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In Conversation with Vaayu: Creating transparency across impact data

The Fashion for Good team interviewed Vaayu's cofounder and CEO, Namrata Sandhu, to learn more about the innovator’s story, technology, challenges, and successes and showcase innovations that are driving tangible change in the industry and leading the path to scale.
 Image by Pexels Liza Summer

 

19 February 2025

 

Can you tell us about Vaayu, how it started, and what the organisation does?

Vaayu helps brands and businesses across the retail industry to track and communicate their impact and cut carbon in real-time, using automated software. As a climate tech provider dedicated to addressing retail’s 25% contribution to global emissions, we are one of TIME’s Best Inventions. Our AI and machine learning technology powers reduction at scale, including across a brand’s carbon emissions, water and waste. 

My 20-year career has spanned the Arcadia Group and leading global retailer Zalando. I found a critical gap in the market to speed up impact reduction in real-time, and so the company was created in 2020 to deliver this much-needed software and data.

Now, Vaayu has raised $13 million in funding to date, and enables partners globally to calculate the impact results of their products, deliveries, circular initiatives and more. These results can also be seamlessly connected to the buyer journey, educating consumers about their impact and encouraging them to make better shopping decisions. 

Our specialist team created retail’s largest and most accurate impact modelling engine and database, Kria, which is continually evolving and being improved upon. Before Vaayu, there was limited life cycle assessment (LCA) data available for retail verticals outside of fashion, but we continue to expand Kria to cover diverse retail verticals comprising fashion, footwear, jewellery, beauty, electronics, fintech and more, enabling broader adoption and supporting industry-wide impact reduction. 

We are proud that Vaayu is able to help companies of all kinds to revolutionise the sector. By making reduction a part of core strategies and embedding greater transparency, we are enabling the widespread adoption of lower-impact and circular initiatives, supporting our partners to significantly reduce their own unique footprint and lowering retail’s impact as a result.

What problem is your innovation solving and how does the technology work? 

As mentioned, retail is responsible for 25% of global emissions. Accurate impact data for products and services enables companies/brands to make reductions and change consumer behaviour, but vague sustainability claims and unsubstantiated impact calculations have been the norm for so long. That means that one of the biggest challenges for brands, marketplaces and other businesses has been the inability to access quality, actionable data on their footprint, not to mention communicating effectively with their customers along the way. Vaayu was created to address that.

Our suite of easy-to-use solutions positions our partners as a transformative force in the industry. Harnessing Vaayu’s technology for speed and scale, companies are now armed with real-time data, driving their reduction strategies while improving impact communication with their customers.

Since the technology is purpose-built for retail, Vaayu stands out in its ability to account for the complexities of fashion and other retail supply and value chains. Here’s how it works:

  • We made sure our software and APIs easily integrate with retail’s favourite tools, from POS systems to PLMs, PIMs and ERPs, ensuring simple automation of real-time data.
  • Our Kria modelling engine and database works to pull, map and process the data to create a digital twin that reflects complex real-world supply chains.
  • Impacts from raw materials through manufacturing to last-mile delivery are automatically calculated using Vaayu’s unique AI, machine learning, data science and climate science.
  • The simple dashboard conveys the results and helps companies understand their calculations and set and achieve robust reduction strategies and targets.
  • These results make it easy for users to share impact information with customers and integrate data directly into the shopping experience.

In short, Vaayu is democratising a long-term scalable business tool to dramatically reduce the footprint of fashion and retail. We’re always refining our technology, finding new ways to make it more impactful and user-friendly. Our predictive AI scenarios help pinpoint areas to focus on, such as emissions hotspots, and explore alternative materials or factories that can help lower footprints. Target-setting and monitoring tools help users set goals and align with industry standards like SBTi. Meanwhile, our cutting-edge digital product passports offer both compliance and a more informed shopping experience. Backed by science and hyper focused on fashion and retail’s specific challenges, these tools and first-to-market features are quickly defining the industry’s baseline for impact management.

We are helping the industry to use data to reduce the impact of products, companies, supply chains and more while driving global consumer education and behaviour change, taking a holistic approach to reduction across the sector.

What have been the biggest successes so far? 

The company is still relatively young but has scaled quickly, so it’s been a very exciting journey so far. We recently expanded beyond Europe to Asia and North America, and have successfully established the largest in-house Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) team in climate tech. We have also just had our corporate carbon footprinting methodology recertified by TÜV Rheinland, confirming the accuracy of Vaayu’s calculations for another consecutive year and giving businesses added confidence when choosing a climate tech partner.

In 2024, we launched our Supply Chain Impact Solution, boosting traceability, supplier engagement and supply chain optimisations. We also introduced our Digital Product Passport (DPP) Solution to help companies comply with the upcoming EU Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) and France’s Loi AGEC Decree 2022-748. These DPPs also empower consumers with transparent product impact data, enabling value-aligned shopping — exemplified on our partner MISSOMA’s website via the passport icon.

Recent highlights from our collaborations include:

By giving millions of consumers direct access to impact data, Vaayu and our partners are driving real change. We quantify circular models, like second-hand and off-price, to break the take-make-waste cycle and accelerate retail’s move toward a truly circular future. At the same time, we share insights on lower-impact options, mindful care and responsible end-of-life to encourage more informed consumption and less waste.

Vaayu also saw success in addressing one of retail’s biggest challenges: filling data gaps in Scope 3 emissions (responsible for up to 90% of the industry’s impact), even with limited data. Using predictive AI, machine learning, and our Kria database of over 600,000 data points, we help brands gain a clearer view of these often scattered emissions. Our calculations and Accuracy Scores have become vital tools for brands looking to strengthen their sustainability efforts.

Each initiative drives impact reduction, circularity, and carbon literacy at scale while educating consumers on how their fashion habits affect their impact. We’re proud to offer partners and consumers a clear path to reduction — bridging once-limited data gaps and making a real difference in retail’s footprint, one partnership, vertical, country and continent at a time.


What role does collaboration play in bringing innovations to scale?

Collaboration is a core value at Vaayu — we believe that the bigger our network, the bigger our impact. Our leaders, team, partners and stakeholders are all working together to make a real difference. 

Climate change impacts everyone, but by forming partnerships, we’re nudging the industry and shoppers toward better decisions and proudly fostering a community of experts to lead this transformation. From onboarding brands and marketplaces to teaming up with innovation platforms like yours at Fashion for Good, as well as the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and La Fédération de la Mode Circulaire, we use our team’s expertise for knowledge-sharing and industry conversations. Our work also includes contributing to new frameworks, such as the CTI metrics in partnership with WBCSD, launched at Davos, ensuring continual, collective progress in shaping a more sustainable future.

With Vaayu, we are not just growing a business. We hope to pioneer a better world. If retail keeps growing at its current pace, emissions could climb by over 50% by 2030. That’s why our team members and partners share a commitment to reducing environmental impact, recognising the power of unity to combat climate change.


How has Fashion for Good played a role in your journey so far?

Vaayu’s journey with Fashion for Good has been enriching. As participants in the incubator program, we received support that extended beyond the basics, with Fashion for Good connecting our team with potential customers and strategic partners, laying a foundation for growth and expansion in the sustainability sector.

Support did not stop post-incubation. Fashion for Good continued to play a role in Vaayu’s development, with efforts to boost our visibility being particularly beneficial, actively sharing Vaayu’s content across your social media platforms and enhancing our reach and engagement within the industry. 

Your commitment to providing a diverse range of workshops demonstrates a holistic approach to nurturing startups. The initiatives offered by Fashion for Good contribute to a supportive ecosystem that encourages both learning and networking, underscoring a commitment to fostering innovation and also ensuring the practical application of sustainable practices within fashion.

What’s next for you? 

Vaayu’s mission is to decelerate climate change, and as retail’s dedicated climate tech, we’ll keep listening, learning and improving our solutions to tackle the challenges brands face. Our ultimate goal is to make Vaayu the go-to climate partner for every kind of retailer, helping them master their strategies and achieve real reductions, in real-time.

Our AI and machine learning technology grows smarter every day, fuelling innovation for first-to-market features and customer engagement to future-proof the industry. Building on our team’s expertise and insights from key partnerships, we’re expanding our circular economy tools and continuously refining impact quantification for vital models like resale, off-price and more.

Breaking into a new vertical, Vaayu’s recent onboarding onto Mastercard’s Start Path program focuses on driving sustainability innovation in fintech, empowering customers to make informed, lower-impact choices while shopping. By embedding sustainability into financial systems, our goal is to lead from within the finance sector to influence global retail and consumer behaviour, amplifying our ambition to decarbonise retail at scale.

Sustainability regulations are rapidly evolving, putting increasing pressure on businesses to meet requirements and stay compliant across everything from environmental footprinting and communication of data to corporate sustainability reporting. Our goal is to turn compliance into opportunity, which is why legislation remains a key priority for the years ahead. As we grow our legislative capabilities, we support partners in navigating leading standards and laws, meeting reporting obligations, and making consumer-facing claims that are both credible and compliant — steering clear of greenwashing. Our online Legislation Tracker keeps sustainability teams informed about upcoming legal requirements, and we’re continually expanding this free resource so the entire industry can stay one step ahead of evolving regulations.

Looking ahead, Vaayu will remain a catalyst for transformation in the retail industry, at the forefront of innovation and paving the way for a lower impact in the future. Together with our forward-focused partners, we’re committed to making lower footprints the new standard, not the exception.

Lastly, what advice would you give consumers trying to be more sustainable?

  1. Support brands that are working on their environmental footprint. Vaayu’s partner, Asket, is known for creating a durable, timeless, permanent collection, helping reduce waste and overconsumption.
  2. Opt for resale, reuse, repair, and recycling. Shopping with our circular partners, including Otrium and Vinted, gives clothing and other items a second chance, and also cuts the demand for new resources from the earth. 
  3. Treat each purchase as a long term investment, not a short term fix. Our work with Vestiaire Collective showed that pre loved luxury was 33 percent more affordable than brand new fast fashion, and 70 percent of consumers prioritised items with a good resale value and supported the idea of shopping as an investment.
  4. Stay informed about the footprint of what you buy, only buy what you need, and share your knowledge with friends and family.

If we add all of these habits to our shopping, we can all play a key role in driving demand for more sustainable practices, helping industries carve out a more responsible future. 

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