Spotlight on Birl, Tech Innovator

INTRO BLURB

About Birl

Can you introduce Birl to our readers?

Birl is a fashion tech company powering branded resale through a seamless, one-click trade-in solution.

We enable fashion brands to offer their customers an exceptional resale experience - allowing them to trade in pre-loved items for instant credit toward a new purchase. Behind the scenes, Birl handles the entire process end-to-end: from technology and logistics to customer service and resale.

The mission is to make circular commerce effortless for brands, and we're proud to be part of Future Fashion Assembly - a community that shares our vision for a more sustainable, innovation-led future in fashion.

Can you highlight a key achievement or innovation you are most proud of?

Innovation is at the heart of everything we do at Birl. Over the last two years, we’ve been awarded two Innovate UK grants in recognition of our disruptive technology in the circular commerce space.

One achievement we’re particularly proud of is the work we’re doing right now to evolve the customer journey. We’re currently leveraging advanced machine learning models to power dynamic pricing and market-leading image recognition - helping boost confidence for both customers and brands in the resale experience, and setting a new standard for ease and accuracy in trade-ins.

What inspired the founding of Birl?

Birl was born out of frustration with how hard it is for brands to launch and scale resale. We saw a clear need for a solution that made circular commerce simple, seamless, and commercially attractive - and we knew that if we got it right, it could unlock massive environmental and economic impact.

How would you describe your mission in one sentence?

To become the global leader in branded resale, empowering every fashion brand to own their circular future.

Innovation and Sustainability

What innovations are you most proud of, and how are they impacting the fashion industry?

Innovation and Sustainability are the core pillars of everything we do at Birl.

We’re proud to have won two Innovate UK grants for our work in developing disruptive resale technology - including dynamic pricing and AI-powered image recognition to make the trade-in process seamless and scalable for brands. These innovations are helping fashion businesses unlock new revenue streams, while making circularity commercially viable and operationally simple.

How does sustainability play a role in your work and vision?

On the sustainability side, our vision is to inspire both brands and consumers to embrace circular consumption - driving change one trade-in at a time. For every trade-in, we plant a kelp plant through our ocean regeneration partner. Kelp is a powerful natural carbon sink, and plays a vital role in ocean health and biodiversity.

Proof Points/Case Studies

Can you share an example of how your technology has positively impacted a fashion brand? What measurable results have you achieved with your solution?

We’re seeing strong, measurable results across every brand we work with - demonstrating clear commercial and customer value.

In one recent case study:

• £5,000+ in revenue was generated within the first 30 days - with no marketing spend.

• Over 80% of customers used their trade-in credit the same day, showing immediate re-engagement.

• 60% of items were resold within 24 hours of being listed on an approved marketplace.

These early results show how Birl’s model drives new revenue, activates dormant customers, and supports circularity - all with minimal operational lift for the brand.

Partnership with Future Fashion Assembly

What led you to join Future Fashion Assembly?

We joined Future Fashion Assembly because it felt like a natural fit - both in mission and mindset.

We’ve known Sofia (Future Fashion Assembly, CEO and Founder) for a while and have always admired her work, so when the opportunity came up to get involved, it was an easy yes. The Assembly is all about pushing fashion forward in a more sustainable, collaborative, and tech-enabled way - and that aligns perfectly with what we’re building at Birl.

It’s exciting to be part of a community that shares our ambition to reimagine the future of fashion, not just talk about it.

Opportunities in Fashion Tech

What do you see as the biggest opportunity for businesses in fashion technology today?

The biggest opportunity in fashion tech today is enabling brands to own their own resale channel - seamlessly and at scale.

With the right tools, brands can now launch resale at the push of a button. It’s a win-win: brands unlock new revenue and increase customer lifetime value, while shoppers get instant credit and the reassurance that their old items will be reused or ethically recycled - not sent to landfill.

This kind of circular model delivers commercial value and meaningful impact, making it one of the most exciting and important opportunities in fashion today.

Vision for the Future

What’s next for Birl, and how do you plan to continue making an impact for fashion brands?

We’re focused on scaling with forward-thinking brands that share our vision for a more circular, profitable future in fashion.

Our goal is to make Birl synonymous with resale - a trusted, seamless solution offered across a wide range of products and categories. As we grow, we’ll continue to innovate, expand our technology, and remove the barriers that have traditionally made resale hard to implement.

We want every brand to see resale not just as a sustainability initiative, but as a core driver of revenue, loyalty, and long-term impact.

Can you summarise the business’s vision for the future of fashion tech?

We envision a future where every product is designed with its second life in mind - resold, repurposed, or responsibly recycled.

Fashion tech should make circularity not just possible, but effortless - built into the lifecycle of every item, from the moment it's made to the moment it's passed on.