Shows
Electric Runway PodcastEP 151: The Beauty of Success with Kendra Bracken-FergusonIn this episode, fashion and beauty futurist Amanda Cosco speaks with record-breaking entrepreneur, founder, and CEO Kendra Bracken-Ferguson. Kendra is a thought leader, founder, venture capitalist and the CEO of BrainTrust Founders Studio. She is someone who has witnessed—and been a part of—the changing landscape of digital media over the past decade. Her recent book “The Beauty of Success: Start, Grow, and Accelerate Your Brand” is a tell-all about how she built her business from scratch as well as a workbook for those who want to make things happen for themselves in the beauty industry and beyond. Kendra a...2024-06-2532 min
Electric Runway PodcastEP 150: How Soy Shows up in Fashion, Beauty and BeyondWhen we think of soy, we often think of candles or an alternative to milk, but what about the role the crop plays in the business of fashion and beauty? In the US, soy is second only to corn in crop size, and it's playing a significant role in transforming many industries. My guest today is Carla Schultz. She's a soy farmer from Michigan and a United Soybean Board Director, and she's here to tell us all about the links between soy, fashion, beauty, and beyond. This episode is sponsored by US Soy. To le...2024-03-1216 min
Electric Runway PodcastEP 148: This Startup is Spinning Seaweed into Fibre for the Fashion IndustryFrom leather grown from mushrooms to sequins made from plants, biomaterials is an exciting area of innovation that is projected to reach almost $50 billion by 2025. Briefly put, biomaterials combine science and technology to engineer new ways of producing materials. Biomaterials are rapidly gaining popularity with brands and consumers alike due to their ability to address the fashion industry’s urgent environmental and ethical challenges. Our guest today is Laura Hayes. She’s the Senior Brand Partnerships Manager at Keep Labs, a company that describes itself as a platform for innovation. They believe the ocean has the potential to ac...2023-12-1226 min
Electric Runway PodcastEP 147: Turning the Living Room into a Fitting room with Augmented RealityIn today's episode fashion and beauty futurist Amanda Cosco sits down with Heather Lipner, the Head of Product Design + Creative and Geenee AR. Geenee enables high-quality web AR virtual try-on for eCommerce and In-feed Ad experiences to increase sales conversions, reduce return rates and drive return on ad spend performance.Visit Electric Runway: http://electricrunway.com/Sign up for the Electric Runway Report on Substack: https://electricrunwayreport.substack.com/Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/15F6eMSFReREEp8fVgNA0L?si=62e6b01855c643acSubscribe to the Electric Runway...2023-11-0930 min
Electric Runway PodcastEP 145: Snap's Snapback: From Puking Rainbows to Enterprise EvolutionSnap has come a long way from puking rainbows. The company has been steadily developing its artificial intelligence and augmented reality technologies for years, and is now rolling out a B2B SaaS offering for retailers and merchants. ARES, or Augmented Reality Enterprise Services, enables clients to leverage Snap's 3D viewer, virtual try-on, and fit-finder solutions into their brand-owned apps and platforms. This suite of services is already reducing return rates, decreasing cart abandonment, and increasing purchases. In this episode, Fashion Innovation Journalist Amanda Cosco takes audiences to Snap's Partner Summit in Santa Monica, California for intimate...2023-05-1636 min
Electric Runway PodcastEP 144: In a World of Greenwashing, Modern Meadow is the Real DealAdvancements in science have opened up new possibilities for fashion manufacturing. One promising application of biotechnology in the textile industry is the development of lab-grown or "cultured" materials such as leather and silk. These materials are created by growing cells in a lab, without the need for animal agriculture or the use of harmful chemicals. By doing so, they offer a more sustainable alternative to traditional textile production methods, which often have significant environmental impacts. And, if you can grow proteins for making alternative leather, turns out there's other use cases too, including producing collagen for beauty products and s...2023-05-0228 min
Electric Runway PodcastEP 143: Smart Solutions For Sun Protection: Innovating Fabrics for the FutureWhen we think of smart fabrics, we often think of fabrics with sensors inside them meant to monitor our body's activity or temperature, but not all innovations in fabrication are digital. In fact, most of the time they're chemical. Today's guest on the Electric Runway Podcast is Fi Paziana, a Milan-based ex-investment banker-turned fashion designer who is launching her debut collection featuring a patented, lab-verified smart fabric. This fabric acts as a filter, protecting the sun from harmful UV rays while still allowing UVB rays through in order for the body to produce Vitamin D. This fabric is a...2023-04-2519 min
Electric Runway PodcastEP 142: Fashion Beyond the Boarders of Reality: In Conversation with The Fabricant's Amber Jae SlootenBy now, we're all a little weary of talking about digital fashion, and the trend has certainly seen its peak in the hype cycle of emerging technology. By digital fashion, we're talking about fashion that exists only digitally and not physically, and is meant to be worn on social media, on platforms like Zoom, and inside games. Our guest today is Amber Jae Slooten, the co-founder and creative director of the Fabricant. The Fabricant is a fashion studio that collaborates with brands and communities to design digital-only items that can be worn on avatars and in augmented re...2023-03-2921 min
Electric Runway PodcastEP 141: Virtual Showrooms for Fashion | In Conversation with Emperia VRDuring the pandemic, retailers and brands had to transition quickly to digital to continue to do business, and the fashion industry was no exception. A number of brands like Puma and retailers like Selfridges experimented with virtual showrooms—which are defined by Shopify as: an innovative solution that lets brands and retail buyers engage and sell products through an online platform. It replaces physical showrooms and trade shows, eliminating the need for a physical location and physical samples to show new collections.It's important to note that virtual showrooms aren't just about virtual reality, they're als...2023-02-2226 min
Electric Runway PodcastCreating a New Reality for Fashion: The Dematerialised and Web3 Virtual GoodsIf you’ve been following fashion innovation for the past year, it seems you can’t open up Instagram or read an article without hearing about The Dematerialised. And probably for good reason. The brand is on a mission to create a new reality for fashion through experimentational collaborations and campaigns involving digital lifestyle assets, including digital outfits, accessories and footwear. Recently, the company teamed up with contemporary designer Rebecca Minkoff to offer a number of fashion NFTs. They also partnered with Twig, a FinTech platform and Certified B Corporation to allow people to exchange fashio...2022-06-2819 min
Electric Runway PodcastHow a Festival Fashion Brand Turned to Digital Wearables and NFTs to Stay Relevant During the PandemicThey say that necessity is the mother of invention, which may explain why a crop of emerging fashion designers who were just starting out at the onset of the pandemic were able to innovate the way they reach their community in a Web 3 environment.My guest today says that her brand is not about the clothes, but that the clothes are an entry point into the brand, which is all about harnessing the imagination. Other entry points include augmented reality filters, digital wearables, and collectables that share the same aesthetic sensibility. Anya Ayoung-Chee is the f...2022-06-0830 min
Electric Runway PodcastCan eCommerce be a Metaverse Experience?Our guest today is Christine Marzano, a fashion-tech entrepreneur who just raised $5.6 million in funding for her startup BODS. She counts celebrities and activists like Karlie Kloss as investors. BODS is on a mission to transform online shopping into a personalized and immersive experience that's inclusive and fun. She shares how her background as a model and working in the film industry in Los Angeles led her to bridge visual effects with image processing to create an eCommerce experience that feels like magic. The Electric Runway Podcast is brought to you by ThreediumLearn more about o...2022-05-2418 min
Electric Runway PodcastThis Rihanna-Backed Startup is using Machine Learning to Innovate FitThere is no shortage of software trying to serve the fashion industry, but few products really understand the industry itself. A crop of startups throughout the world are all trying to solve the problem of fit when it comes to shopping for apparel. If you’re a regular listener to this podcast, you know the challenge of fit is something we’ve talked about again and again and will likely continue to talk about until one company dominates this category. Fit matching tools—that is, tools that help shoppers find their size in apparel items when shopping in-store...2022-04-2820 min
Electric Runway PodcastMerging Style and Science to Optimize Tailoring for the Modern WorldHere’s a question for apparel retailers: how do you close more sales with shoppers and ensure they don’t return the items they purchase from your store? Answer: make sure they’re happy with the experience and the product they ended up with. For a long time, an easy way luxury department stores and some high-end retailers ensured customer satisfaction was by offering free tailoring. But with more people shopping at different locations and even shopping online, how can tailoring be optimized for the modern world? Enter Hemster, a tailoring business that merges style and science to brin...2022-04-1318 min