Designer Kate Barton teams up with IBM and Fiducia AI for a NYFW presentation

Barton's latest collection will feature an AI-powered virtual try-on experience for guests.

Published on Feb. 14, 2026

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Designer Kate Barton is set to unveil her latest fashion collection at New York Fashion Week, but with a technological twist. Barton has teamed up with Fiducia AI and IBM to create a multilingual AI agent that will help guests identify pieces from the collection and try them on virtually. The AI-powered experience, built using IBM Watsonx on IBM Cloud, is aimed at expanding the world around the clothes and creating a sense of curiosity for attendees.

Why it matters

This collaboration highlights the growing trend of fashion brands incorporating AI and other technologies into their presentations and customer experiences. While some brands have been hesitant to use AI publicly due to potential reputational risks, Barton sees it as a tool to enhance the storytelling and immersion around her collections without replacing the human creativity behind the designs.

The details

Barton's presentation will feature a production-grade activation with a Visual AI lens (built with IBM Watsonx) that can detect pieces from her new collection, answer questions in any language via voice and text, and offer photorealistic virtual reality try-ons. Fiducia AI used IBM Watsonx, IBM Cloud, and IBM Cloud Object Storage to help pull off the presentation. This isn't the first time Barton has incorporated technology into her fashion shows, as she previously experimented with AI models in collaboration with Fiducia AI.

  • Barton's latest collection will be unveiled at New York Fashion Week on Saturday, February 14, 2026.

The players

Kate Barton

A fashion designer who is known for incorporating technology into her presentations and collections.

Fiducia AI

A company that specializes in creating AI-powered experiences, and has collaborated with Barton on previous fashion shows.

IBM

A technology company that provided the IBM Watsonx, IBM Cloud, and IBM Cloud Object Storage services used to power the AI-powered virtual try-on experience in Barton's NYFW presentation.

Ganesh Harinath

The founder and CEO of Fiducia AI.

Dee Waddell

The Global Head of Consumer, Travel and Transportation Industries at IBM Consulting.

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What they’re saying

“Today, tech is a tool for expanding the world around the clothes, how they are presented, and how people enter the story, and how we create that moment when your eyes do a double-take.”

— Kate Barton (TechCrunch)

“The hardest work wasn't model tuning; it was orchestration.”

— Ganesh Harinath, Founder and CEO of Fiducia AI (TechCrunch)

“When inspiration, product intelligence, and engagement are connected in real time, AI moves from being a feature to becoming a growth engine that drives measurable competitive advantage.”

— Dee Waddell, Global Head of Consumer, Travel and Transportation Industries at IBM Consulting (TechCrunch)

“The most exciting future for fashion is not automated fashion. It is fashion that uses new tools to heighten craft, deepen storytelling, and bring more people into the experience, without flattening the people who make it.”

— Kate Barton (TechCrunch)

What’s next

Barton's AI-powered fashion presentation at New York Fashion Week on February 14, 2026 will be a closely watched event, as it showcases the potential for technology to enhance the fashion experience without replacing human creativity.

The takeaway

This collaboration between Barton, Fiducia AI, and IBM demonstrates how fashion brands are increasingly embracing AI and other technologies to create more immersive and engaging experiences for their audiences, while still maintaining the human touch that makes fashion worth wearing.