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For the first time in Scandinavia, EasySize, a data-driven service for predicting the correct clothing size, together with the Decoded Fashion organised a meetup to investigate the ethical consumerism and the role of technology in the sustainable fashion. The event took place in the center of Copenhagen on 26th of March.
Fashion technology companies are continuously growing from the Nordic countries – and growing in numbers as well. EasySize is a danish startup creating software to predict your clothing size, focusing on automating the does-the-clothes-fit-me part of online shopping, much like another danish startup, Fitbay, that wish to only show users the clothes that comes in your size.
Web platforms for fashion have also surfaced the last years and include the more than five year old Miinto.dk, software web solution Katoni.dk and the youngest thefashion.com who raised 10 mio. DKK in their first investment round.
The gap between consumer intention and behaviour
The Ethical Consumerism Meetup is focused on reflecting on the ethical part of the fashion technology activities.
The meetup in Copenhagen last week started with a guest from Deloitte Sustainability research center, Mari K. Espelid. Mari presented the key highlights from the “Making Customer Engagement Märkbart” research. Participants of the meetup had a chance to see some facts behind the consumption in fashion. For example, a consumer in the Nordics uses on average 15 kg clothes every year.
With this current level of consumption, 2,3 planets would be needed for us in 2050. That is why companies need to educate customers in a more “märkbart” way, which in Scandinavia means more tangible, actual and touchable.
“I think it was a great event with some good talks that gave some interesting input and insights into how the fashion industry is working to secure more ethical and sustainable consumption,” said Mari K. Espelid, Deloitte Sustainability.
“What we have found in our studies is that there is a gap between the consumers’ intention to behave sustainably and how they are actually behaving at the point of purchase. One of the reasons for this discrepancy might be the fact that among consumers there is still a lack of knowledge related to the actual impact of the fashion industry as well as which sustainable product solutions are available in the market.”
Sustainable fashion brands and startups from Scandinavia
After the keynote speech, the Meetup continued with the panel discussion, together with a moderator Drude-Katrine Plannthin (Project Manager at KEA) and 3 Scandinavian sustainable fashion companies: Ecouture, Another View and Enkel Basics. Companies discussed the concept of the ethical consumerism and shared their experience and approaches used for it.
The participants of the panel discussion agreed, that it’s important to have honest and transparent communications with customers to make them care more about the sustainability and responsible consumption.
“We intend to bring the attention of the shops to the changing consumers’ behaviour in the fashion business. Shoppers are becoming more responsible now, and technology is able to help fashion companies to bring this value to their customers,” says Gulnaz Khusainova, CEO of EasySize.
The event gave the opportunity for various fashion and technology startups to pitch and present their businesses. Those included Resecond, Enkel Basics, Woomio, Son of a Tailor and Mokosh.
Finally, Ethical Consumerism Meetup ended with networking and wine.
“We gathered fashion representatives to discuss ethical consumerism and show the latest technology trends in the fashion. The feedback was really positive and we will definitely organise more meetups in the near future,” said Gulnaz Khusainova, CEO of EasySize.
