevance, developed the Fashionista fit tool for San Francisco–based e-tailer Tobi.com, in which a shopper can interact with a product by seemingly “trying it on” through augmented reality and sharing products with friends via Facebook.

But Szymczyk warned against trying to force the technology on a company’s branding initiative. “Lead with a strategy before the technology to make sure it makes sense for your brand or product,” Szymczyk said.

Szymczyk predicted that the augmented reality will soon involve the absence of a printed-out marker at all and will rely more on facial- and body-recognition software. Social interaction

Noricks offered her take on what growing trends can be applied toward a digital public-relations strategy. Noricks emphasized the presence of the ubiquitous fashion blogger and how her voice has become even stronger and how brands can maintain integrity and authenticity over the Web.

“We have come back to the original meaning of public relations, which is about the public, and one of the great things about working with social media is that brands are having to be accountable and transparent and available to their consumers in a way that they haven’t before,” Noricks said.

Noricks talked about how brands are enlisting bloggers as influencers and bringing them in as part of the conversation—whether as editors, stylists or guest bloggers. She described Los Angeles brand American Apparel’s successful campaign of utilizing the users of personal style community Lookbook.nu to create advertising content. Tech meets fashion

Pakhchyan focused her message on gazing into the future of wearable technology.

The self-described “fashion technologist” and author of the book “Fashioning Technology” explored the methods in which designers, artists and companies are developing smart fabrications and integrating electronics with embedded code and information directly into garments themselves.

“We’re creating the future of fashion today, so it’s an opportunity to create new relationships and experiences with each other by creating interesting garments that can be networked and also create a new understanding of our environment,” Pakhchyan said. “Once we take something that is intangible and once we visualize it, how will that affect our behavior and our choices? These sorts of projects are changing the relationships to our environment and also to our material world.”

Pakhchyan gave an example of the Nike+ wearable technology in footwear that can measure and monitor a runner’s pace through a sensor and Neighborhoodie, which developed an urban gaming project that combines interactive fashion with the game of tag with a hoodie that lights up and senses physical touch.

These types of functionalities bring an aspect of mobile and interactive social software with wearable technology, according to Pakhchyan.

Pakhchyan believes that the sporting industry will be one of the first to adopt future wearable technologies because it has maintained a tight relationship with high-tech textiles and research, specifically in the applications of monitoring biometrics and improving performance.

Next up, Jung addressed the technical tools available for companies to develop branding that is on par with their offline presence. Legal issues

Closing out the conference, Borodkin and Gagnier addressed a range of legal topics regarding trade-dress law, copyright infringement, privacy laws and the benefits of trademark registration, particularly in terms of Web domain-name usage.

Borodkin highlighted the recent decision by the Federal Trade Commission for amended guidelines that are geared toward bloggers. Fashion bloggers now must disclose if they are gifted products by companies to avoid customer confusion on pay-for-play endorsements.

“The government is recognizing the value of blogging and the authenticity of bloggers with a real grass-roots audience,” Borodkin said.

Wright Lee described the conference as “merely a starting point in an education session in things that [companies] should be watching and learning about now, so as [new technologies] rise, they’re better prepared.”

“The fashion industry is catching on a lot quicker to [technologies such as] mobile, geo and augmented reality and the next wave of marketing outlets than they were to social media,” Wright Lee said. “Start thinking about it now and eventually incorporate it into your own marketing strategies.”