Big problems need big solutions. Currently, 8-10% of global greenhouse gas emissions comes from the fashion industry (Source: World Bank). Our goal via this collaboration with Microsoft and Ahluwalia 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. By crowdsourcing garment materials and leaning on AI to make consumer interactions as seamless and simple as possible, Circulate powers sustainability in this historically polluting industry.

London-based, LVMH prize-winning fashion designer Priya Ahluwalia is using her eponymous brand Ahluwalia to change attitudes and consumer behavior around sustainable fashion by using upcycled materials for her collections. Ahluwalia sought to bring fashion-conscious UK consumers into her process to unlock a new crowdsourced supply chain. In collaboration with Microsoft, we brought that vision to life with Circulate. With a development budget of $350K and a campaign budget of $150K, we worked closely with the nimble Ahluwalia team and Microsoft to empower sustainably minded UK consumers and the Ahluwalia brand. Our powerful new tool for circular fashion helps crowdsource materials for upcoming fashion lines — all housed on a digital platform within the Ahluwalia website. The mobile-fist site 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.

Seeking to disrupt traditional supply chains by crowdsourcing materials, Circulate is a digital platform and program 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 otherwise 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. Integrating Microsoft AI tools allowed us to streamline the submission process, empower a BIPOC woman-owned fashion label, and encourage sustainable fashion at the consumer level. Circulate creates a steady stream of materials, enables creative efficiencies, and also unlocks crowdsourced supply chains in ways not previously possible.

Development began on March 18, 2021 and the project launched in the UK launched on November 2, 2021.

Before Circulate, the Ahluwalia team had to search for and hand-pick garments and textiles to be upcycled; a time- and labor-intensive process. But with the Circulate platform, the Ahluwalia team simply puts out an open call for garments and textiles, engaging their core community and fans. The site features a user-friendly interface that allows UK consumers to upload photos and/or video of their “loved but unwanted” garments. Garment images are analyzed in the back-end for object type and color, and any text in the image, as on the garment’s tag, is translated. The bulk of the processing is done using Microsoft Azure AI Computer Vision, which processes OCR (Optical Character Recognition), pre-trained object and subject matter (“tracksuit,” “denim,” “t-shirt”), and can detect the dominant colors of the garment image upload. This allows the small Ahluwalia team to quickly approve and organize garments, and send users prepaid shipping labels. Users then ship their garment to Ahluwalia’s studio and redeem points towards future Ahluwalia purchases. The website is hosted on, utilizes database software from, and taps AI cognitive services on the Microsoft Azure platform. We launched Circulate in the UK (the only market where it currently operates) in November, 2021.

Since launching in the UK, 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. An eminently scalable model, we look forward to expanding Circulate’s reach with Ahluwalia in the future. Circulate points to the possibilities of innovation within global supply chains, and empowers consumers to participate in circularity within fashion. To create real change across the industry, more forward-thinking brands and labels will need to follow Ahluwalia’s lead and look to integrate circularity into their entire design, sourcing, production, and shipping processes.