Two new ways to make fashion green (no washing involved)
Everyone knows it: the textile and fashion industries are very polluting. We produce too much, buy more than we need and very often throw things away.
Consequently, new measures are being set up. The French government is responding by creating new regulations such as the AGEC law, which prohibits destroying unsold goods. At the same time, new businesses are being developed to help brands take a more responsible approach.
NellyRodi met with Uptrade and Faume, two really great businesses with socially-oriented projects. Both companies are ready to revolutionize fashion and make it green (minus the washing).
On average, 12% of the fabrics manufactured each year aren’t used, and that’s where Uptrade gets involved.
Uptrade is a B2B digital platform dedicated to revaluing deadstock fabrics (in France and Europe) for brands and suppliers. Its anti-waste mission is organized into three services.
- Consignment: As the intermediary between the seller and the buyer, Uptrade handles taking photos, uploading information, selling, transportation and more.
- Clearing inventory: Uptrade buys stock to resell to its network.
- A white label platform to revalue stock: Uptrade presents stock digitally on a platform representing each business’s identity, for use in-house or externally.
Since Uptrade’s debut, the business has revalued 154k meters of fabric. That translates into avoiding 123 tons of CO2 emissions and saving 148 million liters of water.
With around 700 textile references listed on their platform, 4,500 subscribers and 50 suppliers, Uptrade offers a solid alternative to help businesses both improve their manufacturing and rethink how they operate over the long term.
The online secondhand market is rapidly expanding, led by very important and influential players such as Vinted, Vestiaire Collective and Depop. More and more labels are interested in finding their place in this sector, and Faume is there to help.
Faume’s goal is to provide a shopping experience on par with buying new and in sync with each brand’s identity. After working with brands to make the right decisions and set up the best strategy for their challenges and goals, Faume suggests technical and technological solutions.
How it works: brands encourage their customers to bring the clothes they no longer want to one of their boutiques or to register them on their internet site. In exchange, customers are immediately given a voucher.
After that, Faume takes care of everything: setting up the e-commerce infrastructure; shipping the clothes to warehouses; cleaning, repairing and stocking them; taking photographs and writing the product descriptions; putting them online and sending them to the new buyers.
The secondhand service is true to each brand’s image, giving brands control of their products, even from past collections.
By simplifying the process, Faume guides labels through a responsible transition. The startup currently works with around 30 businesses.
