Venturing into Fashion Tech

This episode delves into the significant advancements in fashion tech in 2025, focusing on AI, digital fashion, and virtual try-on technology. With guest speaker Matt Astarita of Browzwear and host Peter Jeun Ho Tsang, they explore the acquisition of La La Land, the CaaStle fraud case, investor due diligence, the future of virtual try-on technology, and the evolution of digital fashion and product...

In this final episode of the underrepresented series, hosts Beatrice Newman and Peter Jeun Ho Tsang recap their favourite insights learned from their guest speakers. They delve into the heart of the fashion industry, exploring the challenges and triumphs of underrepresented voices.  Join us as we uncover personal stories and insights from diverse speakers who are reshaping the landscape of entrepr...

Authentic Representation & Cultural Storytelling in Fashion: Cultural consultant Arooj Aftab, a Vogue Business 100 Next Gen agitator, explores the fashion industry, emphasising entrepreneurship that prioritises representation and authentic storytelling. She highlights the resilience required to challenge norms and the power of community engagement in fostering inclusion.  She champions “Cultur...

Founder of Krippit Paris, a 3D-printed fashion accessories startup, Melissa Chung shares her journey as an underrepresented founder turning a personal problem into a business innovation. She discusses entrepreneurship, the resilience required to thrive as a woman in the finance industry, and the importance of representation for female founders. As a Canadian immigrant in France, she has learned th...

Founder of Heymers Academy and Moodi Studio, Mersedeh Heydari shares her entrepreneurial journey as an underrepresented founder merging architecture, fashion, and game design to create immersive creative experiences. She discusses the resilience required to navigate cultural and systemic barriers in Iran, and the importance of representation for emerging creative talent. She emphasizes that there...

Sehrish Raza, a female fashion founder from Pakistan, shares her journey as an underrepresented founder navigating entrepreneurship in South Asia. She discusses the resilience required to scale her business from 20,000 to 200,000 users. She shares her experience pitching on Shark Tank Pakistan, and having the wherewithal and self-confidence to choose herself over a bad deal. Through BizB, she empo...

With nearly 15 years in the British fashion industry, Ahmet Emin Hondor shares his journey advocating for entrepreneurship and resilience among emerging designers with the British Fashion Council. He reflects on how representation and cultural identity have shaped his path, while also addressing the mental drain of navigating microaggressions masked as politeness as a Turkish man in London. For Ah...

Founder of Debonair Afrik, Nuel Bans discusses his journey as an underrepresented founder championing African fashion on the global stage. From launching a blog to landing a Vogue cover, Nuel shares the resilience required to transform passion into a multifaceted brand. He highlights the importance of entrepreneurship, the impact of representation in elevating African creatives, and the power of c...

Dorcas Payne, a creative business consultant, shares her insights on building successful businesses in niche fashion markets. She emphasizes the critical role of operations and supply chain management in creative entrepreneurship, and the resilience needed to scale. For her, it’s crucial for emerging fashion talent to continuously listen to the feedback loop and use data to grow.  Dorcas is on a m...

From Tahiti to the global stage, Jessica Vaitiare Chin Foo shares her journey navigating entrepreneurship in the United States. She highlights how her French Polynesian heritage shapes her approach to business, the resilience required to overcome systemic challenges, and the importance of representation for diverse founders in creative industries. Jessica also emphasizes the importance of leading...

Peter Jeun Ho Tsang unpacks his top 5 key takeaways from the VC Series in conversation with Rohan Bansal. He unpacks: No set path into fashion and retail tech venture capital – success requires building relevant experience and perspective rather than specific qualifications. The power of networks and relationships, crucial for both founders and investors to opening doors for funding and partnershi...

Lack of Fashion & Retail Tech Funds: The fashion tech sector raised nearly $3 billion in 2024, yet there's a surprising lack of specialised VC funds focusing on this growing market despite proven exits and significant market potential. In this final guest episode with Rohan Bansal, he chats with Peter on what some of the blind spots are for many investors. The Struggle with Specialised VC Fund...

The Perfect Investor Pitch Deck: The perfect investor pitch deck combines storytelling, market understanding, and founder credibility to stand out in the competitive venture capital landscape. Venture capitalists typically spend just over three minutes reviewing each deck, with only 1% securing funding. In this episode Peter and Rohan breakdown what makes a great deck and the red flags that invest...

The Lifecycle of Fashion Tech Startups: This episode with guest speaker Rohan Bansal, he discussed with Beyond Form CEO Peter Jeun Ho Tsang the differences between early stage and growth stage companies and what it takes to secure funding at each level.  Early-stage v.s. Growth Stage Fashion Tech: • The lifecycle: Pre-seed rounds typically fund companies with just an idea, while seed rounds suppor...

Rohan's journey into the VC industry:  Rohan Bansal shares his journey into the venture capital world, sharing how his nomadic childhood across eight countries equipped him with the global perspective crucial for successful investing in fashion and retail tech. What you'll hear about VC investing: • Living in different countries provided Rohan with unique insights into market idiosyncrasies and co...

As we close out 2024, this year's final episode is joined by Yoobin Jung, a VC at Plug and Play, where she along with our host Peter break down the fashion tech booms and busts that happened throughout the year. They discuss: • AI's transformative impact on fashion design: Generative design tools are accelerating prototyping and reshaping brand identities, but raise ethical concerns about potentia...

We wrap up our 'Build It' podcast series with a reflective finale. Host Peter Jeun Ho Tsang tell us his top 5 key takeaways from navigating business growth, how to get through challenging times as a fashion tech startup, through to tech and humans coming together. This episode highlights the passionate voices featured throughout the series and how the call for a strategic collaboration between bra...

Setting Up a Fashion Store in the 90s: Today's episode we're with Afsal Koya, CEO of Raza Clothing which is a fashion store and label in the USA that uses AIMIRR's virtual try-on technology. Afsal's transformation from a computer scientist to a streetwear brand founder is an unusual one. We hear his journey that started in a small Ohio store back in 1992, Afsal shares how he navigated the evolving...

Fashion's Fit Dilemma: Today's episode features fashion garment technologist and fit expert Katy Schildmeyer. As online shopping increases, the challenge of ensuring accurate garment fit remains ever-present. Katy and Peter Jeun Ho discuss the pressing need for enhanced fashion education, particularly in the communication of fit and the creation of garments that cater to all body types, including...

What Failing in Fashion Looks Like: We welcome back Beatrice Newman, Head of Education at Beyond Form, where we discuss what it means to fail in fashion, what failure looks like, lessons that can be learned, and why it's still a taboo subject. Beatrice shares her personal failures whilst building her brand, Korlekie, from mis-understanding the customer to financing a commercial collection. Lessons...

MODE Pivots into Beyond Form Education: Beatrice Newman, the creative force behind online fashion education platform Mode, chats in this episode what it means to pivot a fashion business. Exclusively on today's episode she reveals the launch of Beyond Form Education, a groundbreaking initiative bridging the gap between academia and the fashion industry. Data-Driven Pivoting in the Fashion Industry...

Inheriting a traditional fashion factory in Pakistan: Raised amidst the rich tapestry of a family-owned garment production business, Shahid Butt now helms his father's empire Shahkam Industries in Lahore, Pakistan. This episode offers a unique perspective on the balancing act between maintaining cultural heritage and embracing the cutting-edge transformations shaping the garment industry today. Sh...

From Mumbai to Microsoft to Body Sizing: Today's episode feature's Pritesh Kanani, founder & CEO of AIMIRR. From his early days in Mumbai to steering technological advancements at Microsoft, we hear Pritesh's journey to developing virtual try-on solution. Initially kickstarted by his mother's wish to see his future wife in a wedding dress remotely, the solution came to life that is now deploye...

Launderd's Fundraising Journey: 12 months on since we heard how Chelsea Van De Kamp, founder of Launderd, planned to launch her fashion repair and restoration platform, she's now back on the show but this time with all guns blazing as she begins her fundraising journey. Chelsea shares why fundraising now is the right time for the company and her strategies for using storytelling to captivate inves...

The Financial Scam: Have you ever found yourself tangled in a financial scam, when all you were trying to do was fuel your entrepreneurial dreams? Brian Yurachek, the founder and CEO of New York Culture Club, reveals his own unfortunate experience with an advance fee scam during his quest for a business loan to finance his fashion tech startup. We unravel the emotional turmoil that Brian endured a...