After years of disillusionment with fashion tech, investors are once again excited about its potential, but with a very different mindset to the hype-fuelled boom of the last decade.

From AI-powered personal styling apps to virtual try-on tools and personalised search engines, a wave of start-ups is gaining traction – and big backing – by offering real technological solutions to long-standing fashion industry problems.

In this episode, senior e-commerce correspondent Malique Morris joins The Debrief to explore how fashion tech is finally growing up, and which companies are leading this more grounded, results-driven wave of innovation.

Key Insights:

• In the previous fashion tech boom, investors were heavily investing in e-commerce startups with little true innovation. “DTC brands … positioned themselves as tech companies because they sold goods online, but there was nothing really revolutionary about them listing products on a website. And I don't know how investors didn't cop to that,” says Morris. Today’s backers are more discerning, favouring startups with clear technical roadmaps and founders who can evolve their product in meaningful ways.
• Investor interest in fashion tech reignited thanks to the rise of generative AI. As Morris explains, venture capital had been sitting on the sidelines during a broader funding freeze, but AI’s real-world applications reignited excitement. “Startups like Daydream are building a platform for personalised search using AI tools from companies like OpenAI and Google, and they want to be the ChatGPT for fashion and be disruptive in the way that ChatGPT has changed how we use the internet,” says Morris. “What was once a dream is now closer to being tangible and investors want to be the first ones in on that.”

• Today’s investors are looking beyond flashy pitches and prioritising founders with real technical know-how. “Something that is really separating the people who are just trying to raise money and not breaking through from those who are, are having some sort of technical experience, technical expertise,” says Morris. With the complexity of AI and other advanced tools, investors want to back teams that can build efficiently and with minimal lift. “They want to back founders who know what they're doing,” he adds.

• While new fashion tech apps offer highly personalised experiences, their complexity may limit mainstream appeal. The question of scale is still unanswered: “There may be a billion people out there who want to do that… There may only be a million. We don't know that just yet.”

Additional Resources:

• How Investors Fell Back in Love With Fashion Tech | BoF

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As major luxury brands struggle to maintain momentum amid an industry-wide slowdown, one category is bucking the trend: jewellery. While demand for handbags and apparel softens, fine jewellery sales continue to rise, driven by consumer desire for lasting value, emotional resonance and self-expression.

Simone Stern Carbone and Joan Kennedy join The Debrief to discuss how independent jewellers are thriving with creativity and personality, the rising popularity of novelty pieces, and why jewellery is uniquely positioned to attract buyers in today's luxury market.

Key Insights:

• Despite slowing luxury sales, jewellery sales have continued to boom. As Stern Carbone notes, consumers perceive luxury jewellery as an inherently safer investment. She says, “Instinctively, a lot of people associate jewellery – especially if it's got gold, gemstones or diamonds – with something you would dish out more money for more readily than for a handbag potentially made out of nylon.”

• While big jewellery brands are growing, smaller competitors are booming as they foster deep customer relationships and maintain flexible, manageable supply chains. Stern-Carbone highlights, “Jewellery is so personal. When you have a very distinct aesthetic, you really connect with your customers long term, potentially for life. This is a really personal relationship that smaller brands can capitalise on.”

• Kennedy emphasises that modern jewellery marketing resonates by being accessible and relatable. “One designer I spoke to puts her charm necklaces next to candy necklaces, so that feels fun,” she says. “A lot of these designers are doing things that are very lo-fi. It’s like a picture of a wrist on Instagram. And then they reply to DMs, like, ‘Hey, show me that bracelet with something else.’ So the way that they present it is also really relevant to shoppers, versus the very high-gloss and traditional style of high jewellery.”

• Novelty jewellery began gaining popularity post-Covid. “People were buying camp jewellery, but they were paying $50 for a funky, colourful ring. And then more recently, people are like, okay, let’s bring in the value piece of this,” says Kennedy. Novelty jewellery has surged as consumers seek personal expression in response to uniform dressing and quiet luxury trends. Kennedy continues, “You're leaning into things that are uniform dressing, so how do we spice that up? Let's go for more novelty in jewellery.”

Additional Resources:

• Why Jewellery Feels Like a Better Deal Than a Handbag | BoF
• Who Would Pay $20,000 For a Hamburger Ring? | BoF
• How Small Jewellery Brands Are Seizing The Moment | BoF

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Earlier this month, cities across the US saw the most significant wave of demonstrations since the 2020 protests following George Floyd's murder. These latest protests have been sparked by immigration raids conducted by the Trump administration, and while some of those enforcement actions have targeted garment workers, the fashion industry has mostly stayed silent.

Executive editor Brian Baskin, senior correspondent Sheena Butler-Young, and retail editor Cat Chen explore the reasons behind the industry's cautious stance, whether fashion can find a new way to engage with politics, and practical steps brands can take to support vulnerable workers.

Key Insights:

• During the Black Lives Matter movement, fashion brands were quick to voice support. Today, in the face of immigration raids affecting garment workers, many brands are noticeably quiet as companies now worry that taking a stance on divisive political issues could trigger backlash. “There's a lot of anxiety and discomfort and frustration behind the scenes, but there is also this other piece of the pie, which is fear of retaliation from the Trump administration,” says Chen. Despite the fear of retribution, Butler-Young also notes how the lack of response is being interpreted outside of the industry: “I think that people see the industry as acting cowardly as an industry that does rely on immigrant labor, legal and otherwise.”

• Fashion isn’t providing much concrete support behind the scenes, either. “I think another huge issue is that people are feeling really helpless in the sector. There aren't any resources,” says Chen. “We're not seeing trade organisations emerge and come up with guidelines for what employers can do in case of a raid.” She adds, “You have these executives who are operating very blindly.”

• Brands that lean too heavily on public declarations of diversity and inclusion without backing them up are losing credibility with values-driven shoppers. As Butler-Young explains, “The liberal consumer is just a little bit over hearing companies say something and then not do it.” Instead of splashing their values across LinkedIn or homepage banners, she notes that “some of the brands that are doing a good job by doing the work internally first and then talking about it.”

• The focus should also shift from performative allyship to practical, on-the-ground support—ensuring that businesses are equipped to respond meaningfully when their workers are directly impacted by policies like immigration raids. As Chen points out, “The most vulnerable people right now don't need big brands to post something on social media or grand political gestures. What they need is a solution to the problem. What they need is for their employers to be prepared.”

Additional Resources:

• Garment Workers Are at Risk. Fashion Can’t Afford to Look Away.
• Five Years After George Floyd: Can Fashion Still Stand for Something?

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