Hasna Kourda was born and raised in Tunisia, where her upbringing deeply influenced her. There, sustainable practices were integral to daily life, and clothes were not discarded but repurposed, repaired, and cherished. Her grandmother, for example, would transform old garments into handwoven rugs, a practice that embodied the principles of circular fashion long before it became a global conversation.
However, when Hasna Kourda moved to Europe for her studies, she encountered a starkly different reality. The rise of fast fashion has led to a culture of excessive consumption, where people buy and discard clothes at an alarming rate. She saw wardrobes filled with rarely worn items while the fashion industry remained one of the biggest polluters in the world.
While studying for her MBA at London Business School in 2017, Kourda participated in discussions on sustainability and technology. The idea of using digital solutions to transform fashion consumption fascinated her. She envisioned a platform that would help people organise, maintain, and extend the life of their clothes. Subsequently, she founded Save Your Wardrobe to solve this global problem.
Save Your Wardrobe is a platform that encourages users to maximise the utility of their existing clothing. They leverage technology to facilitate a comprehensive digital wardrobe experience. Its digitisation feature allows users to effortlessly create a digital version of their wardrobe by scanning their garments. The app then identifies and categorises each item, enabling users to manage their clothing more effectively.
Additionally, it offers personalised recommendations for outfit combinations and connects users to local services for cleaning, repair, and donation, promoting a circular fashion economy.
Since its launch, Save Your Wardrobe has grown significantly, with over 100,000 app downloads. The platform has expanded beyond the UK, reaching markets in France, Germany, and other parts of Europe.
Save Your Wardrobe secured a $3 million investment in 2021, marking the largest seed investment for a circular wardrobe platform in the UK. This funding has facilitated the company’s expansion across European markets, particularly in the UK, Germany, and France, and has enabled enhancements to its product and technology offerings.
The company has collaborated with global retailers such as Zalando to launch a clothing care and repair initiative to extend the life of 50 million garments. Furthermore, in 2023, Save Your Wardrobe was awarded the Grand Prize at the LVMH Innovation Award at the Paris Viva Technology conference.
Hasna Kourda is reshaping the global fashion industry. In the years to come, it will only continue to grow, inspiring more people to cherish, maintain, and maximise the clothes they already own.