TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION HONOREE
RAM SAREEN, TUKATECH INC.
Trendsetters change the way business is done… and Ram Sareen of Tukatech has changed the way design rooms and production departments work. The way Sareen’s Tukatech engineers the process, incorporates shared knowledge, and uses current, new technology has genuinely revolutionized the ‘fit’ process. Tukatech’s technology has enabled the industry and its educational institutions to become ‘trendsetters’ on their own, by being the first to develop technologies for 3D and ‘avatar’ fitting methods.
Sareen founded Tukatech Inc. in 1997 and serves as its Chief Executive Officer. Sareen is widely considered one of the top apparel specialists in the world, with over 45 years of expertise in apparel. His fashion industry history includes work with London Fog and Gerber Technologies. Sareen also co-founded Styku, LLC, a 3D retail measurement system and serves as its Chairman. He was named as one of the “top 20 influentials” in the California garment industry in two separate years.
Tukatech is now the garment and apparel industry’s leading provider of fashion technology solutions. The company offers award-winning 2D pattern making, grading, and marker making software, automated marker making software, 3D sample making/digital development software, as well as garment plotters, and automatic spreaders and cutters for production. All systems include unlimited training, consulting, process engineering, and implementation. The capabilities of Tukatech’s technology remain unparalleled in the fashion industry, and all of its products are offered at affordable prices, with some systems available for rent.
Sareen has been at the forefront of product development technology for more than 20 years, and has been the primary mover of 3D display and virtual reality availability within the PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) discipline. Since the inception of apparel industry usage, Tukatech has seen the greatest innovations and has the largest “international” reach for design and product development interaction between the companies in Los Angeles and their global suppliers.
FINALIST: ADAM GOLDENBERG, TechStyle Fashion Group
Adam Goldenberg started an advertising network of gaming sites called Gamers Alliance while in high school, and at the age of 17 sold the business to Intermix Media. Shortly after joining Intermix, Goldenberg was named COO, becoming the youngest COO of a publicly traded company. He built Intermix into the number one entertainment destination online and one of the internet’s first performance marketing companies. Following the acquisition of Intermix by News Corp. in 2006 for more than $650 million, he partnered with his longtime colleague, Don Ressler, to launch Intelligent Beauty, an e-commerce brand incubator platform.
In 2010, the duo founded JustFab Inc., later renamed to TechStyle Fashion Group, to reimagine the business of fashion through data, personalization and vertical integration to benefit the modern shopper. Today TechStyle offers a unique shopping experience to more than four million VIP Members through a portfolio of brands including JustFab, Fabletics, ShoeDazzle and Fabkids. In just over six years, TechStyle has become one of the fastest-growing fashion companies in the world.
FINALIST: MARK WILLINGHAM, Agent Inc.
Mark Willingham’s Agent Inc. is completely re-imaging the multi-billion dollar modeling industry; creating efficiencies, transparency, opportunity and a safer work environment that supports diversity and empowers models with the tools and knowledge to successfully manage and grow their careers.
Agent Inc. disrupts major talent-related verticals, which have traditionally relied on agents to book and manage jobs between clients and talent. The Agent platform already has in excess of 5,000 registered models. Agent streamlines the booking process by efficiently connecting talent with clients. For the companies hiring models, Agent offers companies more diversity and overall options than a traditional modeling agency. Agent provides real value to both sides of the marketplace, empowering companies to efficiently find and book highly vetted models in minutes by utilizing powerful, granular search filers. The Agent platform is free to use and a small fee of 5% is only charged to companies once they have completed a job and electronically paid the model.
