Kicking off a New Era!

Fashion x Innovation events and community are moving under The Pattern Maker — your expanded hub for FashionTech events, industry deep dives and expert interviews.

Hey Fashion x Innovation community!

Big news! After almost a year of incredible events, connections, and conversations through FxI, I'm excited to announce Fashion x Innovation will be moving under with my new platform, The Pattern Maker!

This evolution means we'll continue our popular events while expanding to provide industry reports, expert interviews, and company deep dives — all in one place.

Why the change?

My goal with FxI events was to support the FashionTech community and accelerate its growth by making it easier for everyone to connect (see original post here). And in 10 months, we’ve grown to over 600 founders, investors and operators all passionate about shaping the future of fashion!!

But through conversations with fellow founders and investors, I realized that there is still a big gap in funding and support by the current tech ecosystem — despite there being more founders and brands partnering with startups than ever before.

That’s why I’ve started The Pattern Maker, to answer the critical question "How do we better build and fund FashionTech to unlock innovation and circularity for the fashion industry?"

That’s the north star that's guiding this evolution! You can read more in my post here:

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What's staying the same?

Don't worry—the heart of what you love about Fashion x Innovation isn't going anywhere:

• Our events: The monthly mixer series will continue (with the same energy but new TPM branding!) Check out the TPM events tab for all our past posts.

• Our community: Everyone’s subscription are staying the same —no action needed.

• Our mission: Supporting the FashionTech ecosystem remains our core purpose!

What's new?

Beyond event updates you can now expect…

• Consolidated brand: One platform for events, content, and community.

• More in-depth content: Interviews with founders and investors, market research, startup spotlights, and funding news.

• New email: If you’re interested in supporting or collab-ing on posts, events or interviews, please email biz@rachel-sterling.com moving forward!

• Seasonal themes: Each fashion season, we'll tackle 5 key questions that help build the founder playbook and investment thesis for FashionTech. See this season’s questions here:

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Thank you

You've all made Fashion x Innovation what it is, and I'm thrilled to have you join me for this next chapter with The Pattern Maker. If you've already checked out the first two posts, you've gotten a taste of where we're headed. If not, I encourage you to dive in!

As always, I want to hear from you! What questions do you want answered? Who should I interview? What topics matter most to your work in FashionTech? Drop your thoughts in the comments or email me directly.

Excited to keep growing this community with you all!

x Rachel

P.S. If you're in NYC, our next event is coming up soon and we’re already planning a slew of things for the summer — get excited!