June 26 at Ivanovo at the project site «Boiling point», located in the largest shopping and entertainment center in the Ivanovo region «Silver City», a group of companies "Russian Investments" with the support of the international communication group Publicis Communications summed up the results of Russia's first program of intensive development of new fashion technologies, light industry and retail Retail & Fashion Accelerator.

 «Today we are concerned about fairly rapid changes in the retail market. The relationship between the consumer and the manufacturer is changing, and the younger the buyer, the more inclined he is to use modern technologies. Going to the mall is becoming more and more entertainment for him. That is why we are interested in those projects that will help us attract additional visitors to the mall, and we want to acquire new technologies that can make the buying process more modern.

Nikita Likhachev, Managing Director of SEC "Silver City"

The acceleration program was held in Moscow with the assistance of the communication agency Publicis Communications. For ten days, the participants worked through each component of their project, formed a value proposition, tested user hypotheses, built a business model and structured use cases for accelerator partners. During the program, entrepreneurs managed to work with the best practices of the industry and agree on cooperation with such Russian companies as Faberlic, SELA, 1001 dresses and many others. Project participants were able to enrich their baggage of competencies and skills with project experts, such as Juicy Canione, Managing Director of Fashion Technology Accelerator in Milan, Juliana Gordon, founder of the iWENGO School of e-commerce, Anna Leibsak-Kleimans, CEO of Fashion Consulting Group, and other fashion industry authorities. 

The final stage of the accelerator was DemoDay at "Boiling point" ASI Ivanovo, where the projects presented their final presentations in the format of a competitive selection. A rich business program and a public talk were also held at the site.

According to the results of the accelerator, the four best projects received the opportunity of test integration on the site of the Silver City shopping center . The first place was taken by the CountSensor project, which is able to assess the distribution of customer traffic in the trading floor and identify their preferences. The second place was shared by the projects SuitApp, which provides services of a virtual stylist, and VidiGuide, which provides interaction between buyers and tenants on the shopping center site using beacons. The third place was awarded to the TRY.FIT project, which allows customers to choose the most suitable shoes in size and model based on the comparison of 3D models of shoe pads and human feet.

"As part of the accelerator, we wanted to gain excellent experience, build relationships with industrial partners, convey the idea of production and possible implementation of the project. As a result, we reached preliminary agreements on pilot testing of the development at various retail sites in St. Petersburg, Moscow and, as is now known, in Ivanovo.

Alexander Pinchuk, co-founder of the project VidiGuide.

Two more accelerator projects have received unique opportunities to interact with international partners. The chance to become a member of the international accelerator Fashion Technology Accelerator in Milan was given to a project implementing digital 3D solutions for the production and sale of clothing. Participation in an international internship in Palo Alto, USA, will be taken by Sponsero – a platform of marketing influence through opinion leaders in Instagram.

Infrastructural support from partners and organizers of the accelerator in the development of the startup will improve every aspect of strategic development and provide conditions for entering the markets of Russia and abroad.