NYFTLab (New York Fashion Tech Lab) is an innovative and community-driven business development program. We sat down with Jackie Trebilcock, the Managing Director of NYFTLab to discuss customer behaviour and the future of retail.
NYFTLab is a non-profit organisation with a focus on catapulting the leaders of innovative fashion, retail and tech and provide them with mentoring and workshops. Taking place every March-June, NYFTLab takes part in a competitive process to select six to ten entrants in the final program. Founded in 2014 by Springboard Enterprises and key retail leaders, it holds a focus on women-led companies. NYFTLab acts as a launching pad for emerging tech companies who have developed ‘innovations at the intersection of fashion, retail, and technology’.
Since the inception of NYFTLab in 2014, many things have transformed throughout retail. What have been some major changes in the program since its launch?
“New York Fashion Tech Lab launched in 2014 as one of Springboard Enterprises’ industry sector programs, with the mission of engaging fashion and retail leaders in what is known as the Fashion Capital. As NYC’s premier business catalyst program for emerging tech innovators, we began to receive an influx of requests from interested applicants and new partners spanning from Russia, Singapore, China, Paris, London, Switzerland, Tel Aviv, as well as other major cities in the U.S., allowing us to expand our recruitment and selection of entrepreneurs and brand partners globally,” Jackie Trebilcock said.
To be a part of the NYFTLab, six to ten women-led companies are selected by your participating partners and receive the opportunity for mentorship among other benefits. What does NYFTLab look for in applicants?
“One piece of criteria for applicants is that the company has either a female founder, co-founder or senior team member who has decision-making responsibilities and an equity stake in the company, comparable to the rest of the management team,” she explained. “Once the applicants are identified, the selection process begins for companies that are considered ‘market-ready’, meaning their product or service is already in use with customers in beta and is ready to deploy. Our fashion and retail partners look for companies they can work with to innovate and complement their impact, with the intention of hopefully integrating into existing systems and processes.”
What does the NYFTLab process look like?
“The Lab runs for 12 weeks annually from March until early June each year. Recruitment for the program takes place the prior year in October, after which the reviewing process of applicants begins in November,” she said. “This year’s application opened Oct. 7, 2019, with a deadline of Nov. 15. A number of selected finalists are invited to interview with our partners each February, in order to decide which companies will be selected for the program. NYFTLab will then announce the selected lab companies along with their 2020 fashion and retail partners to the general public in early March.”
The next NYFTLab program takes place in March. What can we expect from the 2020 event?
“Each year The New York Fashion Tech Lab works closely with our partners to target new, innovative solutions to advance and push the industry’s traditional boundaries forward. We focus on recruiting, qualifying and catalysing companies whose innovative approach to creating solutions and services have the potential to address an area of friction experienced by our retail brand partners, and ultimately consumers,” Ms Trebilcock said. “As the program has evolved, we are seeing a greater influx of companies and their developments that may not have been created for the fashion industry but do have an impactful solution that could be applied. Our search for promising innovations in 2020 has expanded to reach global markets, with the intention being to engage our fashion and retail partners with the most ground-breaking innovators worldwide.”
The full article read on the PowerRetail
改变时尚和科技：与NYFTLab 的问答(Power Retail)
NYFTLab（纽约时装技术实验室）是一项创新的、社区驱动的业务发展计划。 我们与NYFTLab 的董事总
经理 Jackie Trebilcock 坐下来讨论了客户行为和零售业的未来。
NYFTLab 是一个非营利性组织，致力于发掘创新时尚、零售和技术领域的领导者，并为他们提供指导和研
讨会。NYFTLab 于每年 3月至 6月举行，它引入了竞争程序，以选拔 6至 10 名最终方案的参赛者。它由
Springboard Enterprises 和主要零售领导者于 2014 年创立，专注于女性主导的公司。NYFTLab 是新兴
技术公司的启动平台，这些公司产生了“在时装、零售和技术碰撞而出的创新”。
自 2014年 NYFTLab 成立以来，整个零售业发生了许多变化。自推出以来，这个项目发生了哪些重大变化？
“纽约时装技术实验室于 2014 年启动，是 Springboard Enterprises 的行业部门计划之一，其使命是让
时装和零售领导者参与所谓的“Fashion Capital”。作为纽约市针对新兴技术创新者的首要业务催化剂计
划，我们开始收到来自俄罗斯、新加坡、中国、巴黎、伦敦、瑞士、特拉维夫以及美国其他主要城市的有
兴趣的申请者和新合作伙伴的请求。这使我们能够在全球范围内扩大招募和选择企业家和品牌合作伙伴的
机会，” Jackie Trebilcock 说。
要成为NYFTLab 的一部分，你的参与合作伙伴会选择六到十家由女性领导的公司，这些公司将获得接受
指导的机会以及其他好处。 NYFTLab 在申请人中寻找的点是什么？
她解释说：“对于申请人而言，一项标准是，公司拥有女性创始人、联合创始人或高级团队成员，他们具
有决策责任，并拥有与公司其他团队相当的股权。一旦确定了申请人，就会开始对被认为具有“市场准入”
条件的公司进行甄选，这意味着他们的产品或服务已经在 Beta 版中与客户一起使用，并准备实施。我们的
时装和零售合作伙伴正在寻找可以与他们合作的公司，以创新和补充其影响力，以期希望与现有系统和流
程整合。”
NYFTLab 过程是什么样的？
从每年的三月到六月初，实验室每年运行 12周。该计划的招募工作于上一年 10 月开始进行，之后，申请
人的审查程序将从 11月开始。” “今年的申请于 2019 年 10 月 7日开始，截止日期为 11 月 15日。每
年 2月，许多入围决赛的入围者将被邀请与我们的合作伙伴进行面谈，以确定将为该计划选择哪些公司。
然后，NYFTLab 将于 3月初向公众宣布选定的实验室公司及其 2020 年时装和零售合作伙伴。”
下一个NYFTLab 计划将于 3月举行。我们对 2020 年活动有何期待？
“每年，纽约时装技术实验室都会与我们的合作伙伴紧密合作，以寻求创新的解决方案来推动和推动行业
的传统界限。我们专注于招募、鉴定和推动公司，这些公司的创新方法能够提供解决方案和服务来解决我
们的零售品牌合作伙伴乃至最终消费者所遇到的问题。”Trebilcock 女士说。 “随着计划的发展，我们看
到越来越多的公司及其发展涌入，这可能不是为时尚行业创建的，但确实有可以应用的有效解决方案。我
们在 2020 年寻求有前途的创新的业务已扩展到全球市场，目的是让我们的时尚和零售合作伙伴与全球最
具突破性的创新者合作。”
The full article read on the PowerRetail