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Matt Drinkwater

@matthewdrinkwater

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Director @fashioninnovationagency @lcflondon_
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Travel x Technology x Fashion
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What a night on the eve of @londonfashionweek at @juls.london with friends of fashion week, British press and a gathering of international creatives and leaders ✨
I was lucky enough to meet Eva Kruse, founder of @cphfw and @beewild.campaign earlier this year. I shared how what she has built for the Nordics is what I’d love to see happening in Ireland when it comes to infrastructure and funding for fashion, bringing the industry to the highest standard of sustainability whilst giving it the support to grow and employee people locally.
Over the last months we worked on creating a moment to celebrate all of the beautiful things in fashion: collaboration, creativity and if we really take the time, conservation 🌱 Alongside @irelandfashionweek designer and Ireland’s first @bcorporation certified fashion house @aoife_ireland, we launched their capsule collection of Donegal tweed hats with the signature @beewild.campaign bee 🐝
Thank you Eva, @flyambassador and everyone who helped make the magic happen!

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The Fashion in the Wild Supper Series 🐝

An intimate evening in Mayfair, London, celebrating Irish creativity and sustainability on the eve of London Fashion Week.

Co-hosting with @aoife_ireland, this edition of our supper series was a special experience at @juls.london with bee:wild.campaign founder Eva Kruse - also the founder of Copenhagen Fashion Week - and Ireland’s first BCorp certified designer, @aoifemcnamara, to launch their limited-edition collaboration.

At its heart, this collaboration surrounds a hat crafted in Ireland from Donegal woven wool, hand embroidered with a bumblebee motif in support of bee:wild.campaign mission to protect wild bees and the ecosystems they sustain.

Guests enjoyed a welcome drink from @coole_swan, wines from @aixrose.official, goodie bags from @wearebanor, and a moment to choose their hat - celebrating the shared belief that creativity can be a powerful vehicle for positive change.

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AI is going to make us more human than ever.

I’ve gotten real backlash for saying this in the past. But I do fundamentally believe it.

Last week, I got to explain exactly why, on camera, in a documentary filmed at London College of Fashion with Matthew Drinkwater, Director of the Fashion Innovation Agency. Will be LIVE in September. 🎬

A glimpse of what I brought to the conversation:

AI has consumed everything we’ve ever created, and it recombines it back to us. By definition, it’s retrospective. It optimizes toward the mean.

And in luxury, the mean is extinction.

That’s precisely why this technology can save creativity rather than destroy it.

The principle I work with: the Human Sandwich 🥪

You start with a curator’s eye: what world are we building, what feeling do we want to create? AI executes and explores at a scale no human team could match. Then a human returns with taste and judgment to decide what’s worthy of the name.

Human judgment isn’t the soft skill but rather the foundation.

Coming soon!

@matthewdrinkwater
@lcflondon_
@ash.mcdonnell

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A day well spent at the @lcflondon_ with a special project going live in September about the intersection of fashion and technology 📹 ✨

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AI can make 100 designs before lunch. But which one is actually worth producing?

In our final LinkedIn Live Demo of the season, @anna_franziska_michel and Volker (CTO of yoona) are showing you how to use AI Agents to:

☑️ Instantly research current market and sales signals
☑️ score and evaluate a product concept
☑️ understand what may be helping or hurting it
☑️ quickly improve the design before you spend money on a sample

You’ll see the workflow live, from product idea to evaluation to design update.

We’re very excited to be joined by @matthewdrinkwater Director of the @fashioninnovationagency at @lcflondon_ and a jury member for this season’s AI Design Award.

If you’ve been unsure of where to start with #AIAgents, here’s your chance to get test the waters with some intuitive AI tools. You don’t need to be a techie to reap the time and cost saving benefits of AI.

After this session, you’ll understand how AI agents can take a product from initial concept to market-informed evaluation and improvement, before production decisions become expensive. Bring your questions. We’ll answer them live.

Live today, June 23 at 5 PM CET on LinkedIn 💜
Link in stories.

#FashionTech #FashionDesign #ProductDevelopment #FashionAI

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“The future belongs to creators blending emotional storytelling with technical expertise.”

Meet @MatthewDrinkwater, Director of the @fashioninnovationagency at @lcflondon_, and a very special member of this season’s international AI Product Design Award jury 💜

Matthew is a world-renowned authority on emerging technologies in the creative industries, specializing in immersive technology and AI. His work explores the evolving relationship between human creativity and machine intelligence, and what that means for creativity, identity, and reality.

He is also a longtime friend of our founder @anna_franziska_michel. They have been part of the fashion-tech conversation together for years, long before AI became as present in the industry as it is today.

Recognized by Wired as a “pioneer and a visionary” and by Drapers as a “fashion-tech trailblazer,” Matthew also represents the creative sector on the UK Government’s Technical Working Group on AI and Copyright and serves on Innovate UK’s Bridge AI Advisory Board.

What is he hoping to see from this year’s applicants?
“Seeing global talent use AI for hybrid digital-physical concepts shows us exactly how fashion will express itself tomorrow.”

Matthew will be looking beyond AI-generated imagery alone, toward concepts that combine technical experimentation with emotional resonance, strong storytelling, and a clear vision for how products might move between physical and digital worlds.

Tomorrow is your final chance to apply and pitch in front of international jury members like Matthew during the yoona AI Summit with @VentureCafeBerlin at @CICBerlin on June 25, either in person or virtually.

Matthew is also joining us for our next and final LinkedIn Live of the season on Tuesday, June 23, exploring AI Agents, creativity, and the future of product creation. Stay tuned for the invite 👀

Applications close Monday, June 22 at 12 PM CET. Apply and learn more via the link in bio.

Join us for the live final on June 25: https://luma.com/gdhc0zb8

#DesignChallenge #AIProductDesign #FashionTech #FashionInnovation #DesignChallenge

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In-and-out LDN with frens ‘n’ places of old and new 🩷

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Deadline extended 💜 Applications for the AI Product Design Award now close Saturday, June 20 at 12 PM CET.

We’ve received some thoughtful questions from applicants, and we wanted to take a little more time to answer them properly while giving everyone space to finish strong.

Create an AI-assisted product line with yoona.ai and compete to:

🏆 Claim the title of Summer 2026 Worldwide AI Design Award champ
⚡ €3,900 worth of AI access, including specialized AI agents 🤝 1:1 mentorship with participating jury members 🎤 A live finalist pitch at the yoona AI Summit 🌍 International visibility, press coverage, and promotion ⚡ Six months of yoona.ai Premium for all three finalists

The challenge is open worldwide across fashion, accessories, footwear, jewelry, lifestyle, furniture, homeware, consumer goods, retail, ecommerce, and more. Finalists can pitch in Berlin or join virtually.
The live final takes place on June 25 at @cicberlin as part of the @venturecafeberlin Thursday Gathering, in front of our international jury and the wider fashion, product, ecommerce, and technology community.

Still have a question about eligibility, your submission, or using yoona.ai? Please reach out by Friday afternoon so we have time to get back to you before applications close.

Applications close Saturday, June 20 at 12 PM CET.
Apply and learn more via the link in bio.

And we’d love to have you join us at the yoona AI Summit on June 25: https://luma.com/gdhc0zb8

#DesignChallenge #CreativeAI #ProductDesign #FashionTech AIFashionDesign

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Yesterday I attended an amazing event hosted by the @fashioninnovationagency at @lcflondon_ , UAL, all about the future of Fashion & AI.

Hearing from inspiring speakers from @francesca_cutecircuit CuteCircuit, @james_chorley Gymshark, @marcomarchesi The Fabricant, @jimmychoo , @jaded_man London, and @lcflondon_ was such a valuable experience. The conversations covered AI, ethics, creativity, original vs synthetic images, digital fashion, and what the future of our industry might look like.

My biggest takeaway? Technology will continue to evolve, but creativity remains at the heart of everything. As creatives, we can't stop creating—we need to keep learning, adapting, and growing alongside new technologies. Just as computers transformed the world, AI is becoming another tool that will shape how we work and create.

Feeling inspired, challenged, and excited about what's ahead. 🚀✨

#FashionAI #FashionInnovation #DigitalFashion #FashionTech #AI Creativity FutureOfFashion LondonCollegeOfFashion UAL CreativeIndustry LearningNeverStops

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Tbh, I didn’t start yoona to build another design tool. I started it because fashion and consumer goods industries are still burning through people, money, materials, and space to create products nobody really asked for 🙃
That’s why the AI Product Design Award exists.

Because AI should do more than make beautiful images. It should help us ask better questions earlier:
Who is this for? Why now? What does the market actually need? How can this become stronger before it takes up real resources in the world?

This year, we’re expanding beyond fashion into product design across accessories, jewelry, footwear, homeware, furniture, lifestyle, you name it.

We’re looking for people using AI not as a shortcut, but as a way to think, test, refine, and build with more intention.

The winner receives €3,900 worth of AI access, mentorship from our international jury, promotion, and the chance to pitch live on stage in Berlin.

But honestly, the bigger prize is the room: the jury, the network, the conversations, and the people who care about where product creation is going next 🚀

If you’re building at the edge of AI and product design, I hope you apply 💜

Applications close June 18 at 12 PM CET.
Apply via the link in bio.

Join us June 25 in Berlin for the yoona AI Summit.

#AIFashion #ProductDesign #CreativeAI #FutureOfRetail #DesignChallenge

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The winner of Manufacturing Futures Innovation Challenge Prize 2026 is Pulpatronics!

The London-based company won over the judges with their fully recyclable, metal-free RFID tags that reduce carbon emissions, costs and electronic waste in inventory management.

This year's runners-up are Tera Mira, a material science startup developing a compostable seaweed-based alternative to conventional elastane, and Danu Water, whose technology closes on-site water loops to help manufacturers reduce freshwater use. Highly commended was awarded to Infinity Blue, which recovers indigo from denim waste to reimagine colour as a continuously regenerative resource.

The winner and runners-up were announced by Shailja Dube, Deputy Director of the Institute of Positive Fashion, BFC, at a special awards ceremony last night at ALFI in Spitalfields Market. Speakers also included: Vanessa Perez Sanchez, London & Partners; Nathalie Lethbridge, EIT Culture & Creativity and Tom Adeyoola, Innovate UK.

Pulpatronics receives a cash prize of £15,000, alongside a year-long desk membership at The Trampery Fish Island Village, UKFT membership, legal support from Bates Wells, advisory hours from Chelsea Franklin Studio, and branding and communications guidance from Westbrook. Each runner-up receives £5,000 and access to the same package of support.

Huge thank you to our incredible judging panel: Adam Mansell (UKFT), Georgia Parker (Fashion For Good), Lauren Bartley (GANNI), Philly Grogan (Nobody's Child) and Matthew Drinkwater (UAL: London College of Fashion).

Congratulations to all four companies - the future of manufacturing is in good hands!

--
@infinity___blue
@weareinnovateuk
@eit_culture_creativity
@thetrampery
@ukftorg
@westbrookagency
📸: @alistair_veryard_photography

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Looking back on a great Tuesday night!

After a full day of final pitches and campaign shooting, Manufacturing Futures 2026 start-ups and judges and Kim Howells, Creative Director of the Fashion District Showcase this June, and her team gathered at Double O Martini Bar to round off the day.

Stay tuned for our designer announcements coming soon.

--
📷: @davebenett
@doubleomartinibar

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A week in space….or as close as I’ll get for now!

What an amazing shoot, thanks to a great crew - I love it when the pieces finally come together! The results will be incredible - stay tuned!!

Thank you for trusting me @ciesciesbaby you were amazing!! ✨

(fave thing about this industry is that there’ll always be someone on set who loves The Matrix as much as I do)

Pics by @wilhelm.schenk @matthewdrinkwater @ashleyjkeeler

#movementdirection #virtualproduction #volumetriccapture #fashion #thereisnospoon

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