- May 31, 2018
Updated: Feb 15, 2021
Executives from luxury fashion industry, financiers and innovators including Smartzer founder Karoline Gross, met in Venice for the FT's Business of Luxury Summit. Hosted by FT Live, the Luxury Summit is aimed at examining the next trends in the luxury industries. The theme of this year's summit was Luxury Disruption: The Industry Innovators Changing The Narrative.
The three-day affair centered on what’s next for the industry in terms of advancement, the next big disruptive technologies, and how renowned-traditional houses can innovate in order to keep ahead and remain competitive.
The summit kicked-off with a riveting opening speech by sustainable fashion designer, Katherine Hammnet. Karoline later attended panel discussions from Humans of Fashion (Hoff) founder and fashion model Kristina Romanova, and actress Toni Garrn of the Toni Garrn Foundation who discussed how the positive changes of new anti-harrassment policies and corporate code reform as well as how artificial intelligence is changing the industry.
Alexandre Arnault of discussed brand brand
Designer-duo Dolce & Gabbana are renowned for challenging industry norms, from putting bloggers front row, to their Alta Moda grand couture shows, the designers were unfiltered as they discussed their brands disruptive style with Financial Times Fashion Editor, Jo Ellison.
Innovation was of course the main topic, and but ample time was also given to the all-important topic of sustainability and the changes the fashion industry should adopt to become sustainable as well as how to stay sustainable as a brand. This was most-aptly displayed with Fashion designer Erdem's discussion on the importance of being independent.
Much insight was given to what the millennial luxury consumer wants and how the way they are shopping is changing the face of retail – a perfect case for Smartzer’s interactive video technology. Another topic explored was how Gen Z is impacting the market and media landscape and how the fashion industry can learn from them.
It was a very interesting three-days and Smartzer was very happy to take part.