Mindful consumption has been the norm for the past few years across sectors, especially in the fashion industry. As millennials and gen Z continue to assume monopoly over spending power, it is quite evident that the digital-first natives have access to a plethora of information on the environmental implications of fashion. But unfortunately, searching for a sustainable fashion label that resonates with one’s style and persona is almost next to impossible; the obvious reason being the dominance of giant fast-fashion platforms such as Amazon, H&M, ASOS, Zalando, etc.
To solve this problem and in the wake of the adverse effects that fast-fashion brands inflict on our environment, three female founders have launched Project Cece with the vision to make ethical shopping easy and accessible for everyone. The Amsterdam-based start-up is the largest aggregator for sustainable products offering European shoppers an alternative to fast-fashion platforms.
The platform currently has a strong catalog with unique ranges of more than 100 ethical fashion stores and well over 200 fair trade brands. Having listed over 25,000 products & counting, the start-up has been scouting for new sustainable clothing stores to strengthen its virtual family of inspiring game-changers since its inception. According to a recent consumer survey by Statista, 53% of men and 47% of women in the UK said that they buy from sustainable brands. Clearly, there’s a growing demand for independent brands that match the modern-day consumers’ ethos. And by expanding its footprint to Germany and the United Kingdom, Project Cece has emerged to be the go-to platform to meet the Europe-wide demand for sustainable products.
“With Project Cece, we unite the strengths of decentralized and sustainable smaller businesses in one place so consumers can easily discover them. We’re here to make a larger impact with our user-friendly tools so that consumers can navigate fair-trade brands and shop for clothes that match their style and values,” explain the founders of Project Cece.
The online shopping hub has the strictest sustainability standards with a stringent policy to not work with fast-fashion companies. What makes Project Cece special is their cutting-edge in-house developed tools that make it really easy for small and larger businesses with small budgets to join the international platform with global reach. The platform enables incredibly fast and easy integration of a brands’ product range once it passes its strict and multi-level vetting process.
Once vetted, it only takes 10 minutes to integrate the products and that’s how this larger-than-life venture empowers the consumers with access to the largest collection of curated ethical fashion. Working with over 300 shops and more than 500 brands, Project Cece is not just another webshop, but a complete search engine for the best in category sustainable products. To make product navigation user-friendly, the innovative platform enables users to choose from 5 sustainability filters: environmentally friendly, fair trade, vegan, locally produced, and good cause. This feature helps users to search for products based on sustainability labels that best match their values and interests. Users also get the option to alternatively run a search purely based on certificates and materials to choose products that strike a chord with them.
Today, terms like carbon footprint & fabric traceability are of common parlance. In fact, it is not just the government and regulatory bodies but a growing tribe of enlightened consumers themselves who are compelling brands to follow suit. As consumers adjust their preferences, the natural replacement for “fast-fashion” will be “fair fashion”, where products are produced, distributed, and marketed with the environment and sustainability at the forefront and center. In Supporting this rising wave of collective consciousness, Project Cece is providing the much-needed international platform to empower small businesses to reach their target audience and vice-versa.