Alternew

Service & UX design for circular fashion in NY

How might we facilitate circular fashion through specialized tailors?

Alternew’s purpose is to make garment repair and care services accessible to everyone. To this end, it seeks to facilitate the connection with trusted tailors who can offer these garment repair and alteration services. This fosters a circular fashion economy that also has benefits for customers and tailors.

In order to scale its business, Alternew needs two things: first, to test its service in an agile way; and second, to digitize the service and reach investors aligned with its model.

How could we create an appropriate and scalable service to facilitate circularity in fashion?

Prototyping and testing of a digital service to connect with circular fashion

A prototype digital service was designed that easily connects tailors and customers, while giving the Alternew team the ability to collect relevant data and have control of the process.

A thorough user research process

To design a digital service that will have a positive impact on the planet and all the people involved, a rigorous research process was carried out. The research involved different users of the future service: both customers and tailors. Fashion, technology and sustainability experts were also involved. And, of course, the Alternew team itself.

Thanks to this research process, we learned the following lessons:

  • What implications it has for a tailor to use Alternew’s service and travel to the customer’s home or office.
  • What communication challenges exist between tailors, clients and Alternew.
  • What concerns do customers have about having tailors come to their home.
  • What do customers and tailors value in a service like Alternew. What benefits they can get from using it.
  • What technical challenges exist to materialize the service.
  • How to make the digital experience and interfaces accessible and inclusive.

A digital application to empower customers, tailors and the in-house team in advancing circularity

The digital service takes the form of an app for tailors and customers, and an administrator panel for the Alternew team. This streamlines the connection between tailors and customers and facilitates communication between them. Different users can quickly learn information about each other and thus gain confidence about the person they are connecting with. On the other hand, Alternew can collect data that allows it to measure the positive impact it is making: for example, the number of repaired garments that have been prevented from becoming scrap. Alternew can then strategize how it can continue to contribute to its purpose.

Support in the communication of the new digital service

We also assisted Alternew with the design of a narrative tailored to its audiences, and a series of communication materials. These materials include an animated video explaining the service, and a presentation for potential investors.

Pivoting the sustainable business idea

Alternew’s journey continues. Part of the learnings from this process in which we accompanied the startup, has led to pivot the business idea. The initial idea focused on connecting tailors with private clients who need their services. However, for Alternew’s service to be scalable, digitizing it was not enough. It was necessary to pivot to a new business model whose direct target audience, rather than private customers, is brands.

Thanks to strategic design, starting from research, then prototyping, communicating and testing, we can create solutions that truly have a triple economic, social and environmental impact.