Must Had, the online marketplace for refashion artisans

The idea behind the project is simple and takes inspiration from this concept:true sustainability starts from reusing what already exists and extending the life of clothes also means extending the life of the planet.Hence the startup motto Must Had, or everything deserves a second chance

The idea behind the project is simple and takes inspiration from this concept:true sustainability starts from reuse what already exists and extending the life of clothes also means extending the life of the planet.Hence the startup's motto Must Had, that is to say everything deserves a second chance, everything deserves a second chance.These are the pillars on which Arianna Luparia, Eugenio Riganti and Matteo Aghemo founded Must Had, an online marketplace that brings together stylists and artisan brands that sell products generated starting from textile waste or from other industries.

Refashion it is the practice that recovers fabrics or waste materials with which to produce regenerated clothing, unique and stylish garments starting from what would be waste from the textile and fashion world, to give new value to what is already available.Refashion brands, artisans or designers can therefore take advantage of the direct-to-consumer digital sales showcase created by Must Had to reach aware consumers who share this same philosophy and want to purchase unique or limited edition items.Due to its strong vocation for reuse and circularity, Must Had has become part of the LifeGate Way ecosystem, the subsidiary of the LifeGate group which deals with naturally sustainable and innovative startups.

The Must Had philosophy:starting from something that already exists

The name Must Had says it all:it's a pun built on must have, a product that we absolutely must have, an object of desire, something whose need is often artfully created by the most aggressive marketing.By revising this concept in a sustainable way, with the conjugation of the verb in the past, Must Had wants to underline the fact that there is no need to produce anything new, that it is possible to use already available resources often considered waste, and that fashion must turn towards products and materials already existing, perhaps which have already been owned, as in the case of second hand items that refashion artisans modify and revive.Other sources of raw material are the production waste, the warehouse inventories, theunsold inventory and other materials destined for landfill.

All these types of materials have a particular vocation to be reused with creativity and passing through the skilled hands of artisans and stylists they become mostly unique products or made in extremely limited numbers.Each leader brings their own with them history and every step of the previous life, which Must Had recounts on its platform, guaranteeing maximum transparency to the consumer in his purchasing process:from the type of waste of origin to the process that led to its regeneration and the idea behind it.

The Must Had production model is also enriched with a parallel service called Close the Loop, close the circle.In this case the startup directly recovers used or unsold clothing from private individuals or from the warehouses of brands and shops and then distributes it to the refashion brand network which will give it a new life and resell the new products on the platform with the Close the Loop brand.

How Must Had was born

Must Had took shape when the three founders and friends, all with a strong focus on sustainability and experience in the textile field, decided to realize their ambitions in the refashion field.It is in a certain sense from the direct experience of Arianna, now artistic director of the startup, that the project develops.For years his father Fulvio worked to give new life to clothing, furniture and objects through the use of color:each product was unique and his intervention had the ability to create something new, give a new look to the original element, always maintaining its history and character.

Must Had therefore decided to find similar realities, artisan brands that shared the same philosophy and that of Arianna's father, and create a digital container to give them visibility.In this sense the startup wants to give a modern impulse to an ancient tradition, which then absorbs into itself all the wisdom of the old, that of don't throw away but repair and reinvent until you create something that has even greater value than what you started from.In this project the idea was digitize manual work of artisans, designers, stylists.Always, in any case, transforming what could have become waste into something new and valuable and in this way reduce consumption, the use of raw materials and natural resources.As often happens when it comes to the circular economy, innovation that creates value is built on the roots of tradition.