Turning Waste to Value to Address Climate Change
On May 5th, 2022, Dhana Inc., market leader in circular fashion technology, announces the release of its new proprietary creative fashion platform “D/Sphere” as a solution to tackling the 70% of global textile waste that ends up in the landfill every year, contributing to pollution and climate change.
The D/Sphere platform offers digital tools for customers to design circular fashion, unleashing their creativity through second-life materials.
“We believe that there is a huge opportunity for brands to empower customers to be agents of change in the fashion industry, through the power of their choices.
We make this happen by offering customers the ability to actualize their creative expression through the personalization of fashion using digital tools while co-creating on D/Sphere. Customers are both inspired and empowered to realize their actions do contribute to climate change with every piece of circular fashion they design, diverting waste into value creation” notes Shamini Dhana, Founder & CEO, Dhana Inc.
The D/Sphere platform is now open to the public where customers can enter the portal, proceed to shop for circular fashion in the Store; design in the Studio, celebrate their digital designs, and share their responses to “what is your fashion story?”
Dhana Inc. developed the fashion tech platform in the two years when the world was in lockdown, with a global team dedicated to leveraging the power of Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and 3D Technologies to offer innovative solutions to customers giving them a new way of storytelling through the medium of fashion, driving social and environmental good and sharing their gratitude with the workers who make their clothing.
“The mission of Dhana has always been to offer a way to connect people with the planet through the medium of fashion. Today, we are using technology to truly amplify our connection to the people behind the clothes we wear by honoring their contribution as co-creators, and at the same time do our part to reduce our environmental footprint with every new garment made using circularity principles.
It is a holistic approach to realizing the value of bringing a piece of garment to life, celebrating the experience along the way, having a deep sense of appreciation for the work done, and accepting the responsibility for paving the way for future generations” explains Shamini Dhana.
In the word D/Sphere, the “D” stands for digital fashion in the digital economy and “Sphere” symbolizes diversity and inclusion in a just and equitable shared economy – a representation of the circular world. Shamini Dhana is a life-long advocate for giving the unheard worker a voice: “We work with a number of partners that are invaluable to the co-creation process of D/Sphere and as a collective, we seek to bridge the divide in this world through stakeholder representation, technology, fashion, creative expression, and Dhana’s pledge to NetZero2030.”
A Decade Long Commitment to Ethical, Sustainable, and Circular fashion
Dhana Inc. began as an award-winning youth (0-16 years) sustainable brand in 2008 with organic clothing made in fair-trade factories in India and as a fair-trade certified brand.
The strategy to move from a linear to a circular business model was realized at the Copenhagen Fashion Summit in 2017, when Global Fashion Agenda together with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation called on the fashion industry to embrace circularity principles to address the impact fashion has on climate change.
As one of the pioneer brands, Dhana Inc. joined 90 other global brands and signed the 2020 Circular Fashion System Commitment (henceforth 2020 commitment) and was a case study in the final 2020 Commitment Report.
It was also in 2017 when Dhana stopped all production using virgin materials, reevaluated its five-year plan to move towards utilizing second-life materials, on-shoring to produce in the U.S., and adopt technology to innovate and develop a new platform to reuse, repurpose, and recreate old clothing into new clothing.
With the research and results of the WearOurValues Report in 2019, Dhana Inc. made a commitment to align customer and brand values towards transparency and honoring the people behind our clothes, and to be the solution to climate change through circular fashion.
Democratizing Fashion Through the Power of Choice, Creativity, and Storytelling
Dhana Inc.’s proprietary creative tech platform, D/Sphere, unlocks the creativity of customers through the personalization of fashion using second-life materials. The platform is a marketplace that serves both buyers and sellers, where customers are empowered to use their power of choice to co-create and drive impact via three modules – Studio, Store, Stories.
D/Sphere inspires customers to transform the fashion industry by exercising their power of choice: voting with their dollars; actions (design and repurpose); voices (words to share fashion stories of celebration, demands, and feedback); access to data and information to elevate understanding, awareness and make conscious choices; and unleashing creativity (using imagination to personalize fashion). D/Sphere is democratizing fashion while developing an intelligent system for brands and customers, to be the platform of choice in the world of circular fashion to impact social and environmental justice.
A Commitment to Triple Bottom Line
Dhana claims its third Certification as a B Corp; Transitions to a circular business with Circulytics; Recipient of CO Leadership Award 2022
Dhana Inc. recommitted to a stakeholder economy by valuing people and planet together with profit when it received its third (124.1 points), Certification as a B Corp in January 2022.
“Nine years of using business as a force for good has rewarded Dhana Inc. as a B Corp, by earning the trust of customers in making conscious choices to honor people and planet, and more importantly, work with valued partners, retain a team of dedicated people who take ownership in what they do, realize their contribution to humanity and nature, plus find joy in knowing that their contribution is having a positive impact in the world of fashion,” reaffirms Founder & CEO, Shamini Dhana.
As part of transitioning toward a circular economy system, Dhana Inc. joined the Ellen MacArthur Foundation Circulytics business community for continuous improvement in the goal towards circularity as a business. Dhana Inc. received an A- as part of the overall score of the Circulytics Assessment.
Dhana Inc. was also awarded CO Leadership status in 2022 in sustainable business and was one of the 32 shortlisted brands for the prestigious CO10. The CO Leadership Awards celebrate ambition for, and commitment to, great business practices that transform lives – and solve environmental challenges.
About Dhana Inc.
Dhana Inc. is a fashion tech company, transforming customer experience from zero-waste designs to social and environmental impact through Circular Fashion.
Dhana’s new innovative tech platform, D/Sphere will transform the fashion industry by empowering the customer to co-create with brands to repurpose and recreate new garments from their existing wardrobe, used clothing, and reclaimed fabrics. Dhana is leading the charge in the next frontier of fashion – committed to ethical and sustainable practices, investing in people and jobs in the fashion industry, while giving them tools to customers to be the solution to climate change by tackling global textile waste.
Dhana Inc., a Certified B Corp was founded in 2008 by Shamini Dhana, a former Silicon Valley investment banker turned entrepreneur after witnessing firsthand the impact of the true cost fashion on children and the environment. One of the founding signatory brands of the Global Fashion Agenda 2020 Circular Fashion Commitment, Dhana’s vision is “Uniting Humanity Through Fashion” with the mission of “connecting people and planet through the medium of fashion”.
Shamini Dhana
Founder & CEO, Dhana Inc.
Shamini Dhana is on a mission to connect people more deeply to the clothes they wear and how those clothes were made to advance a new frontier of fashion.
Shamini is a leader in the sustainable fashion industry and serves as a board member for Climate Ride, Ethical Fashion Forum, and even served as an Associate Producer of The True Cost film.
Learn more about Dhana, Shamini, and D/Sphere with the links below.
Grow Ensemble publishes news from within its partner network to share with and educate its audience. The views and opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of Grow Ensemble.
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