A Fashionable Business Game
What are the right characteristics of a fashion startup that plans to enter the market in the coming years? It should be innovative, cost-conscious and dynamic. But, above all, it will have to factor in two fundamental aspects, without which it will be difficult to find investors ready to support the budding startup: digital propensity and sustainability. Taking these constraints into account, the students of Entrepreneurship and Strategic Innovation in the Fashion Industry, the course directed by Stefania Saviolo, competed as teams (14 groups of 4-5 students each) with the task of launching a sustainable fashion startup in collaboration with the global accelerator Startupbootcamp.
"We have developed proprietary software called FAST, which is a business game simulator. On the software, students can see in real time the impact of every business decision", explains Stefania Saviolo," in terms of market positioning, business model, marketing. The simulator provides them with a series of indicators that are obviously calibrated on the fashion industry. The students have collaborated online, and there was a chat line with Elisabetta Marafioti, me and the other instructors of the course, who gave advice, addressed doubts but also raised problems". But the students also had another important source of support at their disposal. "Stefano Galassi, Bocconi alumnus and managing director of Startupbootcamp Global Fashion Tech, presented to them the startups that are accelerating in the fashion sector worldwide, explaining their path and the difficulties they encountered", explains Saviolo. "Furthermore, Galassi himself gave a lecture to the class on the industry's megatrends on which it is worth betting".
An online platform where you can buy a customized look and, moreover, build your wardrobe in a way that keeps track not only of the items that are being purchased, but also of those that are already in your possession: this is, in short, the winning idea that allowed Maria Antonietta D'Amico, Cristina Andreatini, Giulia Di Conza and Lucia Gaboardi to win first place in the competition. "A project that was really appreciated for its pragmatism", explains Maria Antonietta D'Amico, enrolled in the third year of the BSc in Business Administration and Management, "because it was considered that it was ready for implementation and that it gave a great value to the concept of experientiality. From our point of view, however, the competition has allowed us to simulate how a startup is built, the steps you have to go through and how to immediately measure your market response". Beyond who came first or second, however, the competition has a value that will certainly be useful in the future for students, explains Stefania Saviolo: "In summary, it can be said that this competition brings together some of the great challenges that await us", the professor continues, "such as sustainability and digital. But not only that, the most important thing is that it prepares young people for a future in which work, rather than sought, must be created".
"The greatest resource that can exist is young talent. This is why we strongly believe in fostering a dialogue with the best universities in the world, with which we share the vision of an open innovation ecosystem that can help transform the industry where we operate internationally through Global Fashion Tech", says Stefano Galassi. "As a Bocconi alumnus it is a great honor and pleasure for me to teach and learn from new generations of this great University, a symbol of innovation and culture".