Maeve Millwood, ideaXme fashion ambassador, interviews Matthew Drinkwater, Head of Fashion Innovation Agency, The London College of Fashion.
Maeve Millwood writes:
As head of the London College of Fashion’s Innovation Agency, Matthew Drinkwater stands at the crossroads of fashion, technology and retail, working hard to converge the three for the better of the fashion industry as a whole.
“In a nutshell, the college has given myself and the team a remit to go and explore emerging technologies and how they impact the fashion industry. Specifically, we look at any emerging technology that changes the way that designers either make
their collections…or the way they show their collections.”
London Fashion Week
Honing in on the latter, Fashion Week has always made for an excellent testing bed for Matthew and his team. Back in September 2014, they were able to use the event to showcase a fibre optic dress that the agency collaborated on with the late Richard Nicoll.
Inspired by Kate Moss and the simple elegance of the slip dress silhouette, Richard and the Innovation Agency created an item labelled by Forbes as “the first example of truly beautiful wearable tech.”
“We wanted to create that moment of desirability, and begin to build an emotional connection to the garment. One very highly powered LED created this incredible silhouette. The moment it went down the catwalk at Fashion Week was quite extraordinary; it felt like a really big moment where technology could genuinely intersect with fashion.”
Innovative Collaboration
Though Matthew recognises that a fibre optic dress will always be a niche item in the world of fashion-tech, its production allowed him to highlight the importance of collaboration to the industry, which he strongly believes needs to be more open to innovative collaboration – no matter where that may come from.
“That co-creation mentality is what allowed us to build something truly special…let’s be more open to the kind of voices that we could be listening to.”
Microsoft and The London College of Fashion
Continuing on that track, Matthew’s team ran an incubator with Microsoft and LCF students last year in order to give them the tools to begin creating and designing in a new way.
“If you want any new generation to come out and have the skillset to build new experiences, they have to be exposed to technology.”
Fast closing the gap he felt was a lot wider when the Innovation Agency was first formed over six years ago, the team will run another incubator with students this year with the same aim in mind. As an avid gamer and someone who spent part of his early career in Japan’s technology boom of the nineties, it’s clear that Matthew is passionate about tech.
When questioned on whether he sees any downside to an increased use of it in the industry, he responds, “No, I genuinely don’t. I think it’s a reflection of where society is at. That any industry can feel separated from technology, to imagine that it sits aside from what you do on a day to day basis is traditionally what this
industry has done, but it is something that is enabling entirely new ways of creating.”
Sustainable Fashion
The massive upside to an increasingly tech-enriched industry are the quantum leaps that can be made in making it more sustainable.
“A more intelligent fast-fashion model is inevitable…the way in which fast-fashion is currently produced is incredibly damaging…there is far too much discounting on the high street and that is based on an industry that is simply guessing how much it might sell year to year. There is a smarter way to do that and the advancement
of robotics into the supply chain is going to allow for production much closer to market, for retailers to understand their consumer so much better that they’ll be able to produce what consumers want, when they need it.”
The Future of Fashion Technology
Jump forward ten years from now and Mathew has promising predictions for the future of the industry.
“You’re going to see a much more personalised experience, more bespoke, on demand. On a more overarching, technological viewpoint, there will be a digital layer to everything around us. The way that we access that could be through a
mobile device, could be through a pair of headphones or glasses, but that is the technology path that we will see. The AR cloud will be all around us and that will allow us to create really extraordinary moments through immersive experiences.”
Even sooner than that, Mathew highlights that product sample wastage could be reduced with the use of 3D technology.
“Getting designers to virtually prototype would be a hugely positive thing for the industry to adopt; it would cut out so much wastage in the supply chain.”
Finally, when asked if he thinks the fashion world is gearing up adequately for the shake up to come, Matthew responds, “No, not enough. This is where particularly universities and what we do becomes important. To raise awareness and get
people moving in that way.”
Clearly, Draper’s assessment of Matthew as a “fashion-tech trailblazer, changing
the course of retail” was not an understatement.
Credits: Maeve Millwood interview video, text and audio interview.
If you liked this interview, be sure to check out more from Maeve Millwood, like her interview with sustainable jewelry designer Matilde Mozzanega!
Follow Matthew Drinkwater on Twitter: @drinkmatt
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