{"id":14441,"date":"2024-08-27T14:20:00","date_gmt":"2024-08-27T14:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs-test.newschool.edu\/parsons-paris\/?p=14441"},"modified":"2024-07-31T12:15:35","modified_gmt":"2024-07-31T12:15:35","slug":"alessandria-redley-when-ai-meets-fashion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs-test.newschool.edu\/parsons-paris\/2024\/08\/27\/alessandria-redley-when-ai-meets-fashion\/","title":{"rendered":"Alessandria Redley: When AI Meets Fashion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If AI and Fashion were people, they would be set up on a date by Alessandria Redley, Parsons Alumni, and founder of two tech startups merging fashion & AI: RETRO\/\/VRS<\/em><\/a> and AISTHETICS<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BY IMAN SALEM<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What inspired you to start a company that merges AI and fashion?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am currently the founder of two startups, RETRO\/\/VRS<\/em> and AISTHETICS<\/em>. I launched RETRO\/\/VRS<\/em> out of a realization that spending thousands on a luxury item like a Chanel bag should allow you to have equity, fractional ownership, and perpetual royalties when reselling. RETRO\/\/VRS<\/em> is pioneering this model as the first luxury resale marketplace that enables such benefits for the buyers and sellers. This approach ensures immutable ownership records, enhances liquidity through fractional ownership, and drastically reduces fraud and counterfeiting, all while broadening global access and simplifying user experience. Determined to shop smarter and not harder, we used AI to create ACQUIRED<\/em><\/a> in February 2024. This B2C browser extension transforms online fashion shopping by using adaptive AI and computer vision AI to tailor product recommendations and outfit suggestions based on users\u2019 social media profiles, budgets, and sizes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think it\u2019s no secret that women are great multitaskers. As a female entrepreneur, how do you manage your professional and personal life? Did you have to create boundaries between them?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Multitasking is often hailed as a woman\u2019s gift, and indeed, it has to be when juggling the roles of a mother, entrepreneur, and student across continents. After moving to Paris at the height of Covid in September 2020 to start an Executive MBA at HEC Paris, I found myself consulting for fashion brands, diving deep into web3 and AI, and raising two young boys in a foreign country, all while grappling with a new language. I had the crazy idea to launch my first tech startup in the middle of all of this as well. Calling it a \u2018juggling act\u2019 is an understatement. Even today, I am running not one but two tech startups. How do I manage it all? It boils down to courage for me. Courage is action, doubt is inaction. Deep down I feel like I have been chosen for the assignment so I tend to run towards what scares me, but I do run with intention. Over the years I have become fully aware that my top moments of growth have happened when I stepped outside of my lane. So why should I stunt my growth now? Multitasking is one of our natural gifts
but why does it feel like we put so much pressure on women to find the balance? The societal expectation that women must achieve a perfect balance between professional and personal life is pervasive and, frankly, unrealistic. The question isn\u2019t just whether women can balance it all but why such a standard is often uniquely emphasized for women. I\u2019ve come to recognize that true balance is a myth. Personally, I cannot balance it all. The real question is about priorities and the sacrifices we are willing to make. There is no complete balance. For me, the well-being of my sons is paramount\u2014ensuring they are happy, healthy, and safe sets the first boundary for my life. The next boundary is my own well-being, am I happy healthy and safe. Everything in between is a mythical mathematical balancing act, an ongoing equation of choices and compromises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What was the biggest challenge you faced in building your startup?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Building a startup is not for the weak. There are so many challenges daily that there isn\u2019t one that is the biggest. Like many startups, securing funding was a monumental challenge, especially pre-revenue and pre-product market fit. Secondly, losing my cofounder a year after launching RETRO\/\/VRS <\/em>was a profound setback. As a CEO, I adopt the stance of \u2018ask for forgiveness, not for permission,\u2019 but this experience taught me the importance of taking accountability. I had the courage to take criticism and follow it with action, the courage to say I was wrong. Moreover, the pressure to launch fast and fail fast led us to release our app on the App Store and Play Store prematurely. The intense preparatory work required for RETRO\/\/VRS<\/em> taught us that not all startups can move at Silicon Valley\u2019s breakneck speed, especially when aiming for mass adoption with complex technologies. The startup landscape is drowning with advice, not all of it good or applicable. I\u2019ve learned to not ask for directions from someone who has never been where I am trying to go. Being naturally quiet and on the spectrum, I\u2019ve often felt out of place in the tech industry. However, \u2018Quiet people change the world because they hear things others don\u2019t\u2019 is a mantra from my grandmother that I carry close to my heart. It\u2019s taught me to use my quiet nature as a strength, focusing on building great products and letting their success speak for themselves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fashion industry as well as artificial intelligence technologies are very controversial, do you think one can benefit the other?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having worked in design, merchandising, and styling before founding my tech companies, I\u2019ve observed the potential for a beneficial relationship between AI and fashion. The industry struggles with sustainability, diversity in race, age, and body size, and technological disparities across regions. AI can bridge these gaps, enhancing efficiency and inclusivity in product development, planning, merchandising, and buying. However, the integration of AI isn\u2019t without its challenges. For example, the rising use of AI-generated models of color instead of hiring real models poses new ethical concerns. This practice can undermine the progress towards genuine diversity and inclusivity, replacing real representation with digital approximations. It\u2019s crucial that as AI\u2019s role in fashion grows, it is guided by ethical practices that enhance the industry without compromising human value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You founded Retro VRs in 2022, right before the Chat GPT boom, did you expect the rise of AI to be
this exponential?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I anticipated that AI would have a significant impact, but the rapidity with which it has been embraced and integrated into various sectors, including consumer applications, has indeed blown my mind. AI technology has been part of our daily lives for a while, subtly influencing things like the music recommendations on platforms like Apple Music or Spotify. However, the recent accessibility of advanced AI tools has brought this technology to the forefront, enabling not just businesses but everyday people to engage with AI in ways that were previously unimaginable. The ChatGPT boom has
particularly highlighted how ready and eager the world is to integrate AI into daily interactions and decision-making processes. And to think, we are just getting started\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you envision AI impacting the fashion value chain, from design to production to retail?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

AI\u2019s impact on the fashion value chain is profound and multifaceted. In design, AI can accelerate the creative process and offer new tools for designers who might evolve more into roles of curators, using generative AI as a creative aid. In production, AI can optimize manufacturing processes, reduce waste, and improve supply chain efficiencies, contributing to more sustainable practices. At the retail level, AI enhances customer experiences through personalized shopping and better inventory management. I believe AI has the power to reshape the concept of luxury. In the future, \u2018luxury\u2019 might denote products crafted without AI involvement at any point in the value chain, emphasizing the importance of human touch in their creation. It introduces a new landscape where the \u2018made by humans\u2019 label could become a premium luxury indicator. We are committed to pushing the boundaries of what\u2019s possible with technology in the luxury fashion market, but many of our upcoming projects are currently under wraps. We look forward to sharing more as these new features develop and reach closer to launch. \u25a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Editor & Photographer:<\/mark> Iman Salem @imannsalem
Talent:<\/mark>Alessandria Redley @aliredli<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If AI and Fashion were people, they would be set up on a date by Alessandria Redley, Parsons Alumni, and founder of two tech startups merging fashion & AI: RETRO\/\/VRS…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":311,"featured_media":14435,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":2,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[45595,63910,54765,54761],"tags":[5250,3],"class_list":["post-14441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-programs-news","category-creative-life","category-fashion-design-programs","category-strategic-design-management","tag-alumni","tag-featured"],"yoast_head":"\nAlessandria Redley: When AI Meets Fashion - Parsons 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