This year’s winners of the Future Retail Challenge of 2021 came right from ESCP: Delia Negri, Aurora Macchi and Diletta Sveva Tamagnone. The idea that led them to first place was guided by the transition to a more sustainable fashion industry with a focus on H&M stores.
We talked to Delia Negri about the group’s winning idea marrying sustainability, fashion and tech. Here’s what she had to say:
“Given that our chosen retailer was H&M, we created what we called ‘The H&M Extended Experience’. The motto of the H&M Extended Experience is easy: rent in the store, use in both worlds, buy in the metaverse. The journey starts in the physical channel: in chosen H&M stores, a specific area (called the conscious area) will be dedicated to the rental of higher-end clothes only, with customers having the possibility to either pay for the single rental or going for a monthly subscription. These garments will be produced in collaboration with premium brands, and will allow the customers to gain ‘conscious points’. After enough conscious points are accumulated, H&M customers have the possibility to access the metaverse — H&M Extended — where they will be able to buy H&M digital garments, and sell or buy their own second-hand clothes to or from other users. In a second moment, fashion weeks will also be hosted in the H&M metaverse, with customers having the possibility to order a physical version of the garments – thus reducing the overall production of new physical products”
With the fashion industry’s increasing negative impact on the environment, recent studies showing that the number of clothing pieces produced yearly has as much as doubled in the past 20 years, projects leading the charge towards reduced consumption will become essential. Luckily, rental services similar to the one purported by ‘The H&M Extended Experience’ have grown more common, and are now projected to reach 1.8 billion€ in value by 2025.
Platforms for sustainable consumption of fashion will soon prove to become the future of the fashion industry. We congratulate our fellow ESCP students who are part of the entrepreneurial wave paving the way for sustainable fashion!
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References
- https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2022-fashion-industry-environmental-impact/
- https://relativeinsight.com/clothing-rental-industry-analysis-is-rental-the-future-of-fashion/