The Climate Crisis has reached a fever pitch, and the fashion industry is a big part of the problem: 8-10% of global greenhouse gas emissions come from the industry (World Bank), and 3/5 of all clothing ends up in landfills within just years of being made (NYTimes). London-based fashion designer Priya Ahluwalia is using her eponymous brand Ahluwalia to change attitudes and consumer behavior around sustainable fashion. With a development budget of $350K and campaign budget of $150K, we worked with the Ahluwalia team, technologists, and Microsoft to empower sustainably minded consumers and the Ahluwalia brand with a powerful new tool and digital platform for circular fashion that can help crowdsource materials and disrupt traditional supply chains which are increasingly under stress. Ahluwalia sought to empower and bring UK consumers into her process; and by collaborating with Microsoft, we were able to bring that vision to life with Circulate.

Microsoft is dedicated to helping every person and organization achieve more; integrating their AI tools allowed us to streamline the submission process on Circulate, empower a BIPOC woman-owned fashion label, and encourage sustainable fashion at the consumer level. Seeking to disrupt traditional supply chains by crowdsourcing materials, Circulate is a digital platform and program housed on Ahluwalia’s main website that encourages consumers in the UK to donate their “loved but unwanted” garments to help build Ahluwalia’s next collection and power circularity in the industry. Ahluwalia is a luxury brand, and wanted to welcome fashion fans who a) have materials to donate and b) might not be able to afford Ahluwalia garments. Our easy-to-use site powers garment donations at the consumer level and offers discounts for every garment donated, solving two brand concerns simultaneously.

On the site, each season the Ahluwalia team puts out an open call for garments and textiles, engaging their core community and fans. Users can then upload images of a garment they’d like to donate. Microsoft’s Computer Vision API analyzes and sorts garments that can be upcycled into a database for Ahluwalia, allowing them to quickly approve garments and send users prepaid shipping labels. Users can then ship the garment to Ahluwalia’s studio and redeem points towards future Ahluwalia purchases. The digital platform is designed to be mobile-first, and takes design cues from social media and Gen Z ecommerce resale platforms to appeal to young audiences and make the submission process as easy and seamless as possible. Thanks to the AI integration, Circulate creates a steady stream of deadstock, enables creative efficiencies, and also unlocks crowdsourced supply chains in ways not previously possible.

Our goal was to provide a new model for circular fashion, pointing the way to a sustainable future and inspiring a new generation of consumers, designers, and suppliers to create a bigger impact across the global fashion landscape. Since launching Circulate in the UK (the only market where it is currently available), we’ve had over 44,000 users interact with the Circulate platform, and garnered over 362 million earned media impressions — proving that our concept is not only relevant, but useful. We were able to demonstrate real-world use cases for Microsoft AI tools within the fashion industry, create a blueprint for circularity in fashion, and invite consumers into what is usually an opaque sourcing process, all while streamlining production for the small Ahluwalia team. Circulate points to the possibilities of innovation within global supply chains, and empowers consumers to participate in circularity within fashion.