This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Kent State chapter.

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of going to the Fashion Tech Hackathon held at Rockwell Hall. If any of you are like me, you might not really know what a hackathon is. In a shortened version, the Fashion Tech Hackathon is a 36-hour event where students from all over the country come together and create something using technology and fashion.

Walking around, I was able to see the new technology that students created, and I got to hear how they came up with their ideas. Vanessa Reese and Electa Royal are both seniors in the fashion program here. They created an app and website called EnviroModel, which allows the user to see how sustainable a company is. Companies, such as Patagonia, are given a rating of 1-10 based on many details from materials used, to how their employees show up to work. Not bad for their first Hackathon, huh?

Vanessa Reese and Electa Royal show off their creations.

Another Kent State participant was senior Aanchal Bakshi, who worked with her team to create Snow Smart. After days of hard work, second time hackathoner Aanchal and her team were able to construct a smart jacket. I would call this jacket more than smart, however, since it has features like an acceleration monitor, heating units, sensors and a voice recognition microphone that allows you to tell the jacket to heat up. If that wasn’t smart enough, the jacket also contains a heart rate monitor and vibration motors that can determine if you’re lying flat for an extended period of time and ultimately send out a distress signal.

The Snow Smart (above) would be great for cold days on campus!

My personal favorite item was called Toasty Titties. The name itself drew me in like a moth to a flame. Toasty Titties is a bra that, you guessed it, keeps your chest warm. Coming from a girl who’s perpetually cold with not much boob to fit into a bra, it’s safe to assume that if this was ever to be sold anywhere, I’d buy it in a heartbeat.

Toasty Titties (above) or dream come true?

Students weren’t the only people at the Fashion Tech Hackathon. Who else could possibly be there? President Beverly Warren, that’s who.

“I think one (benefit of attending the Hackathon) is to really support innovation,” said Warren. “I really think Kent State University students, we want them to be job creators. We want them to be the innovators and creators of tomorrow so this gives everyone the chance, even while they’re still studying, to have prototypes of technology that they can market and I really really like that.”

See? Bev Warren 100% supports all of your hackathon dreams!

Make sure to check out the submissions and winners here. If you’re interested in participating in a hackathon, visit here to see upcoming events and sign up. Happy hacking!

Welcome to the Fashion Tech Hackathon

We wanna slide into your DMs