Since June, the MBA Fashion Technology students have contributed to a fashion hack that would address production problems within the fashion industry. The IFA Paris students partnered with Microsoft (initiated by Foundry – a collaboration between IFA Paris and Beyond Form), through Microsoft’s annual Hackathon to find effective digital solutions that would enable designers to increase their productivity and efficiency. This project further addresses Microsoft’s mission: “To empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.”

The MBA Fashion Technology students benefited from the guidance of two mentors from Microsoft: Dr. Kitty Yeung, Senior Quantum Architect for Microsoft, as well as Yannis Paniaras, Principal Creative Director, focusing on UX Design Transformation.

During the first phase, in June 2021, students worked in direct exchange with several Microsoft offices based in the United States (Seattle), Germany (Berlin) and India. IFA Paris’ Students analysed the needs and constraints of fashion companies, keeping the user experience at the heart of the research process.

Phase 2, in October 2021, focused on studying the feasibility and viability of the proposed solutions on problems affecting the fashion industry. Numerous studies were carried out on micro-factories, MOQs, business plans…

Phase 3, the revelation phase, brought the culmination of the project. IFA Paris joined Microsoft Global Hackathon, produced by the Microsoft Garage, which took place in mid-October 2021 to present the students’ results to the mentors and their hackathon team at Microsoft. What did the IFA Paris students discover? What do they want to learn from the research? How can they put it into practice?

Stay tuned!