According to UKFT, in the UK, the fashion and textile industry contributes almost £20 billion to the economy.
As an industry, it employs nearly half a million people across over 35,000 businesses. But this isn’t just in retail shops and textiles. In fact, the fashion industry has also seen an influx of startups that are innovating in the sector.
How Are Fashion Startups Changing The Game?
When it comes to startups in the fashion world, there are a few ways they are driving innovation, including:
- Using AI to provide personal recommendations for shoppers.
- Using engineering to create more sustainable fabrics from new materials.
- Allowing sellers to access more platforms, either to sell directly to consumers or allowing consumers to resell their clothes.
- Providing easier ways for people to find and rent items of clothing, rather than buying them new every time.
- Leveraging TikTok and talent to allow fashion brands to be more visible with their audiences.
But who are the companies driving this? Here, we take a look…
Vollebak
Vollebak describe themselves as ‘building clothes from the future’. Their coats, jackets and hoodies are made from the same parachute materials that land rovers on mars, making them extremely durable.
Whilst definitely not on the cheap side, their clothes use materials commonly used in space engineering, making them hardy and stylish.
Save Your Wardrobe
Save your wardrobe is a fashion tech startup designed to help businesses manage their returns more efficiently.
Covering everything from repairs, care, alterations, warranties, logistics, exchanges, compliance, customer experience, and data reporting, they give brands the ability to outsource their customer experience and make sure all returns are processed and repaired properly.
Intelistyle
Intelistyle uses AI to help people get more personalised fashion recommendations based on their taste and style.
With a virtual try on tool that helps customers see how clothes will look on them, combined with outfit recommendations for a full look, Intelistyle means websites don’t have to spend a fortune on photography and create more personalised and memorable experiences.
Veristyle Inc.
Veristyle is an AI agent that acts as a personal styling assistant based on a number of prompts. By submitting pictures and explaining physical traits, the AI is able to find clothes that match your body and style, without needing to pay for a physical stylist.
Through this, the app is able to upsell certain brands by matching people with their most compatible products.
The Loom App
The Loom App is helping people across the UK dress more sustainably by allowing them to upload their existing items of clothing and be shown new ways to wear it.
From accessory recommendations to embroidery and more, The Loom App helps make fashion more sustainable by helping people find new ways to style their current wardrobe.
Fassion
Fassion is an app that helps people discover new fashion brands based on their style. Through taking a quiz, users are able to find and explore independent brands that they may not have heard of, based on their style and budget.
With over 500 brands on the platform, it’s a new way to connect shoppers and fashion brands online.
By Rotation
By Rotation was one of the world’s first fashion rental app. As a way to make shopping more sustainable, By Rotation allows users to rent items for a specific period of time, rather than buying new clothes for every event.
On the flip side, users could rent out their clothes to others, making them a source of income on that end too. That way, fashion can be more sustainable on both sides of the coin.
