Our second podcast episode for 2024 is here! Emma sits down with Namrata Sandhu, Co-Founder and CEO of Vaayu to discuss what it was like to build automated software to help the retail ecosystem track and cut environmental impact in real time. Readers of The Interline might know them as the company that worked with our friends at LESTRANGE London on the Re_Count footprint calculator.

Listen to the full 35-minute show below (or by following The Interline Podcast through your podcast / audio app of choice) and read on for some additional details.

In this episode, Emma speaks to Nam about her multifaceted career, and Vaauy’s “impact database” that consists of more than 600,000 data points showing the total direct and indirect carbon emissions from the manufacture, packaging, and delivery of various fashion products. Together, they discuss how shoppers of secondhand items are making use of data like Vaayu’s to see how much in carbon emissions they’ve avoided by buying used instead of new products.

This episode is sponsored by SOURCING at MAGIC, whose events in Las Vegas and New York bring together distinguished business leaders, celebrity guest speakers, and thousands of brands and retailers for three days of community experiences and insightful conversations for the fashion industry. Their latest event featured four critical pillars: entrepreneurship, sustainability, social good with verified-sustainable exhibitors, and fashion technology.

With a forward-thinking approach and commitment to the evolution of the global apparel supply chain through technology, SOURCING at MAGIC consistently provides access to emerging fashion technology, solutions, sustainable resources, educational content, networking, and extended visibility into the industry’s most critical global issues. SOURCING at MAGIC is the leading, trusted voice and resource to their fashion community, offering a space for important conversations on responsible fashion, sustainability and community building – offering valuable guidance for fashion professionals across all stages of the business.

Key talking points from Emma and Namrata’s conversation:

  • The biggest problems currently facing the retail industry and how Vaayu is working to be part of the solution.
  • Why tackling carbon impact needs to be done early and how important it is to bring data into design and consider impact from the outset.
  • The challenges for brands and retailers when it comes to not only gathering data on carbon emissions and environmental impact, but ensuring that it is of good quality and high accuracy.
  • The reaction from professionals in the fashion industry, as well as consumers around new environmental legislation.
  • The key findings from Vaayu’s research into the climate impact potential of circular business models.
  • Who Vaayu would still like to work with in the fashion industry, and where they believe they can make a significant positive change.
  • Both Namrata and Vaayu’s long-term vision for a more sustainable fashion future.

Catch up and follow the show:

Use these embedded players to listen to the latest episode of The Interline Podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, to catch up on episodes from our past, or to follow the show on those popular platforms so you’re notified when future episodes release.

The Interline Podcast is also available on most other podcast platforms – simply search for us in your listening app of choice. And look for our next episode very soon.

You May Also Like
Read More

BNPL Meets Repair, An AI-Shaped Holiday, Tech ROI Analysis, And In-Store VTO

This week, Grace Robinson and Ben Hanson discuss Klarna’s repair partnership with Save Your Wardrobe, Adobe’s holiday shopping forecasts for AI and buy now, pay later, a16z’s findings on consumer and business AI adoption, L’Oréal’s market value and beauty’s relationship with technology, and Tesco’s in-store virtual try-on trial.
Read More

How Much Will Fashion Let AI Decide?

Our data shows that fashion’s use of AI is outpacing its willingness to trust it with important choices. But technology vendors see a clear progression from assisting to automating decision-making, paired with a move away from traditional interfaces. What is fashion comfortable letting AI decide today, and how fast is that frontier likely to move?
Read More

The Future Of Fashion’s Social Strategies

Social media and influencer marketing have made big marks on fashion - and vice versa - but strategies are changing as a result of both synthetic content and the tech-led evolution of creators into something more closely resembling traditional media. What’s next for brand marketing?
Read More

The Case For Making Wearable Medical Technology More Visible

Deafmetal Founder Jenni Ahtiainen, who designs jewellery and safety accessories for hearing devices, shares a different vantage point on the relationship between wearable medical technology and self-expression, and what overcoming the stigma attached to hearing loss can tell us about a much bigger emerging category.
Read More

Fashion’s Ongoing Dance With Deferred Payment Credit

Fintech platforms have become increasingly tied to brands' and retailers' pursuit of growth in customers, ABV, and GMV. But with new guardrails applied to buy-now-pay-later, and the cost of living rising, could card-linked instalments be different enough to change things?