This Miami entrepreneur is focused on making an impact in sustainability
By Krysten Brenlla
It all started with one, tragic phone call that would change Mitali Saxena’s life.
Her friend was struggling with her body image. The fashion industry, social media, and our current beauty standards of size 0 models, two-inch waists, and blemish-free faces made Saxena’s friend believe taking her own life was the only way to escape.
So, Saxena, an engineer born and raised in India who now calls Miami home, sought to change that through Fashom, a data-driven styling service company that uses algorithms to match women with fashion styles they’ll love that are curated by actual human designers.
“I was moved by the cause of body positivity and women empowerment, which is where Fashom evolved from,” an emotional Saxena told Refresh Miami. “With Fashom, we use technology to find the clothing sizes for our customers that will look good and fit every type of woman.”
In just 3½ years and with strategic YouTube influencer marketing tactics, Fashom has grown to a profitable, multi-million-dollar business with more than 50,000 customers, Saxena said. This enabled the small Fashom team to work on AI/ML algorithms that would style the women based on their body shape.
“The technology analyzes data points based on the prediction models we’ve built, which figures out whether the woman is pear-shaped or apple-shaped,” said Saxena. “We use product techs to discover, for example, the width of the shoulders and the length of the sleeves to determine the best garment size to test out on her body that she might like and keep.”
Making an impact in sustainability: Can the metaverse help?
The algorithm and precise-model technology is also a way that Fashom works on its carbon footprint, especially in a fast-fashion industry that accounts for 20% of the wastewater worldwide; 35% of microplastics in the ocean; and 57% of discarded clothing in our landfills, according to the Princeton Student Climate Initiative.
“At Fashom, we only use natural fibers and ethically-produced clothing, and we’ve built out KPI dashboards and prediction models for our inventory to work out how much clothing we need per season,” says Saxena on Fashom’s sustainability efforts. “We’ve realized it’s what most of our customer base want when they’re buying clothing from us.”
Sustainable fashion is one of many reasons why Saxena and her team thought it was the perfect time to break into the metaverse, too.
XFashom works B2B, helping independent designers currently working with Fashom to break into the metaverse with exclusive collections and styling pieces. XFashom supports them with the knowledge and resources they need, so fashion lovers can wear their favorite pieces online and IRL.
“Through XFashom, we talk with our brands about what the metaverse is, what an NFT is, and what this new world means for brands,” said Saxena. “And then, we go into the drops, utility options, and marketing strategies to break them in and ultimately, onboard them into web3.”
Local accelerator program helps launch Fashom to new levels
This past year, Saxena participated in the FIU-Venture Miami Opportunity Program, a local accelerator supported by JPMorgan Chase and housed in the FIU Office of Engagement, that helped Fashom, XFashom and Saxena herself break into our #MiamiTech ecosystem.
Saxena found that talking with investors, entrepreneurs, professionals, and other women founders of color in tech was key to her success in the program and even today. “The support we received for representing women of color was way more important than anything else,” Saxena said of being part of the inaugural FIU-Venture Miami Opportunity Program cohort.
Looking forward, Saxena hopes to bring her businesses to new heights by merging Fashom and XFashom into an all-in-one platform for techies and fashionistas, all while continuing to practice sustainability.
“The mission is to continue our focus on fashion sustainability while working on making digital fashion the next big thing. We’re getting there, and we’re so excited for what’s to come.”
Applications for the FIU-Venture Miami Opportunity Program are open to the entire South Florida community of female founders of color until August 12. For more information and to apply, click here.
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