Five Things We Learned at Yesterday's CFDA Tech Panel

Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here.

Yesterday afternoon at the Decoded conference on fashion and technology, DKNY PR pro (and @DKNYprgirl) Aliza Licht talked to a group of CFDA members about how they use the internet. Alice + Olivia designer Stacey Bendet, Kate Spade president and creative director Deborah Lloyd, and designer Nicole Miller all spoke candidly about what social media and constant connectivity has done for their businesses—and their lives. Here's what we learned.

1.) Social media has created a ton of jobs in the fashion industry. Said Nicole Miller: "It feels like we're putting more people on social media than assistant designers."

2.) It's not just window dressing. All three designers said that Instagram was their tech weapon of choice, but Miller said her online sales are powered by Facebook. And Bendet added that within a few weeks of launching social shopping, it made up 22% of her sales.

3.) Designers' Twitter feeds aren't fashion-industry echo chambers. While Deborah Lloyd said her favorite Twitterer is Brad Goreski, Nicole Miller named writer Jay McInerney, and Bendet mentioned Lena Dunham.

4.) Brands have finally learned how to handle to snarkiness from style bloggers. Licht talked about how a few years ago, Bag Snob wrote that a Donna Karan bag looked like a sea monster. She sent them an email asking, "Haven't you ever had a bad picture taken of you?" and offered to send them samples so they could see the purse in person. Now, they've got a great relationship. The key is responding quickly (though sending swag can't hurt.)

5.) Stacey Bendet loves Instagram so much, she mentioned it in nearly every question. Clearly, we should all be following her.
· Hear the Tech Stars of Fashion Speak at Lincoln Center [Racked NY]
· Decoded Fashion [Official Site]