An Interview with the Co-Founder of STAIY

Laura Steyaert
Feb 4, 2021
5 min read

Updated: Mar 3, 2021

This week, for our series of interviews with young entrepreneurs, E-HUB sat down with Adrian, the Co-founder and Managing Director at Staiy. He and his Co-founders are an inspiring example of how young entrepreneurs can take on the challenge of building a more sustainable tomorrow.

Staiy is a digital fashion platform selling over 120 sustainable brands with a mix of products spanning fashion, beauty, accessories, and jewelry.

The overarching mission of the company is to accelerate the transition towards a more sustainable lifestyle. It does so by maximising transparency and giving to its consumers a carefully curated selection of brands that respond to their sustainability criteria. Water, Air, Materials, Work Conditions, and Commitment are the sustainability pillars upon which STAIY evaluates each of its selected brands.

Moreover, the platform also offers a hyper-personalized shopping experience, thanks to AI-enabled style recommendations.

Behind STAIY are Adrian and his 3 Co-founders, Allesandro Nora, Ludovico Durante, and Chiara Latini. What brings them together is their passion for sustainability and their drive to create a positive impact. For Staiy’s founders, sustainability is not only a trend but

(From left to right - Alessandro Nora, Chiara Latini, Adrian Leue and Ludovico Durante)

EHUB: What factors drove you to start STAIY after your bachelor's? How did you get the idea and why did you decide to go into the field of sustainability?

ADRIAN: This has a lot to do with my co-founders and the overall experience that I had with the final year of my bachelor at ESCP, in Berlin. Back in 2017, Berlin, being the city of trends, already had a lot of various initiatives and Startups that were doing something against global warming and trying to make consumerism more sustainable. This is how we also got introduced to the world of entrepreneurship and that if you have a vision which you strongly believe in, anything is possible. As we are all very impact driven and personally do a lot for sustainability, we knew that this was the right way forward, especially within the fashion industry. Again, Berlin has so many sustainable designers and brands, that needed a voice. This is where Staiy comes in.

EHUB: What is the vision behind Staiy?

ADRIAN: We are a community of like-minded people pursuing a sustainable culture. Staiy is changing the culture of consumption valuing ethics, aesthetics and innovation. Meeting rigorous sustainability standards our selected brands and designers preserve our resources while crafting authentic pieces. Alongside the established network of sustainable brands and designers Staiy is actively assimilating a dynamic and varied collective of artists influencers consultants and other businesses who innovate advocate and educate for our shared core values. In addition with the staiy edit editorial content staiy is committed to enhancing our community’s experience by providing sustainable insights inspiration and education. OUR VISION consists within us seeing Sustainability as the new standard.

EHUB: What are the specific sustainability initiatives you have focused on?

ADRIAN: Since the foundation we initiated various initiatives, that are both internal and extra to the core business. Internally, we are a carbon neutral company. Our Partnership with 1% for the planet has allowed us to have a clear stance towards sustainability. In addition, we have a clear external commitment to profit sharing with One Tree Planted, where we give our customers the possibility to plant a tree after their purchase.

EHUB: How do you measure the sustainability of the brands you work with? Did you have to create a sustainability indicator?

ADRIAN: We have a rigorous methodology with which we assess the sustainability of brands. This is based on a framework of 5 pillars (more info here). These pillars take the core polluting factors of the production of a garment and the fashion industry in general, to assess if a product is really sustainable or not. This allowed us to create a benchmarking system, with which we continuously tracking to see if a brands is really sustainable. On a customer-level, this results in points that the customer can collect and then donate, by planting trees. (More information on the key metrics we use for this assessment can be found here).

EHUB: Which is the biggest challenge you have faced while working in the sustainability field?

ADRIAN: A big problem that we face is being able to distinguish between a fully transparent brand or a brand that uses “sustainability” to their own benefit. Brands source and produce sustainably, but we then have our own assessment to really make sure there there is no greenwashing involved. We have had countless moments, where in fact customer have used this for their own benefit to make more margins. So this is a threat which will continue to be present within the sustainability field.

EHUB: What are the main problems you see in the fashion industry today? Can you reconcile fashion and sustainability?

ADRIAN: I think the main problem is within the concept of Greenwashing and using that to their own monetary advantage. Greenwashing, according to Business Daily, is when a company or organization spends more time and money on marketing themselves as environmentally friendly than on minimizing their environmental impact. This is something that we have been incrementally been experiencing with brands and large platforms and businesses, that do this, plainly for an economic benefit. Thus, this is what I would be considering as a major problem in the fashion industry, but may also expand to a pan-industrial reach.

EHUB: What specific leadership qualities are needed by managers in the field of sustainability that differ from those of running a traditional business?

ADRIAN: The main qualities that such leaders need is especially in listening what people have to say and rationalising this accordingly. The fashion industry is such a polluting industry that many complain and may even use this situation to their own advantage, but e.g. having higher price margins. So a leaders has to be there to act in these given situations and take the best out of every interaction and communicate this. Hence, not only the team grows in confidence, but also all the stakeholders around.

EHUB: Are you optimistic about businesses' ability to rise to the sustainability challenge?

ADRIAN: Absolutely, now the time is better than ever. Investors are constantly looking for the next big thing, especially in the first of CleanTech. The Demand is there, the Supply is what is missing. So, if you have the next big idea, believe in it, as if it were your baby, and you will get there!

EHUB: Do you believe that the pandemic is changing the way we are consuming? Have you already started witnessing a shift in consumer behavior?

ADRIAN:Personally, I strongly believe that this is in fact the case, both from our customers’ purchasing habits and the way that I feel when consuming. All of a sudden, sustainability is EVERYWHERE and businesses are also using this for their own promotional tag-lines. The pandemic has shown us, that if we let nature take a break for our absurd consumption habits, it can regenerate easily. This just gave the consumers and idea that sustainability, in fact, is possible. This can se seen by customers’ buying habits, as they are now buying less and instead investing more for a single item. Sustainability is not only about how it is produced, but also about durability and timelessness. This is what a lot of customers still don’t understand, when it comes to buying such a piece, for a higher price-point.

EHUB: What is next for you and Staiy?

ADRIAN: We are a very young team that really believes that making a change is possible. So the next steps for myself and the team, is to ramp up the business, and grow even faster. We want to be the leading destination for sustainable shopping online.

THANK YOU ADRIAN FOR YOUR TIME AND INSIGHTS!