247 - Amanda Parkes of Future Tech Lab - Thinking Differently

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | RSS

Investing, innovating, and incubating the future of fashion technology…

Amanda Parkes, Chief Innovation Officer of Future Tech Lab (equal parts investment company, multinational accelerator, and experimental laboratory, and a hybrid created to both disrupt and transform the fashion ecosystem) joins Pavan Bahl, Marc Raco, and guest host Rohan Deuskar (Stylitics) on location at South by Southwest. MouthMedia Network studios are powered by Sennheiser.

In this episode:

Amanda Parkes on how from research, producing fiber, getting to scale, is a long process
Helping companies stay in it that long, investing in something that takes time, slower than a lot of other industries
Investment arm, expanding into wearable tech
An agency like a consulting firm helping big companies helping with new product development in big companies, external R and D – fashion companies waiting for tech to be created – disconnected with major fashion brands, not making textiles necessary for future of fashion
Experimental lab – product development of future-perfect products
Are brands responding to discoveries, or are needs not answered and companies solve those problems
Industry doesn’t know what it doesn’t know
Synthetic biology is just starting to get to the point of being marketable
Orange Fiber made from waste product of making orange juice
Reclaimed materials – waste into resources
Getting sustainability messaging out, backing up with profitability
Is sustainability “elitist”?
The kind of companies FTF is looking at and how they can help, where they come in and play a role – not as much defined by stage, but more what the niche is that the company is in
Parkes is most excited about biofabrication
Expectations on textiles related to disposability
The future of biodegradable circuits and them being programmed to break down (disposable devices on purpose)
Thinking differently