Smiley has partnered with streetwear brand DB Berdan for a new apparel collection.
Debuting at this year’s London Fashion Week, the Self-Love Club line takes references from the male-dominated world of sports clubs and turns them into a gender-inclusive activity. The collection aims to honor LGBTQ+ people in the sports industry such as Greg Louganis and Stella Walsh.
“Smiley continues to be the standout brand for upscale collaborations in licensing,” says Michaela Fass, vice president, fashion, Smiley. “All embracing and diverse, the Smiley has become the de facto icon of global counter-culture and a symbol of the ongoing symbiosis between fashion and music worlds. We are proud to partner with DB Berdan, who are creating highly innovative streetwear collections that spread an important message of diversity and inclusivity.”
Self-Love Club apparel showcases silhouettes inspired by the late ‘80s and early ‘90s hip hop and rave culture, scenes where Smiley frequently appeared. Collection highlights include cotton ‘80s bat sleeved button-up shirts and basketball shorts that turn into skirts. All items in the line incorporate authentic environmentally friendly prints created by DB Berdan.
Smiley has continued to play a key role in fashion over the years. Most recently, the brand partnered with Italian sports fashion brand Ellesse for a new collection.
Hasbro and Super Heroic have announced a licensing agreement to launch NERF-branded kids’ apparel and footwear this August.
Designed for active play, the NERF x Super Heroic collection is an update to its lead footwear. The TMBLR v2 will launch with two new colors, and the collection will also introduce a brand-new silhouette titled the JMPR v2 in two colors featuring a new alternative closure with elastic laces and a toggle system.
The footwear styles are rounded out by an apparel collection featuring gender-neutral tops, joggers and t-shirts. The products will feature collaborative branding and individual pockets and compartments designed to hold NERF products.
“The power of this collaboration rests solely in the alignment of our shared values and the importance of our collective missions,” says Jason Mayden, chief executive officer, and co-founder, Super Heroic. “As a child of the ‘90s, NERF represents the apex of immersive, active play. It represents the freedom and wonderment of childhood that imbues us all with a sense of unrestricted creativity and limitless potential. We are honored and excited to partner with NERF to launch a collection that reminds us all, that if we can play together, we can live together.”
Super Heroic’s line will be available at select Foot Locker and Kids Foot Locker stores and online.
Sport-inspired collection for women launches ahead of Opening Day 2019.
DKNY is launching a new partnership with Major League Baseball.
The new sport-inspired collection – launching in time for Opening Day 2019 (which this year takes place on March 28) – promises a ‘modern, feminine edge’ and features all 30 MLB teams.
The range includes DKNY Sport favourites such as the sneaker dress, coach’s jacket, cropped hoodie and leggings, all co-branded with MLB teams.
To bring the collaboration to life, DKNY will host a VIP launch event in partnership with MLB on March 28.
We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten. Don’t let yourself be lulled into inaction – Bill Gates
The combination of artificial intelligence (AI) and collaborative robotics has the potential to change the world. AI unlocks entirely new capabilities for robots, which, without AI, are rigid and unresponsive to the world around them. We were able to spot many real life applications at the intersection of robotics and AI. This edit is a recap of some of our observations.
Lead innovations in retail will start to happen in the area of mass public consumption. By keeping a close watch here, you will be future-aware and get future-ready.
#1 Robotic Cocktail/ Mixologist
Cooking is an art for chefs, and when a mixologist readies a glass of drink to meet the customer’s expectations and satiate his thirst, it’s both art and science at play. Watch a robotic mixologist in action here or click the image.
#2 Shop Comes Home
Why go to a shop when the shop can come to your door step. A smart combination of Cab Hailing, Self-Driving Car and Shopping all in one. Watch this innovation here or click the image below.
#3 Robotic Pharmacy
From prescription to tendering the medicine, this robotic pharmacy is fully self-serve. With digitisation of the medical system, this explodes the possibility of using data to improve both the doctor’s diagnosis and future prescriptions. You can watch this innovation here or click the image below.
#4 Offline Retailing Personalised to One
With a face scan, pick up a self help scanner and start your shopping. As you scan an item, contextual offers, promotions, marketing messages pop-up. Complete your shopping, check out with your wearable. This is retailing to the level of one which best of companies are able to practice online now, coming to offline soon. You can watch this innovation here or click the image below.
Here is an unmanned store concept. Enter with your Face ID, shop and keep moving.
#5 Localised Automation
Automation need not be at the scale of a Store. This innovation is a clear example of automating one process, for eg., Check-out scanning. One of the key issues in bar code based scanning is many bar codes are not readable and there is plenty of time wasted and customers have to wait. This 3D scanning machine with computer vision can recognise the products irrespective of where the bar code is and even if the bar code is missing (using the image and text on the packaging). You can watch this innovation here or click he image below.
#6 Computer Vision: Possibilities
Computer vision provides machines, the cognitive capabilities which helps machines now to do a lot of skilled jobs at scale. The following possibilities are covered in the video below
a) Object Identification b) Weapon Detection c) Character Recognition d) Personality Identification e) Violence Detection f) Emotion Detection g) Drowsiness detection
You can watch this innovation here or click the image below.
#7 Smart Wall
This is a see throughsmart screen which can be fixed in malls or retail stores with a camera right on top. As the people walking by stop there, they will get personalised recommendations of brands and products. They can interact with the screen and shop. The walls collect information on the people who came using the camera and share the details on customer profiles and their interactions with the brands. Consumer research and interactions made simpler and at scale.
Social and humanoid robots will help us do a lot of mundane tasks in the time to come. I had the opportunity to interact with Sofia, the world’s first robot citizen, and Han (a humanoid robot created by Hanson Robotics). I also interacted with another mini social robot which converses with us and slowly becomes like ours, a huge potential in changing education and user interfaces in the time to come. We captured these memories below.
You can watch Sofia in action here or click the image below.
Hope these innovations are stimulating some thoughts in you for the business you are in.
With the capabilities of machines improving by the day, what we need to do as human is changing rapidly. If you are not seeing it, it is coming to you faster than you think. It is important for each one of us to look at the skillsets of our teams and organisations in this context to be future-ready.
Apart from bringing the AI technologies to fashion and retail industry, we at Stylumia would like to play a role in the skill enhancement with respect to understanding the technologies available today.
If you would like to know more about future skill-sets required for a fashion brand or retailer, please get in touch with me on the following – Email: support@stylumia.com : Mob +91 8010812602
