GPShopper Blog SXSW: Intersection of Retail & Tech

  We recently covered some of our favorite in-store experiences at SXSW but we also loved the focus on technology's ever-evolving role in in retail. The Style & Retail track specifically highlighted how retailers are using technology to connect to consumers. Here are some highlights of the conversations around Sustainable Fashion & Tech, AI in Retail, and the future of Connected Beauty.   1. Sustainable Fashion & Tech   The desire to focus on sustainable fabrics and support responsible consumption is growing in the fashion industry. There's more of a movement to source local fabrics, be more mindful about the local environment when creating garments (for example, not leak dyes into local streams) and re-use fabrics that would otherwise be discarded.   We like the emergence of new initiatives like Marine Layer's 'Re-Spun' program. Each year, the average American throws away an estimated 80 pounds of clothing. Re-Spun is taking aim to reduce that textile waste. The program is designed to create a closed-loop production process, encouraging customers to turn in their old tees so that Marine Layer can break the fabric down and re-spin it to create entirely new t-shirts. It's a relatively new advancement in fashion production and one that we can see consumers - especially Gen Z - getting behind.     Another company focused on sustainable fashion practices is Finery. Co-founded by model and actress Brooklyn Decker and former news anchor Whitney Casey, Finery attempts to digitize and organize users' wardrobes. The goal? To help curb 'throwaway' fashion culture and reduce waste by inspiring customers to wear what they already own. Wearing a piece of clothing 50 times instead of five reduces the amount of carbon emissions by 400% per item, per year. That's no small stat.