A lot happened in 2020, and a lot changed amidst the global pandemic. One of those things was a huge shift towards a more tech-use, democratic, and sustainable future. This also included the fashion industry.
Cattytay and Leonne-Elliot Young joined forces to launch IoDF, or the Institute of Digital Fashion, which has the goal of reframing, or changing, a broken system.
The two founders are known to be industry leads, and they met whilst speaking on a Dazed panel for the London Fashion Week as they were discussing the future of (digital) fashion. Both frustrated with the industry, they started brainstorming, which would eventually lead to rewriting the semantics of fashion.
Source: Show Studio
Cattytay is a digital fashion pioneer, a self-taught, London-based 3D designer. Whilst working as Head of Digital Fashion and Fabrication at Merlin, they turned their attention to the digital world, becoming immersed within the 3D metaverse, and soon was established as a dominant force. Leanne Elliott Young on the other hand is an industry lead, innovator, highly sought-after commentator recognized globally, on the topics of fashion futures, digital innovations, inclusivity in tech, sustainability, fashion-tech, and industry disruption.
The patriarchal structures in tech, the lack of diversity, the failures in innovation, the insipid activations in the fash-tech space, Fashion Weeks’ inaccessibility, the questionable sustainable practices, and how there is a need to demystify digital craft an artisan are all things that were discussed in their conversation.
This lead to the birth of IoDF, set up to solve fashion’s archaic structures by creating a merger of new ideas, POV’s, ethos, teams, and communities, becoming an institute to mark solidly a new venture and new era of fashion. This is not just a solution to sell more clothes, but disrupt the way the system concepts, produces, creates, broadcasts, educates, and demands.
Source: The Dots
The two have gotten loads of praise from the industry’s biggest players, both individually as together. Examples are:
“Cattytay is changing the course of fashion.” – Love Magazine
“One of 50 creatives who are shaping the next 50 years.” – Highsnobiety
Besides all this praise, they’ve been very successful in racking up quite some accolades on their path. Additionally, they’ve reeled in tons of clients and also have a vast array of partners to work with, and even have academia on their side. These range from Highsnobiety, Balenciaga, Dazed Magazine, and London College of Fashion, quite big names in the fashion industry.
It’s safe to say they’re on the right path and we’re very excited and curious to see how they will continue to innovate the fashion industry. Go check out their website to find out more!
