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The Challenge: Waste, Counterfeit Goods, and Barriers to Resale
The fashion industry is a major contributor to global carbon emissions, generating over 100 billion garments annually, yet less than 1% are recycled into new items. Despite growing consumer interest in second-hand fashion, brands remain hesitant to engage in resale due to complex logistics, high costs, and the widespread issue of counterfeit goods. There is an urgent need for a scalable, cost-efficient, and trustworthy resale solution that can support fashion’s transition to a circular economy.
The Solution: BIRL’s AI-Powered One-Click Resale Platform
BIRL is reshaping resale in fashion and beyond with a plug-and-play technology platform that enables brands to implement resale through a single button on their website. At its core, BIRL combines image recognition, machine learning, and seamless UX to offer instant garment authentication, valuation, and trade-in functionality. Customers are rewarded with instant credit for their items, which can be used for future purchases, while brands enjoy a zero-touch, logistics-free resale integration that boosts margins and sustainability KPIs. The system is scalable, affordable, and agnostic to verticals, from fashion to electronics and homeware.
Key Innovations & Achievements
BIRL’s innovation lies in its intelligent pricing engine, which assesses garment condition, authenticity, and market value using advanced image recognition and ML models trained on resale dynamics such as seasonality and geography. The MVP launched in January 2024 with Lavenham Jackets integrates directly with Shopify and logistics providers like Royal Mail, enabling immediate go-live for brand partners. Through partnerships with brands like Frahm, Oxford United, and resellers like Marrkt and Jonas Sports, BIRL offers a fully integrated, white-labelled circular economy solution that eliminates operational barriers for brands.
The Role of R&D Tax Relief in Driving Innovation
BIRL’s breakthroughs in AI-powered authentication and valuation depend on intensive R&D, including developing and training convolutional neural networks (CNNs) on real-world fashion imagery. Public funding and investor partnerships, supported by GrantUp, have been instrumental in accelerating development timelines and enhancing team capabilities. Innovate UK funding unlocked £350k in match investment from Baltic Ventures and enabled recruitment of technical staff and subcontractors to de-risk delivery. Without this support, the project would have faced an 18–24 month delay, compromising its first-mover advantage.
Thanks to strategic support from GrantUp, BIRL is scaling fast, hiring locally, and shaping the future of sustainable retail. In doing so, it’s turning waste into opportunity and making the fashion industry fit for the future.