Circulating Wardrobe: Save Your Wardrobe's proposal for garment aftercare

Save Your Wardrobe, a London-based startup, pioneers the intersection of technology and sustainable fashion with its innovative, AI-powered platform.Founded in 2017 by Hasna Kourda and Mehdi Doghri, the company is dedicated to extending the life of garments through comprehensive digital wardrobe management and personalized clothing aftercare services. This time we had an opportunity to interview the founder Hasna Kourda and the team. 

“We always made sure nothing went to waste”

According to Save Your Wardrobe, a striking 65% of women and 44% of men own garments they've never worn, highlighting a significant opportunity to mitigate environmental impact by addressing the habits of consumers. By extending the use of clothing by just nine months, Save Your Wardrobe showcases how we can significantly cut down on waste, saving gallons of water and reducing carbon emissions by 20 to 30%, making a tangible difference in our environmental footprint.

Utilizing its groundbreaking AI-powered platform, the startup introduces a holistic approach to garment aftercare that not only facilitates clothing care and repair but also offers comprehensive digital wardrobe management. Save Your Wardrobe provides a service that simplifies garment care for the average consumer through an app. It also provides an integrated management platform on the aftercare service provider side, designed to seamlessly integrate across multiple channels, including in-store and online. This allows clothing aftercare services to scale from customers to in-house service teams to a global network of selected clothing care specialists. The startup won the prestigious LVMH Innovation Award Grand Prize in 2023 for its innovation.

The inception of Save Your Wardrobe is deeply personal, stemming from founder Hasna Kourda's upbringing in Tunisia. Her experiences, rooted in a culture of repurposing and sustainability, directly inspired the platform's commitment to extending the life of garments and her grandmother's ingenious repurposing of garments into beautiful Kilim rugs. "Growing up in Tunisia, my family instilled the concept of a circular economy in me from an early age. Everything we used was repurposed. We always made sure nothing went to waste, even when an item’s initial purpose was fulfilled, a second one was found. There is life after life in our culture that is inherently circular.”," Kourda shares. This way of life, where old garments were skillfully transformed into beautiful Kilim rugs by her grandmother, profoundly influenced Kourda. It's this principle of circularity and sustainability that forms the cornerstone of Save Your Wardrobe's mission. Witnessing her transform old items into something beautiful and giving them a second life left a lasting impression on me. It instilled in me a mindful approach to consumption- especially when it comes to Fashion.