Interview with Anna Franziska Michel, CEO & founder of YOONA Technology

Just translating my creativity into fashion designs was not enough for me. After a short time it seemed pointless to simply produce more clothes. All in all, the clothing industry creates so much garbage in small and large fashion companies (100 billion tons of newly produced garments worldwide), or the consumer simply throws his clothes away after wear­ing them for a short time (4.3 billion tons worldwide) because they are not valued at all. I was looking for a team, and together with the Department of Business Informatics at the HTW a research group on artificial intelligence in the fashion industry. It was here that I set the basic building blocks for YOONA technology and yooneeque. Neural networks can be perfectly used to shorten and simplify design processes. I believe that with new disruptive technologies in fashion a lot can be changed and, above all, more sustain­ability can be achieved.

Artificial intelligence performs a data analysis and creates new data based on the previous analysis. The YOONA algorithm is trained with design data, i.e. technical drawings, prints, moodboards or cut pieces. Then the YOONA generator starts to create new designs. The YOONA discriminator recognizes exactly which designs are in the style of the material which has been learned. Then hundreds of new designs can be created in a few seconds. At yooneeque, YOONA technology works with my own design material that I have created as a designer.

Since January 2018 I have been regularly showing the latest results of my work at Berlin Fashion Week. The designs have been shown on avatars since July 2019, and in January 2020 it will also be possible to dive into a virtual yooneeque world with virtual reality glasses. I always look forward to presenting our work in a public setting. My vision is the holistic dig­itization of the design process. The path is the goal - every step in this direction means a step towards changing the fashion industry. I also always look forward to the get-together after the show. There are always many questions to answer.

At the moment we are selecting existing avatars. The cuts of the designs are assembled and the avatar is dressed digitally. The garment is already finished. We can see what the design and the cut look like on the person and don't have to create prototypes first.

I think that many presentations or shows will look like this in the future. The technology will continue to evolve, so that by incorporating the various possibilities such as VR and AR it will soon be possible to reproduce the designs realistically. We always show two realized designs that you can touch. In future, something simply has to change in the infinite produc­tion of clothing. And a step in this direction can also be taken with the change of shows.

In 2019, I was selected by the British Embassy as Germany's delegate for Women in Technology to participate in London Tech Week, by the TechCode Innovation Center to participate in Nanjing Tech Week, and by #WER - Women Entrepreneur Roadshow - to participate in the programme. We are also pleased to say that we have been nomi­nated by the Media Tech Hub Potsdam to launch the program in the Accelerator as of January 2018. And of course I'm thrilled to have won the Digital Female Leader Award in the Innovation category and to be honoured with a special distinction by the Lucky Strike Award. But most of all, we are delighted that we have started working with com­panies like Ernstings Family, Mey and Vaude. Berlin is the start-up capital of Germany. In 2019, the most start-ups nationwide were founded here. As a fashion location, Berlin creates opportunities for further development. I have such a great network in Berlin. This symbiosis is unique. My university (HTW Berlin) also supports me a lot. But what is very important, what drives me and never lets me stop, is my vision in which I firmly believe. With a holistic digitization of the design process we can create a great impact, more efficiency and customer focus in the fashion industry.

We are looking forward to our Fashion Week events in January 2020, which will not only include the show, on January 16^th at 7 pm, but also a workshop, on the 17^th at 12 noon, and a panel discussion, on the 17^th at 7 pm. I am conducting the panel discus­sion for the tenth time during Fashion Week. I have put a great YOONA team together, and I hope that we will continue to cooperate so well in 2020 and that our team will grow with more great people who want to change things. And I am also looking for­ward to seeing the YOONA community get bigger and that we will change the future together.