Smart apparel – Keypod takes first place in Fashion Fusion 2018 competition

07-04-2018 Lisa Machnig

• High professional jury announces three winning teams at award ceremony during Fashion Week in Berlin
• The winning project, Keypod from Israel, won the jury over with connectivity and a high potential for market readiness
• A continuation of the program with a new accent in planning

Winner Keypod with intelligent technology.

The winners have been announed. The third annual Telekom Fashion Fusion competition concluded at Berlin Fashion Week today. More than 300 invited guests from the fashion and high-tech industries followed the exciting awards ceremony in person and experienced the presentation of the innovative prototypes in live demonstrations. To round off the evening, Brazilian musician Dillon treated her audience to a rousing concert.

The Keypod team from Haifa was delighted to win the 15,000 euro first prize. Sharon Greenberg, Roman Alperovich, and Einat Israeli make apparel and accessories interactive. Their mission: helping the "mobile first" generation to concentrate on the here and now when they're on the go. The unit integrated in the clothing is revolutionary: small, light, washable, and with a multi-year battery life.

Second prize was awarded to Zsófi Lévai, Sarolta Setet, and Zoltán Istenes from Budapest for their Interknitting project. Their idea: make interpersonal communication visible through interfaces integrated in the clothing. One interface responds to noises, while another responds to movement and touch – the project even visualizes encounters between two people. The status of the interactions is displayed by LEDs integrated in the knitted clothing.

Third prize was won by Nele Köstler and Jonas Diezun from Munich, for their Radice project. The business idea of Radice is based on the desire to help people have restful sleep. While many apps help users to structure and shape their everyday lives (and work) better and more efficiently, the Radice team has designed an innovative sleeping mask to help their customers get a fresh, active start to the day.

All three winning teams will also be presenting their projects as part of the #FASHIONTECH event by Premium Exhibitions in Berlin.

"I’m delighted to see how successful the program has grown to be over the last two years on the fashion & tech scene,” says Antje Hundhausen, Vice President Brand Experience at Deutsche Telekom and founder of Fashion Fusion. “Identifying digital lifestyle trends early, driving them with the help of the high-caliber experts and sectoral movers and shakers in the jury, as well as bring on the best prototypes as far as market readiness stage – that’s what sets apart the innovative spirit of Fashion Fusion. Technology is unquestionably set to continue to change the fashion and lifestyle industry. Our goal is to influence that process, to make sure that user-friendly solutions form part of such changes and that the process enriches the day-to-day life of people."

Fashion Fusion will continue into the future with a number of new emphases. We are already planning exclusive challenges together with new powerful partners, putting a special accent on particular sectors!

A look back

In the "Telekom Fashion Fusion" program, Deutsche Telekom supports visionary concepts by startups and young entrepreneurs. They come from the areas of fashion, technology, and product design and combine high tech with wearables and smart services. Their goal is to use digital technologies to connect apparel, accessories, and devices together intelligently in ways that provide their users with new and innovative benefits.

A high-caliber jury made up of renowned representatives from fashion and industry selected the eight best ideas from the many submissions in three categories: Connected Devices & Smart Accessories, Haute Couture & Show Fashion, and Business Solutions & Smart Services.

The finalist teams were given until the end of June to get their prototypes ready. The participants could draw on a significant pool of expertise and were given all the necessary materials they needed to bring their ideas to life. The team selected as the winners will now go on to invest their prize money of 15,000 euros in further developing their project.

The members of the jury for the Deutsche Telekom 2018 Fashion Fusion Program includes experts from industry, the educational and research sector, and the world of fashion:

• Anette Bronder – Director of Digital Division & Telekom Security at T-Systems
• Burak Cakmak – Dean of Fashion at the Parsons School of Design
• Christin Eisenschmid – VP & Germany Country Manager at Intel
• Daniel Heltzel – Fab Lab Berlin
• Antje Hundhausen – Vice President, Brand Experience, at Deutsche Telekom
• Prof. Gesche Joost – Professor for Design Research, Berlin University of the Arts (UdK)
• Marcus Luft – Fashion Director at Gala
• Prof. Dr. Paul Lukowicz – German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence
• Claudia Nemat – Member of the Deutsche Telekom AG Board of Management, Technology and Innovation
• Nikolaus Röttger – WIRED Germany
• Dirk Schönberger – Creative Director at adidas
• Anita Tillmann – Managing Partner at FASHION TECH

Deutsche Telekom is continually developing the Fashion Fusion program together with powerful partners, highly skilled specialists, new talents, and startups in the fashion, design, and technology industries.

The Deutsche Telekom Fashion Fusion competition is supported by adidas and Intel, as well as the Premium International Fashion Trade Show and many other well-known partners.