ATTENTION: This session requires advance signup to attend. For Online Schedule: Please utilize the RSVP link below the description to reserve your seat. For SXSW GO App: Use the RSVP 'Find a Timeslot' link. You must have a SXSW Interactive, Gold, or Platinum badge to attend, and, you must have an activated SXsocial account (social.sxsw.com) to reserve a seat. If you have any issues with signing up, please email support@sxsw.com. VERY IMPORTANT: Because of the limited space, we recommend you arrive at least 15 minutes prior to the published start time of this session. If you have not checked in at the room you RSVPed for at least five minutes prior to the session start time, you may lose your seat to an attendee in the waiting list line.

The fashion and retail industries are being rapidly transformed by the adoption of new solutions and technologies, often developed from early-stage startups. Want to know who are among the best today? Simon, one of the world’s leading retail development companies and innovators in the industry, will guide the audience through a discussion of brand new ideas in fashion & retail discovered through a startup competition created for SXSW.

In partnership with Decoded Fashion, Simon decided to search for new innovative startups enhancing the omni-channel retail experience: in-store tech, wearables, ecommerce (omni-brands), personalization, data analytics, marketing, rewards, delivery and mobile payments. The result is an overview on where the industry is today.

You will learn their five top picks from startup pitching sessions held on the day before at the Decoded Fashion Lounge, hear about each startup and reveal the one early-stage startup they believe is the one to watch in 2015.