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Goodwear

Generative AI in Retail · Student Capstone

goodwear: Making Sustainable Fashion Easier to Understand

Buying clothes is easy. Understanding their impact is not. Goodwear brings environmental context and secondhand alternatives into the shopping moment.

Diya Kochar and Sierra Riley presenting the Goodwear sustainable fashion project in a classroom

The Problem

Sustainable shopping feels like a research assignment.

Materials, manufacturing, durability, water use, and brand claims are scattered across product pages and reports. Shoppers must also search resale platforms separately to find lower-impact alternatives.

The Solution

Put environmental context inside the shopping journey.

Goodwear analyzes a product from a photo, retailer link, or search. It returns a clear sustainability score, explains the factors behind it, and surfaces secondhand options in one experience.

Before and After

From scattered claims to one informed decision

Before Goodwear

  • Open multiple product pages and sustainability reports.
  • Interpret vague or inconsistent environmental claims.
  • Search resale marketplaces one at a time.
  • Choose without understanding the full tradeoff.

With Goodwear

  • Start with a photo, product link, item, or brand.
  • See a 0–100 score and environmental breakdown.
  • Compare lower-impact and pre-owned alternatives.
  • Make a faster decision with clearer context.

How Goodwear Works

A simpler path from discovery to decision

1

Start with a product

Upload a photo, paste a retailer link, or search an item or brand.

2

Analyze the item

Review available information about materials, production, use, and lifespan.

3

Explain the score

Present a 0–100 sustainability score with an understandable breakdown.

4

Find alternatives

Surface lower-impact and secondhand options that preserve the shopper's intent.

Inside the Score

Six signals behind the environmental picture

  • MaterialsWhat fibers and inputs make up the item?
  • ManufacturingHow might the product have been produced?
  • Carbon FootprintWhat emissions may be associated with production and delivery?
  • Water UseHow water-intensive may the product be?
  • DurabilityIs the item designed to withstand repeated wear?
  • Expected LifespanHow long might the product remain useful?

Secondhand Finder

Keep the style. Lower the impact.

Goodwear extends the decision beyond a single new product by surfacing comparable pre-owned options. The concept brings multiple resale marketplaces into one discovery flow instead of making shoppers repeat the same search across separate sites.

Depop ThredUp Poshmark eBay

Building Responsibly

Useful guidance should also explain its limits.

Goodwear's current scores are prototype estimates. Product recognition, impact calculations, and secondhand matches may not always be accurate, and the system is not yet connected to live retailer or environmental databases. The page treats the score as decision support—not a formal sustainability certification.

Acknowledgment

Learning by building

Thank you to Prof. Kirthi Kalyanam and the Retail Management Institute at Santa Clara University for helping students turn a familiar retail frustration into a working capstone concept. Goodwear demonstrates how generative AI can make fashion shopping more transparent, responsible, and aligned with the choices customers want to make.