Futureproofing Your Business

Thursday night, 1871 joined UINQLO at their Michigan Avenue Global Flagship Store in kicking off their Chicago Made: Innovating for Tomorrow series.  This free series of four event that covers topics on global tech trends, sustainability, retail, and social impact.  Every Thursday though March 1, the series will feature 1871's senior executives and key members of the community who will speak and participate at each event.  This marks the second collaboration between 1871 and UNIQLO to create a shopping experience that is specifically tailored to the Chicago community.

"We're honored to once again join UNIQLO in an effort to drive engagement and value for the innovators and designers in our community. Working closely with UNIQLO, we're able to share our knowledge on relevant tech and business matters with the creators and pioneers who embody the same entrepreneurial spirit as our members at 1871", said Howard A. Tullman, CEO, 1871

This week's event "Futureproofing Your Business" By Howard A. Tullman, CEO,1871

Howard Tullman, CEO 1871

The night started out with an introduction by Victoria Simpson, General Manger of the UNIQLO Chicago North Michigan Avenue Store, on UNIQLO and their mission to create innovative, high-quality apparel that improves the life of its customers. Along with their excitement to expand the partnership with 1871. 

Howard Tullman started out by stating "Today everyone wants to be an entrepreneur. Tomorrow everyone will need to be entrepreneurial" This is a trend catching on from Jocks to Fashion Moguls to Music in order to keep up with technology and retail's ever changing user experience.

Tullman gave the audience 11 keys features in futureproofing business. Key features included you get what you work for, not what you wish for, so set the bar for yourself high. Then keep raising it higher. Do a few things well and focus on what is crucial because there is not enough time to do it all at once. If you are multi-tasking you are just doing a lot of things badly. Don't be reluctant to change your mind and don't cling to a mistake because you spent a lot of time on it.

After the presentation there was a Q&A session. While most were asking Howard Tullman about business and entrepreneurship, I had the opportunity to ask to him about product innovations designed for this collaboration. 1871 worked with 20 of the companies that they work with to produce the innovative line of apparel and accessories for UNIQLO. Featured products included Hidrate™ Spark 2.0 water bottle that syncs to an app on your phone and alerts you to stay hydrated. Slapmap® which is a tear-resistant, water resistant, and pen resistant map of Chicago that folds up into a snap-bracelet! Another innovative product is a bracelet by Dresscode™ to excite women and girls about computer science through unlocking coding lessons with the code embossed on the bracelets though their website. There will be a rotation of innovative products during this collaboration. 

Slapmap

Dresscode's Coding Bracelet 

Consul General of Japan, Naoki Ito made a special appearance.

Left to Right: Kimiyo Naka, Howard Tullman, and Naoki Ito

Missed the first event of the series? There are three more events all hosted at UNIQLO's Michigan Avenue's Global Flagship Store, held from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. CDT. The next three featured events are...

• February 15: "Breaking Ice: Improving Inclusion at Work"  with Julie Felix, Manager of Diversity and Inclusion, Mesirow Financial, and Tom Alexander, COO, 1871.
• February 22: "Chicago Made Better: Entrepreneurship for Social Good" a panel discussion featuring a dynamic group of Chicago entrepreneurs with social impact missions. 
• March 1: "Behind Bitcon: Why Your Cash Is Going Digital" by Joe Hernandez, Founder of the Chicago Blockchain Project.

To reflect both organizations' commitment to sustainability and giving back to the community UNIQLO is having a coat drive until March 1. Customers are encouraged to bring in gently-used outerwear that will be donated to Cornerstone Community Outreach.

Curious about 1871 and UNIQLO's collaboration but can't attend any events? Visit UNIQLO and check out the featured line of products!