When it comes to sustainable fashion, it is easy to fall into some clichés about the aesthetics of the garments that in the common imagination are large, shapeless and rough, and the high price and therefore inaccessibility.
From these paradigms that are difficult to unhinge the challenge of STAIY, the first e-commerce that brings together over 80 ethical and sustainable fashion brands: speeding up the transition of consumers to more aware shoppers by offering a contemporary platform that allows for an easy and highly personalized shopping experience.
Born from an idea of four young Italian guys – Adrian Leue, Alessandro Nora, Ludovico Durante and Chiara Latini – in the heart of Berlin in November 2019, the project was named winner of the Fashion Reboot’s Start-up Contest and already from the name (STAIY = sustainability + style + AI) affirms its founding values of respect for the environment and innovation without forgetting style.
This is also the value triptych on the basis of which the brands that will become part of the marketplace are selected. Stayi has in fact developed a brand-ranking system based on 5 factors, as well as on the certifications obtained, to evaluate their pre and post production footprint:
- The percentage of water reuse and recycling and the use of renewable energy sources;
- The level of energy consumption and emissions of production and the entire supply chain, from the procurement of raw materials, to the place of production and the means of transport used;
- The use of recycled, organic and innovative materials processed according to sustainable processes such as upcycling to minimize waste and discharges. Fundamental to this are the traceability of materials and the education of workers in the correct use of chemical agents used for coloring fabrics;
- The socio-economic conditions of workers and respect for fundamental rights. In particular, the aspects investigated and assessed are health and safety in the workplace, adequate wage levels and gender equality. The exploitation of minors, nuisance and gender differences are absolutely inadmissible;
- The commitment and support for the economic and social development of its local community and eco-sustainable projects related to the platform, confirming the ethics of the brand beyond the business.
To investigate these factors, a questionnaire of 62 questions (17 qualitative and 45 quantitative) is used, developed from the Global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the United Nations. The methodology uses a 5-point scale, in which the most relevant questions are assigned the highest value, ensuring an objective evaluation of the answers thanks to automated. Qualitative questions, on the other hand, are assessed individually by the sustainability department which follows specific guidelines issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the World Resources Institute, the World Bank, the Fashion Industry Pulse, the Ellen Mac Arthur Foundation and many other research documents and reports from scientific working groups. If successful, the brand becomes part of the platform and its report is available on a dedicated page.
This evaluation, in addition to making them enter the marketplace circuit, helps brands to identify their strengths and weaknesses in relation to the 5 factors investigated, thus allowing them to be able to correct and improve where necessary, it also measures and objectively certifies the efforts made in the area of sustainability.
For the Staiy founders, sustainability is not just a trend and therefore they decided to use their own selection system to associate each brand with a score dictated by the positivity of the answers and to match each purchase with a number of Impact Points to be converted into a donation to projects of non-profit organizations on environmental and social issues.
Tale sistema, oltre che valutare l’incontro tra etica ed estetica dei brand, permette la condivisione di informazioni rilevanti in maniera immediata e intuitiva e la responsabilizzazione del consumatore, dandogli la concreta possibilità di supportare progetti sostenibili. Una volta raccolti 25 punti, questi possono essere trasformati in una donazione a OneTreePlanted and there are four projects to which you can allocate your Impact Points: the empowering of women in Rwanda, the restoration of the Amazon rainforest in Peru, the protection of endangered species in Indonesia and the construction of water sources in Kenya .
The commercial policies adopted also reflect the ethics of the platform. No flash sales and other dynamics aimed at maximizing sales, but a highly customized purchase suggestion system thanks to the use of AI (Artificial Intelligence) systems
The Staiy personalization algorithm uses the universal language of images, scanning the photos of the products and detecting their style, and then matching the articles to the individual liking of the consumer, deduced on the basis of what is preferred by the user in the search. function is available for registered users who define their own style by answering a questionnaire at the time of registration and the recommendation process is gradually perfected every time you interact with the app, expressing liking or not for the displayed element.
Noting in the other fashion e-commerce an experience of browsing and shopping that is not very personalized, Stayi wanted to create a system that was truly able to “listen” to the wishes of its customers and guarantee a portal that is as structured and satisfying as possible. of the algorithm allows to guide and support the consumer towards conscious choices, intervening upstream on the possibility of making the return, too often encouraged by online shops and contrary to the dynamics of ethical fashion which, by definition, favors production dynamics that put factors first. environmental, social and technological (development and innovation of manufacturing, quality research, reuse and reduction of emissions and environmental pollution), which cannot agree with the fast pace and economy of the fast fashion supply chains.
By doing so, Staiy becomes a showcase for all those brands and designers who embody the values of respect for the environment and society through fashion and innovation.
