The Art of Fashion Innovation: Matthew Drinkwater, Head of Fashion Innovation Agency (FIA) at London College of Fashion

Summary: Often times when we think of the convergence of fashion and tech, our minds go to fashionable wears and accessories that compliment or facilitate our mobile technology; in other words, wearable tech. But the Fashion Innovation Agency (FIA) at London College of Fashion asks student designers to think beyond how tech can be fashionable, and ask how tech can revolutionize and further empower how we experience the world of fashion. In this episode, we speak with Matthew Drinkwater, head of FIA, about the diverse projects he and his students are pursuing, from using augmented and virtual reality to offer new ways of experiencing the runway, to how tech can facilitate the consumer experience. -About Matthew Drinkwater- Head of Fashion Innovation Agency (FIA) at London College of Fashion (LCF) Matthew works at the crossroads of Fashion, Retail and Tech to head up LCF’s Fashion Innovation Agency; Partnering the most exciting designer talent in London with the very latest fashion-tech to create ground-breaking brand collaborations and consultancies across the fashion, retail, lifestyle, cultural and digital industries. Matthew delivered the world’s first digital skirt for Nokia, wireless charging clothing for Microsoft, a 3D-printed bionic arm to help celebrate the launch of Star Wars: The Force Awakens and what Forbes described as ‘the first example of truly beautiful wearable tech’ for Disney. He was named in the 100 most influential in the world of Wearable Technology, amongst the ‘Top 15 people in UK tech’ by BBC3 and as a ‘fashion-tech trailblazer changing the course of retail’ by Drapers. Tweet him @drinkmatt -About the Fashion Innovation Agency- The Fashion Innovation Agency (FIA) are experts in working with emerging technologies to help designers and brands change the way they make, sell or show their collections. FIA has delivered ground-breaking and award winning projects in wearable technology, AR/VR and Blockchain, and is currently working on major developments within Nanotechnology, IoT and Robotics. Learn more here Cover art by Graydon Speace