Weaving change receives £50,000 to launch sustainable fashion AI project.

Weaving Change has been awarded a £50,000 grant by Digital Catapult as part of the MyWorld program. The program, funded by the UKRI Strength in Places fund, will help us develop a revolutionary new AI in sustainable fashion over 16 weeks from July.

The fast fashion industry accounts for over 8 % of global emissions, more than international shipping and flights combined, and sees 1 truckload of clothing burned or put into landfill every second. Furthermore, 76 % of clothing retailers acknowledge the likelihood of modern slavery at some point within their supply chain. It is these problems that Weaving Change is addressing. By developing a mobile app, Swerv, users can reconnect with their wardrobes, reducing their reliance on fast fashion.

A significant objective in bringing Swerv to market includes the development of several revolutionary artificial intelligence models. The funding and subsequent incubation will enable the development of the Outfit Recommendation Algorithm – or ORA for short. ORA will utilise the same technology behind ChatGPT – the generative AI that took the world by storm in late 2022 – to recommend outfits to users based on their previous preferences as well as well-defined fashion concepts. This approach is unique and the company believes its integration with Swerv could be revolutionary.

The grant forms part of the UKRI Strength in Places fund (SIPF), a £316 million initiative aimed at helping areas of the UK build up existing strengths in research and innovation. The MyWorld program, funded by the SIPF brings together 13 diverse, world-leading partners including the Universities of Bristol, Bath and the West of England as well as Watershed and the BBC to build on the expertise in creative technology in the South West. The funding call is led by Digital Catapult and is aimed at exploring innovative artificial intelligence solutions to optimise creative approaches or processes.