Authentic Representation & Cultural Storytelling in Fashion:
Cultural consultant Arooj Aftab, a Vogue Business 100 Next Gen agitator, explores the fashion industry, emphasising entrepreneurship that prioritises representation and authentic storytelling. She highlights the resilience required to challenge norms and the power of community engagement in fostering inclusion.

She champions “Culture over Colour,” and the need to move beyond surface-level diversity to truly reflect society in creative industries. Her values and vision have led her to host events at Bicester Village, bringing together like-minded people to strengthen their community bond.

Challenging the Fashion Status Quo:
• Inclusion before diversity – representation must go deeper than tokenism.
• Storytelling matters – cultural narratives are essential to authentic fashion.
• Community engagement – change happens through collective action.
• Fashion’s responsibility – the industry must reflect the true diversity of society.

Connect with Arooj: linkedin.com/in/arooj-aftab-91865814a

Find out more about Arooj's work: arooj-aftab.com

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The show is recorded from Beyond Form, a fashion tech innovation platform. We build, invest, and educate fashion tech entrepreneurs and startups. We’d love to hear your feedback, so let us know if you’d like to hear a certain topic. Email us at podcast@beyondform.io. If you’re an entrepreneur or fashion tech startup looking for studio support, check out our website: beyondform.io

Dorcas Payne, a creative business consultant, shares her insights on building successful businesses in niche fashion markets. She emphasizes the critical role of operations and supply chain management in creative entrepreneurship, and the resilience needed to scale. For her, it’s crucial for emerging fashion talent to continuously listen to the feedback loop and use data to grow. Dorcas is on a mission to make supply chains sexy again, showing how strategic operations, thoughtful execution, and community-driven collaboration are just as exciting and essential as the designs on the runway.

The Backbone of Creative Business- in this episode, we discuss why:
• Operations matter – supply chain and operational strategy are the foundations of growth in the fashion industry.
• Data is king – understanding customer behavior through feedback loops drives better decisions.
• Scale down, execute excellence – resilience comes from doing fewer things at a higher standard.
• Representation in entrepreneurship – systemic challenges for global ethnic majority founders demand allyship and collaboration.

Connect with Dorcas: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dorcas-payne/

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The show is recorded from Beyond Form, a fashion tech innovation platform. We build, invest, and educate fashion tech entrepreneurs and startups. We’d love to hear your feedback, so let us know if you’d like to hear a certain topic. Email us at podcast@beyondform.io. If you’re an entrepreneur or fashion tech startup looking for studio support, check out our website: beyondform.io

As we close out 2024, this year's final episode is joined by Yoobin Jung, a VC at Plug and Play, where she along with our host Peter break down the fashion tech booms and busts that happened throughout the year. They discuss:

• AI's transformative impact on fashion design: Generative design tools are accelerating prototyping and reshaping brand identities, but raise ethical concerns about potentially replacing junior designers.

• The sustainability challenge: AI could help align production with demand, potentially addressing the persistent issue of overproduction in the fashion industry.

• Luxury brands and AI adoption: High-end fashion houses are cautiously approaching AI, grappling with complexities of clothing structures and concerns about AI-driven overconsumption.

• Recommendation algorithms: Effectiveness varies between Europe and South Korea, prompting questions about enhancing consumer experiences versus fuelling overconsumption.

• Regulatory landscape: EU policies like Extended Producer Responsibility aim to promote circularity, yet industry readiness is questionable, as evidenced by Renewcell's bankruptcy.

• Future of luxury e-commerce: The resale market is gaining prominence, with potential lessons from South Korea's Kakao platform on integrating digital and physical retail experiences.

Contact Yoobin on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/yoobinjung

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The show is recorded from Beyond Form, a fashion tech innovation platform. We build, invest, and educate fashion tech entrepreneurs and startups. We’d love to hear your feedback, so let us know if you’d like to hear a certain topic. Email us at podcast@beyondform.io. If you’re an entrepreneur or fashion tech startup looking for studio support, check out our website: beyondform.io