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Is Lumen pioneering a fashion movement away from fast fashion?
Fast fashion is something that despite being horrible for the planet is not going away any time soon. Fast fashion for a plethora of reasons is a fashion system that continues to be supported by consumers despite the ongoing growth in textile waste. Fast fashion has its pros but an excessive amount of cons. In recent times, Canadian fashion brand Lumen Couture has developed technology and fashion that can cater to the pros of fast fashion while actively eliminating the cons. This is what the Matrix Collection embodies.
What is Lumen Couture?
In 2012, Lumen Couture was founded by Canadian CEO Chelsea Kluklas. Lumen Couture is a brand that is part of the Canadian Initiative Make Fashion. Lumen Couture creates runway garments to focus on conceptual prototypes of innovative fashion, pushing the boundaries of creativity and technological capabilities. Lumen Couture seeks to redefine the industry and address its pollutant crisis by developing technology to further sustainable and ready-to-wear garments.
Lumen Couture is widely known to host events such as their annual MakeFashion runway gala in Calgary, Alberta. At this gala, Lumen Couture presents prototypes that display futuristic garment capabilities to their audience which provokes thoughts on how fashion can evolve with technology.
The Iconic Dua Who’s Pushing the Boundaries
A brand as innovative and creative as Lumen Couture comes equipped with a pair of brilliant and creative minds who share a common drive in evolving the fashion industry through technology to be sustainable. Chelsea KIuklas and Chris Corner are the brains behind this wonderful fashion venture that’s transforming how we look in our clothes.
Chris Corner is a telecom engineer, and entrepreneur who plays a vital role in connecting businesses like Lumen Couture to their desired consumer. Comer is the CEO of his own telecommunications company where he strategically converts these connections into sales.
Chelsea Kluklas is the creative and technological powerhouse behind Lumen Couture. She has an impressive resume that goes beyond her role as CEO for Lumen Couture and Makes Fashion. Kluklas has been linked to companies like Facebook and Oculus VR. The University of Calgary alumni has been able to produce designs that have been globally consumed and recognized in places such as New York and Rome.
The Matrix Collection
Lumen Couture’s Matrix collection is unlike the average trendy fashion collection. The Matrix collection is particularly special due to its unique ability to adapt to whatever the wearer desires. With panels made of thin LED lights and technology that gives you the capability to alter the design of a garment with the touch of a smartphone. This technology allows the wearer to connect via Bluetooth and alter colors, prints, and even video through their phone.
Why Is This So Important?
The Matrix collection and Lumen Couture’s fashion garments are significant game-changers in the current day of fashion. In the last decade, fast fashion has continuously contributed to the decay of our ozone layer and so many other elements of our earth. Fast fashion changes and evolves with trends at a rate that has been proven to be incredibly unsustainable. With the Matrix collection, consumers can reject the harmful need to end the lifecycle of their garments prematurely by investing into the Matrix collection where they will be able to alter the appearance of their clothing through the use of LED panels and Bluetooth technology.
The Collection
Aside from the groundbreaking technology used to craft this special collection, the Matrix collection has more to offer beyond the boundaries of futuristic technology. It offers unique and minimal silhouette designs as well as accessories that offer plenty of versatility. The collection currently consists of the following six pieces:
The LED Matrix Choker
The LED matrix choker is an accessory fit for any outfit. The choker has an equalizer mode feature that allows the lights to respond to the beat in any design you choose from the app. This includes writing text, drawing your own pattern, or choosing from a library of presets uniquely designed for clothing provided by Lumen Couture.
The LED Matrix Facemask
If there is one accessory everyone in 2021, it’s the obligatory facemask. With the pandemic still impacting our everyday essentials. A fun opportunity to add some dimension to this essential item would be the LED Matrix facemask, where similar to all the other pieces in the collection, you have the ability to change the style of the mask through your phone. Most importantly, the mask has the ability to remove the LED panel and battery to allow for proper sanitation and to optimize breathing capabilities. These facemasks also served a charitable purpose as the sales made in the months of April, May and June went towards the WHO Covid-19 Relief fund, which raised a total of $4,500.
The LED Matrix Hoodie
Graphic clothing is always a fun and casual way to add personality to your wardrobe. Graphic t-shirts and hoodies have become the average consumer’s obsession over the last decade and one just can never seem to collect enough. That changes with the LED Matrix Hoodie. This hoodie gives you the opportunity to combine all those desired graphics onto one piece of clothing through the use of your phone!
The Matrix Skirt
Concluding the Matrix collection is the Matrix Skirt. The Matrix Skirt features the option of a sheer overlay to add some extra dimension and movement to the classic-fitting pencil skirt. Similar to all the previously mentioned pieces in the Matrix Collection the Matrix skirt comes in black and is accompanied by white LED panel lighting.
What Does this Mean for the Future?
Trends and artistic expression are not leaving the fashion industry anytime soon. In fact it could be argued that they are an essential part of the fashion system itself where the industry would crumble with its absence. With the technology behind Lumen Couture’s Matrix Collection, the possibility to indulge in the ever changing fashion trends in the industry while not actually buying and discarding a surplus amount of clothes for once actually seems plausible.