New companies find ways to fuse fashion and technology

BRICS

A digital customization company called Print All Over Me in New York City is harnessing technology to help bring design ideas to life. The site has become much more than just an e-commerce platform. CCTV America’s Karina Huber reports.

Every season, Print All Over Me comes out with a new series of silhouettes, all basic white garments in a variety of fabrics that serve as canvases. The user simply needs to upload an image onto the canvas and it will be printed onto the fabric. Then it is cut and sewn in a factory near Shanghai and shipped to the buyer.

Prices range from $38 for a T-shirt to $168 for a raincoat. Co-Founder Jesse Finkelstein said advances in technology allowed the company to become profitable in less than eight months while giving people tools to turn their own ideas into affordable clothing.

Sabine Seymour, a professor of fashionable technology at Parsons the New School for Design in New York City said the site is ideal for young designers looking to make their mark.

Finkelstein said the majority of people who visit the site every month don’t order anything. They mainly use it as a platform to showcase their designs and explore other people’s designs. The site also provides young designers an opportunity to make some money by allowing them to sell their work and keep 20 percent of the profits.

Fashion is also fusing with technology when it comes to perfecting the art of the “dressing room selfie”. For more on this topic, CCTV America’s Michelle Makori spoke with Tadd Spering, the CEO of Stylinity, a company that allows users to post their dressing room snapshots.