The CFDA names Accenture the Official Innovation Partner of the CFDA Retail Lab

By

Obi Anyanwu

Published
Jan 19, 2017

The CFDA on Thursday announced that Accenture, a leading global professional services company, has been named the Official Innovation Partner of the CFDA Retail Lab. The two organizations will create talent-development programs for designers and retailers to promote fashion’s next generation of talent.

Accenture and the CFDA, the Council of American Fashion Designers, will develop a series of hypotheses on the future of the fashion customer experience and test these ideas in live pilots with CFDA members. The collaboration will allow for Accenture to create solutions for its clients, and for the CFDA to gain insights that will prove valuable for its members.
 
In addition, as the first Official Innovation Partner of the CFDA Retail Lab, Accenture will work closely with the Lab’s emerging fashion designers and provide business knowledge and digital skills that are commonplace in the current retail market.

“The CFDA represents the fabric of the fashion industry and has been instrumental in giving emerging talent a series of platforms to gain real-world business and retail experience,” said Jill Standish, senior managing director of Retail at Accenture. “Working together with such a prestigious organization, we can help these designers acquire highly sought-after digital skills needed for them to be at the forefront of industry innovation, grow their businesses and drive tangible business results.”
 
Fjord, the design and innovation unit of Accenture Interactive and Accenture Labs, will support the new collaboration by inviting designers to its New York design studio to test technologies like artificial intelligence and virtual reality. The new initiatives will be combined with CFDA+, the CFDA’s virtual talent lab, to connect designers with design and innovation capabilities.

CFDA+ combines CFDA membership and its Educational Initiatives communities to strengthen the transition between education and industry, and it services over 500 CFDA members who recruit from a talent pool of graduates every year.