Blog Post Three by Sofia Whitaker Tabet
It is funny to go back in time and remember that I actually missed the day that we were supposed to choose our Better Lives options at the end of last year, so I was initially assigned for Fashion Journalism, which was a course I had almost no interest in. I remember that during one of our lectures, professor Nick Almond was invited to teach us the principles of coding and we briefly talked and he invited me to watch one of his Emerging Technologies in the Fashion Industry Better Lives lectures that was happening the next day. I went, and I came back to the next one also and there he invited me to switch projects, because he saw I had a huge interest on what he was talking about. And I’m thankful for him to have invited me on the first place to participate but I am also thankful to me, that followed my wishes and believed that they were possible, and how, whenever I really want something, I always make it happen.
During our lecture, discussions and studies, the purpose of our project would be, through the themes of better lives in sustainability, diversity and social responsibility, to create a service that was either focused through B2B (business to business) or B2C (business to customer) and using some of the tools we have learned during the course, these being, coding with Python or the Blockchain system that alongside Data Science, serves for tracking supply chains or trend forecasting, based on Artificial Intelligences, with the help of websites that already do this service, such as WGSN or Google Trends. It could be either a simple mobile phone application or an innovative complex machine.
Firstly, individually we thought on possible business ideas that then were shared and voted for the most interesting ones. Using the SWOT analysis technique we would then choose the best one. Amongst the final ideas were the creation of a sustainable crypto-currency called Ecomoney, Think Sustainably an educational platform to re-educate people to think differently and to teach them how to do it, 3D eco-Printing (this was my idea) which was basically the creation of a circular system that was basically to utilize dead stock from fast big fashion brands, turn this clothes into new thread, use this to build new clothing that was designed on a 3D printer and the last and chosen by the majority as better option for final project, Vintage Trends.
For the development of the Vintage Trends project we created a pitch deck, that is, identifying the existing problem (what gap in the market is it filling) and then overcome it by creating a impactful solution. So, following this thinking process, we agreed that our problem statement was that the general public and small businesses don’t have access to trend forecasting systems that not only are expensive but also only focus on new trends, not old ones. Therefore our solution would be creating an anti-consumer Wikipedia of fashion trends for fashion enthusiasts (free/donation based, accessible). Where you can discover the value in your wardrobe and understand the weight and value of vintage trends and their history.