Fashion innovators at MIT

MIT’s fashion forward students showcased their designs, tech, and business models during Fashion Innovators @ MIT. The startups displayed their wares before a panel of some hot names in fashion, including Saint Laurent and Kering. Here, Kyra Hunter checked out designs from Fula & Style. The 26 year-old fashion merchandising junior at Fisher College went to the event to network and hear the panel.

Lallitara

Bijal Shah thought of the idea for her fashion startup, lallitara, in August 2011. Lallitara “upcycles” used saris to recreate value from the old fabric. The 29-year-old MBA student is wearing one of the tanks as she organized the display.

“These are beautiful fabrics that would otherwise be going to waste,” said Elizabeth Buckley, 32, from Quincy. She will be working full time on the startup with Shah in June.

Shah explained the leisurewear to event attendees. The shorts cost $68, and the tanks cost $84. The clothes are available online and at small boutiques, like Sikara on Newbury Street.

Fula & Style

Aminata Kane, second from right, chatted with people looking at her clothing line. Kane, 28, is in her second year of the program at Sloan.

Kane’s fashion startup, Fula & Style, is marketed to the rising middle class of Senegalese women that want professional clothing, she said.

An eventgoer looked through the Fula & Style clothing rack. Designer Kane said she wanted to succeed in Senegal before marketing her clothing in the United States.

Fashion Innovators @ MIT brought many fashionable attendees to the event.

Asorti

Lauren Clark, an MIT junior, presented about Asorti, a fashion recommendation engine.

Eventgoers viewed the Asorti display. “We built the ‘Clueless’ closet,” Clark said. The technology is a plugin that “would sit on websites like J.Crew or Forever 21” and recommend compatible clothing to purchase.

Angela Zhang, a sophomore computer science major at MIT, explained how Asorti could personalize the fashion that appears based on a person’s browsing history. “You don’t want to pair a $2,200 top with a pair of $20 jeans,” Zhang said.

Pictured: The clothing rack at Lallitara.

Shenan Reed, chief media officer at CreateThe Group, visited the Lallitara booth before sitting on the event panel discussion.

An eventgoer looked through the Fula & Style clothing.

Panel

Brian Kalma, from men’s apparel startup Ministry of Supply, led the panel on “branding fashion in an evolving landscape.”

Brant Cryder, the US president of Saint Laurent and Shauna Mei, founder and CEO of AHAlife, discussed working in the luxury goods industry during the panel. Mei is an MIT graduate who said fashion companies have to try to “create a digital Madison Avenue discovery shopping experience.”

“We’re sitting on mountains of data,” Reed said. “You can get lost in it.” She said employees need to extract what helps the company make decisions in order for all that data to matter. Laurent Claquin, the head of Kering Americas, also participated in the panel.

The Right Collective

Marcus Wilson and Michael Schaeffer of Boston’s The Right Collective presented the keynote presentation. Schaeffer surfs of off New England’s coasts in the winter — and he’s not alone. Their summer clothing collection will be launching within the next couple weeks, Schaeffer said.