Fourteen years ago we started PI Apparel with a simple idea. Put the people who create fashion product in one room with the technology changing how they work, then get out of the way.
PLM dominated the agenda in the early days. 3D was new, and there was a fair amount of FOMO about what a handful of brands seemed to be achieving with it. The reality was slower. Fashion hasn't historically been the quickest adopter of new technology.
PI Apparel back in 2013
Wonderfully, that community has stayed constant since 2013. Many of the same friends we made more than a decade ago still join us in various corners of the World.
A bit like watching your kids grow, it’s only when you look back that you realise quite how much the fashion industry has changed. It’s hard not to slip into cliche, but now, the pace of change is impossible to ignore. (The event world is notorious for ‘Exclusive opportunities’, ‘game changing insights’, ‘thought leaders’, ‘World class’, ‘leading’ etc etc. We are renowned for our hyperbole, so on behalf of all event organisers, I apologise).
Of course, AI is a significant driver of this rapid change. But even before that entered the fray, it felt - or perhaps was finally understood - that fashion’s business models were unavoidably shifting. Some of this is driven by technology adoption, some by ultrafast competition, some by consumer habits and social platforms, some by legislation demanding a technological solution.
What you’re saying
Over the past 18 months we have sat with brand leaders at global groups, at 30-person labels, with CFOs signing the cheques, with PLM consultants, design directors, chiefs of supply chain and with teams at the solution providers. The message has been consistent:
Functional excellence is critical, but now we need to think of value chain excellence.
A choice made in design ripples into sourcing, into planning, into how the product sells. The digital thread runs through every function, and the people responsible for each stage want a better view of the whole.
Generative AI has moved from demo to daily tool inside design and development teams. 3D and digital product creation have reached the point in some brands where the digital sample is the sample. The same asset now feeds sourcing and the product page. Regulation and trade have pulled sourcing and compliance into decisions design used to make alone. Digital product passports, traceability rules and tariff swings mean a fabric choice in month one becomes a margin and a legal question later in the year.
The Fashion Tech Show in 2027 is our reply. It will run in London in March and in New York in July, and we’re following the product across its whole creation lifecycle. Plan, Create, Supply, Sell, in one venue, over 2 days, with an executive programme for the leaders who own the outcome rather than a single function.
What is in it for you?
First, the whole team, one trip. If you lead product at a brand, you have spent years sending your DPC lead to one event, your sourcing director to another and your merchandise planner to a third. In 2027 you send the group to one event, divide into your respective sessions, then compare notes over a drink or two in the evening, and the decisions shaping the year get made with everyone present.
Second, the peer group. This is a curated, senior gathering of 500 leaders, deliberately smaller than the mega-shows. You meet the people who trialled the solution you are about to pilot, and they tell you off the record what worked and what did not. Executive roundtables are small, brand-led and built for honest conversation.
Third, the market in one place. PI tracks more than 900 solution providers across 41 categories, and the expo is curated from that base. Every solution provider worth evaluating across the four areas is at the event. Two days covers a season of discovery, so you and your peer group can evaluate what’s out there.
Why you should join us
Not every brand shares our view on technology's role in fashion, and some have unwound their digital teams. But the ones we see pulling ahead are experimenting their way towards end-to-end visibility of the product. AI in design, digital samples in sourcing, connected data in planning, and each season the loop closes a little tighter.
We think this gap compounds. Being a year behind on 3D is recoverable. Being behind on how design, sourcing and planning share data is harder to fix, because every season adds another layer of disconnected decisions.
Peer groups are how industries move. We have spent 14 years building these communities function by function. In 2027 we bring them together, because the problems they are working on no longer stop at a function's edge.
Tickets are now available for London and the waitlist is open for New York.
MarketKey Ltd
P.S. In an active buying cycle? Our Concierge Programme puts 14 years of solution provider knowledge to work on your challenge. Tell us the problem, and we line up the right solution providers for you across the two days. Less time researching, fewer wasted demos, and a better shot at the right decision.
Want to get involved, or have a topic you think the programme should cover? Message me on LinkedIn.
Will Milling
