'Covid has been a leveller for the industry': Charli Cohen on the new importance of tech in fashion

Charli Cohen's label lives at the intersection between fashion and tech. Here she speaks to Amelia Heathman about why a digital London Fashion Week is a no-brainer and how the pandemic has forced the industry to innovate
Designer Charli Cohen has been on lockdown in LA
Charli Cohen
Amelia Heathman10 June 2020

Designer Charli Cohen planned her first fashion collection at the age of 13 when she sailed with her parents to New Zealand. With this early training in confinement and isolation, getting through the Covid-19 lockdown isn’t too difficult.

“The longest period we would be at sea was about a month. There are a lot of similarities: things are very similar in how you create structure in your day and how you can self-entertain,” she explains. “But obviously it’s more limiting when you’re in the middle of the Pacific Ocean than it is here in LA where I can go to Whole Foods and grab some dinner – you have to catch dinner in the middle of the Pacific.”

Cohen launched her eponymous brand after graduating from a fashion degree at Kingston University seven years ago. Though her clothes are centred in the physical realm, her brand very much utilises digital to expand the stories around the products such as growing an online community via the mental health-focused platform and podcast Shades of Blue, to the responsibly produced technical textiles that make up the collection. A recent collaboration with Reebook saw Cohen design two sneakers featuring barcodes which lead to unique online content from the two brands.

It’s this blend of the physical and digital which saw Cohen move from London to LA in February to take part in the Snap Yellow accelerator programme. The parent company of the social network Snapchat launched the programme in 2018 as a way to invest and grow companies at the intersection between creativity and tech.

“We’ve always had a creative approach to building our product,” says Mike Su, head of the Yellow programme. “And we felt there were a lot of amazing programmes aimed at pure tech companies, there weren’t as many for folks at the intersection.”

Yellow takes place each year over 15 weeks between February and April and sees between nine and 10 early-stage start-up founders move to LA to work at the company’s Santa Monica-based HQ. Snap invests $150,000 in each company, along with workshops and mentorship from the company’s executives and partners.

From using Snapchat’s Discover platform to the app’s e-commerce features, as well as SnapKit and Lens studio to make augmented reality filters, the founders learn the tools they need to grow their companies. “It’s important to focus on the tech but it’s just as important to build discipline around brand-building and storytelling so we bring together experts from all these areas to round out the group,” explains Su.

Cohen's products feature bar codes which offer up digital content to the wearer
Charli Cohen

The 2020 Yellow programme was a little different to previous years in that the founders had four weeks in Santa Monica before the Covid-19 pandemic swept the US. That didn’t stop Su’s team however, as it ensured all the programming would remain the same for the founders regardless of their location. Cohen moved in with two other founders – Hardworkers, a LinkedIn-type community for blue-collar workers, and Veam, which allows teens to Airdrop memes to one another to start a conversation – but said the first IRL weeks were important for bonding.

“It’s a very motivating and inspiring environment to be in. By being in the Snap offices we had amazing access to such experienced and knowledgeable people in the same building which was very cool,” she explains.

One benefit of the quarantine was the types of external mentors and speakers that could take the time to chat to the founders via Zoom, who might not have been able to attend physically, such as entrepreneur Mark Cuban who held mini Shark Tank-style interviews with the founders.

Su says the pandemic has helped to test the resolve of the start-ups, which will make them stronger in the long term. “Having to adapt to this situation and being able to figure out your mission in light of a global pandemic .. these are things the companies have had to wrestle through. For the founders in this class, I think they’re battle-tested and I’ve been inspired to see their resolve and adapt their business.”

Indeed, digital and community have been two major topics during the past few months. Many fashion brands have struggled to pandemic-proof their supply chains, whereas, for Charli Cohen which manufactures limited quantities of each style in different locations around the globe as part of its sustainability mission, the brand has been able to continue operating. “We do our own warehousing and distribution so we’re quite fortunate because it means that one of the team can go and sort that out while remaining quarantined and self-isolating,” Cohen explains.

The brand has carried out Zoom-themed photo shoots in the lockdown
Charli Cohen

It’s also a time when more fashion brands have to embrace digital. The next iteration of London Fashion Week is due to take off in a few weeks, and it will be completely digital for the first time. “This whole Covid situation has been quite a leveller for the industry and been a way for smaller, more agile brands to stand out and innovate during this time.

“It’s just pushing everybody to be more creative. Taking fashion week digital makes a lot more sense: you have more reach, it’s much easier to make it a consumer event as well as an industry event.”

The barriers to entry are lower too, which benefits smaller brands like Cohen’s. “It’s a huge cost to put on a physical show, a huge crunch period to get everything ready for it. The return on investment gets worse every season,” she says.

Expect to see a lot more tech woven into the future of Charli Cohen. The brand is going to be working with leading games developers over the next few months to bring their intellectual property into physical products with augmented reality elements, along with in-game products. In addition, there are plans for a virtual reality fashion show in July focused on some of the mental health conversations from Shades of Blue. Snap has propelled AR to the public consciousness so it makes sense Cohen would utilise this type of tech following her time with the company.

“There’s so much potential - the importance for us is being able to have a story and a world around the product. With AR you can literally put it into the product,” she explains. “So if there’s a graphic on a garment, you can scan it and see the world come to life in the garment, through your phone. Or see how a garment is made and learn about the supply chain and that process.”

Understandably, it’s been tricky to balance running her brand back in London and the programme with LA, no small feat given the eight-hour time difference, and Cohen says she’s been busier in lockdown. The brand’s Instagram account has been running a live festival called Quaranstream featuring emerging artists who perform a live set and chat to their followers, including UK artist Britney Long and Nadya from Pussy Riot. Another start-up from Yellow, a webcomic named Tubby Nugget, carried out live drawing requests via Instagram Live.

“You do what you’ve got to do I think. I felt like this is something I should be doing so I made space for it.”

The brand's Instagram has been running online festivals in lockdown
Charli Cohen

Though the Yellow programme has since finished, complete with a showcase that saw the founders pitch to 100+ investors via an online stream, thanks to Snap’s equity investment, Su says the relationship goes on. “We want to continue supporting these companies throughout their lifetime. To have that equity stake, it aligns us well to building towards their fortune and forces us to take a more holistic view on how they grow as a company.”

For start-ups thinking about applying to Yellow next year, Su says they’re ready for whatever happens. “The good news is we’ve figured out how to run a programme remotely so we’re prepared for that. But it’s still early to say. We have to think like start-ups: be nimble, read the circumstances and adjust accordingly.”

Cohen’s advice? Product is important but so is your passion. “Everybody is really passionate about the problem they’re solving and I think that is really fundamental to how the selections are made.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in