• AI is transforming fashion sustainability, helping brands reduce returns, waste, and carbon emissions through smarter data-driven decisions.
• Bengaluru-based GreenStitch and Stylumia offer AI-powered SaaS platforms for automated carbon accounting and climate compliance across Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions.
• GreenStitch’s AI analyzes vast environmental data to guide fashion brands on sustainable materials and energy choices, turning compliance into a strategic advantage.

The fashion industry has long grappled with issues like frequent returns, oversupply, and its impact on the environment. With fast fashion alone responsible for nearly 10% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, as stated by the United Nations, there's an urgent need for reform. Artificial intelligence (AI) is now emerging as a crucial tool to tackle these concerns, with Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platforms leading the charge in automating sustainability compliance and enabling smarter decision-making.

Startups like GreenStitch and Stylumia are at the forefront of this transformation. Their AI-driven systems help brands carry out audit-grade carbon accounting across Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions categories used to define and measure greenhouse gases produced directly and indirectly. These platforms collect and process massive datasets from brands and manufacturers, covering everything from fuel types and material sourcing to water usage. The aim is to offer data-backed insights that allow brands to understand and reduce their environmental footprint effectively.

Bengaluru-based GreenStitch gathers millions of unstructured data points to fill critical knowledge gaps in sustainability reporting. “Brands first need to understand where they stand in terms of sustainability, before modelling a plan forward”, said founder and CEO Narendra Makwana. GreenStitch automates the traditionally manual and fragmented processes of climate compliance, with about 40% of its reporting workflows now AI-powered. Makwana explained, “Let’s suppose a company wants to shift from normal cotton to the more sustainable BCI (Better Cotton Initiative) cotton. How would this decision help in terms of their entire emissions If they want to move from coal to biomass, what sorts of emission savings are they doing? How would that impact costs and returns on investment (ROI) That’s what we attempt to answer”.

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Wastage reduction is another pressing issue in the industry. Traditional supply chains are often inefficient and prone to overproduction. Startups such as Zyod and Stylumia are addressing this challenge by leveraging AI for better demand forecasting and optimized resource use. Gurgaon-based Zyod, launched in 2023, has clients including Reliance Industries, Aditya Birla Group, Van Heusen, NEXT, and FirstCry. It uses AI not only to streamline production but also to reduce material loss through tools like nesting software. “If we take a simple example of fabric planning. Maximum loss which is about 50% is incurred from material. Using nesting software, which optimises the fabric usage and demand supply planning, one can have at least a saving of 8-12% of fabric”, said cofounder Ankit Jaipuria. Zyod also uses AI to enhance labour efficiency, aiming to boost productivity from 50-60% to as much as 90-95%.

Stylumia, founded by former Myntra COO Ganesh Subramanian in 2015, uses a proprietary AI tool called Demand Sensing. It reads real-time consumer signals and social media trends to forecast demand and reduce overproduction. “Current expert-led wastage control mechanisms are broken”, the company noted, citing that over 70 billion garments are wasted annually.

New-age fashion brands are not far behind in leveraging these technologies. For example, Newme has embedded AI throughout its supply chain operations from design to demand planning. “AI has been deeply embedded in our supply chain from design creation to demand planning. We are also exploring AI now in trend prediction and finding ways to identify hero styles based on past data and browsing behaviour of customers”, said cofounder Sumit Jasoria. This efficiency has led to inventory write-offs being “in very low single-digit percentage points”, he added, noting it was “at least 10 times lower than the industry average”.

E-commerce leaders like Myntra and Flipkart are also deploying AI to track fashion trends and consumer behaviour. “Our AI-powered trend tech stack synthesises internal data such as search, browse and purchase behaviour, with external signals from creator content, brand intelligence and specialised research agencies to codify both macro and micro fashion trends”, said Lakshminarayan Swaminathan of Myntra. Flipkart’s Pranav Kumar Tiwari added, “Our AI models identify emerging trends across the internet, from across the social media channels, and map those trends to its catalogue in real-time”.

With India generating an estimated 7,800 kilotonnes of textile waste annually, according to Fashion for Good, AI-powered sustainability efforts may be the fashion industry’s best hope for a cleaner, smarter future.

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