Levi Strauss & Co. is joining this year’s New York Fashion Tech Lab, a program that has been at the forefront of retail and fashion technology innovation and integration since 2014.
The 12-week program, which announced its sixth cohort today comprised of eight women-led startups, connects select fashion-focused tech startups with leading fashion and retail brands to foster iteration, validation and acceleration of technologies to advance the industry.
This year’s participating lab companies – hand selected by the retail, fashion and technology partners – will focus on solving retail’s biggest challenges through new technology, including augmented reality, last-mile delivery, advanced consumer rewards, integrated video and robotics.
“We’ve sourced technology for the retail industry to meet the powerful consumer expectations that continue to shift the industry on a daily basis,” said Kay Koplovitz, Co-Founder of the Lab and Chairman of Springboard Enterprises. “Our success can be seen in the collaborations that continue between the companies and retailers we bring together well beyond the time in our program.”
In addition to LS&Co.’s participation, the lab added PVH Corp and Foot Locker to this year’s lab class which also includes Macy’s Inc., Kohl’s and Tory Burch, among others.
“Through our partnership with New York Fashion Tech Lab and this year’s participating companies, we hope to further our efforts to serve our LS&Co. customers through the new and innovative ways they are interacting with our brands on our ecommerce site, in our stores and within our customer ecosystem,” said Brady Stewart, senior vice president, digital Americas. As a San Francisco based company, we’re excited to partner with NYFTL in New York City with the cohort of startups based around the world. ”
The 2019 Lab will be in residence at Spring Place, a collaborative workspace and membership club connecting a community of global professionals and entrepreneurs. The program will culminate with a Tech Runway Demo Day in June in conjunction with InStyle at Meredith Corporation in New York.
