The current wave of secondhand clothing as a sustainable alternative to fast fashion has resulted in a variety of thrift stores and platforms popping up online. India has the space for circular fashion and thrifting to grow exponentially with our pre-existing culture of handing down sarees and kurtas from one generation to the other.
Circular fashion is a system that deviates from linear approaches to the fashion industry by circulating and reusing garments and fashion accessories to extend their life. The system also focuses on a system where production is conducted with materials that extend the end of a product’s life and make it disposable safe and sustainable.
Consumers are integral to the implementation of circular fashion models, but with a lack of stores offering to recycle or resell, there is an evident gap in the market.
Addressing this need to optimise circular fashion and make it user-friendly with new business models, technology startup Relove is transforming the circular fashion economy in India with its first-of-its-kind technology that enables brands to host reselling platforms for their customers on their own websites.
The technology start-up takes accountability for the entirety of the reselling process, from technology integration to customer care. When customers wish to pass on a garment they’ve bought from a brand partner with Relove, they can choose the items to resell from their order history and connect with customers looking to purchase the garments. The resale pricing is automatically calculated along with quality checks and verification.
Although we’re far away from a solid circular model in fashion, Relove is bridging the gap between thrifting and fashion labels, by working with fashion brands who want to engage in circular fashion and sustainability with their unique, peer-to-peer resale technology.
Find out more about Relove here.
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