Missed the Fashion Tech Forum (FTF), which was held last week in New York City? Don’t worry, I was there! I’ve condensed the day into seven points you need to know. Here goes:

1. The New.Stand won the Founders of the Future Award. The New.Stand, a convenience store/discovery platform that describes itself as “humbly standing at the intersection of media and retail,” won the prestigious Founders of the Future Award. A team of judges voted that founders David Carson, Andrew Deitchman, George Alan and Lex Kendall had the most compelling early-stage business concept of three finalists and was awarded a $50,000 prize and six-week mentorship experience. Good stuff.

iphone-BIG

2. Goop is launching a skincare line in January. While Goop has hinted that it’s launching its own skincare line in the past, company CEO Lisa Gersh confirmed the products will launch next January. The skincare line will be made available directly on Goop’s website rather than a third-party retailer. “People like to shop on Goop because it’s an incredibly curated experience,” Gersh said.

3. Google is doing some cool stuff in fashion tech. Stephanie Redish Hofmann, director of agency development, discussed Google’s Made With Code (MWC) initiative, which is aimed at getting young women excited about learning to code and close the gender gap in the technology industry. The idea behind it is to show young girls that the things they love, from apps on their smartphones to their favorite movies, are made with code, and that they can apply the skills they learn to their own individual passions.

Hofmann discussed MWC’s latest project, #DressedInCode, which encourages girls to create a LED dress via code. The program is launching this summer. Then Ivan Poupyrev, the technical program lead at Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP) division, demonstrated Project Jacquard, which creates conductive yarn to turn clothing into wearable tech … and yes, it’s washable.

made with code

jacquard1

4. I’m obsessed with Emily Weiss, and you should be too. I’ve been reading about Emily Weiss, the former Vogue fashion assistant and current beauty guru and and entrepreneur, for a while, so I was excited to hear what she had to say about her career, her Into the Gloss blog (which averages more than 10 million page views per month), and her new skincare line and website, Glossier. I was duly impressed. Emily gave an honest, smart and funny look into everything from her brand’s approach to social media (“There’s never been a time where the customer is always right more so than now”) to finding investors for Glossier (“It’s like dating, who do you want to be your partner?”).

emily-weiss-glossier-intro-1-613x408-1

5. For investors, choosing who to invest in is more science than art. When a panel of leading venture capitalists and investors discussed identifying promising talent and how they predict success in the market, most panelists fell squarely in the art camp. “We try to be open-minded,” said Ellie Wheeler, principal at Greycroft Partners. “It might not be someone with expertise. It might be a first-time founder, but it’s nice to see domain expertise.” Wheeler also said she’s very interested in the story behind the company, and “if they believe they will be able to scale over time and recruit top talent. It’s not about what’s going on on day one, but if they can build something meaningful.”

For Kristen Green, founder and managing partner of Forerunner Ventures, the process is simple. “The founder has to have vision, discipline and be magnetic,” she said. “You can’t have vision and not be able to commit. And you have to be magnetic to get people to commit.”

6. Net-a-Porter has launched a fashion-focused social media network. Alex Hoffnung, creative director, social commerce for Net-a-Porter, discussed the online luxury brand’s mobile-native social shopping network called The NET SET. Hoffnung described it as “where the stylishly minded can interact and be inspired by others in an entirely shopping-focused environment.” The network, which launched in May as an app for the iPhone, iPad and (in a limited manner) Apple Watch, has an Instagram-like interface that invites users to explore feeds of Net-a-Porter products curated by other users, leave comments on those products, and curate their own groups of products. Users can also follow Net-a-Porter’s 15-member “Style Council,” a group of stylish women who have their own prominently placed profiles for users to follow. Brands will also have their own pages where they can curate products, upload images and interact with customers as much or as little as they’d like.

7. I need a new wardrobe, stat. Just look at what some of the folks at FTF were wearing …
fashion-tech-forum-2