T-Sharing the love : The vision behind the startup.
So, what is T-Share? Pragmatically speaking, it’s an online platform where you can exchange, sell or donate your unwanted clothes. Taking a look through the lens of a modern day person though, you’ll realize it’s far more than that. It’s a necessity, an answer to an economy marred by crisis, an alternative for people reluctant to spending money on things such as clothes. It’s a perfect fit in our diverse and ever-changing society and its trends. It’s more than just about exchanging clothes, it’s about (T-)sharing the love!
The following piece is a part of a story-telling journey of the members of T-share’s team, recounting how the whole initiative began and what the next steps are.
When faced with the challenge of creating our very own startup company, our team began thinking about what is it that the average modern day person really wants, but cannot easily afford. We tried to find something that really defines our lives, that concerns everyone, but that no one really sees as an issue or a need. After many bouts of brainstorming, we came up with a possible answer: clothing. Now bear with me, while fashionable apparel may seem like a luxury at first glance (especially in today’s mid-crisis society), that’s not necessarily true.
For better or for worse, we live in an age where clothing is a major part of who we are and who we want to be. Apart from being a relatively basic need, clothes are a representation of who we are, can express certain opinions and feelings, can show (lack of) power, a certain economic status and much more. One could go so far as to say that clothing, or more properly fashion, is a very accurate representation of a society and its inner mechanisms.
In a country like modern day Greece, it’s pretty hard to personalize your style and actually care about what you wear. Fashion is not very attainable, and while there are affordable options, most of them lack personality and are completely uniform. Quite a few people view fashion as a complete luxury, as something that’s far out of their reach. Furthermore, even the people who want to revamp their style and can actually afford new clothes, cannot find what they want in commercial stores. Finally, let’s not forget that there are many a people who would gladly let go of some of their clothes, not necessarily in exchange for money.
Following that train of thought, we pieced together the platform we now call T-share. We realized that a person should have the choice to be exactly who they want to be, and dress however they want to dress. Through T-share, fashion is accessible to everyone: those who can’t really afford new clothes can find someone to trade, those who can afford them can buy them, those who need the money can sell them, and those who want to help those in need can donate them. A major bonus is that since you actually interact with other people and can browse through their virtual closets, you can find unique pieces and even make new friends.
In T-share we believe in sharing, communicating and helping others. We would like to break the pattern in the clothing industry and bring something new to the country we live in. Our vision and our goal is not just about sharing clothes, it’s about sharing experiences, communicating and spreading love, something we are in need of in the times we live in. T-share it !!
T-Share is a project for the Ad Discovery Workshop: an experimental peer-to-peer learning hands-on workshop conducted by Betty Tsakarestou at the Department of Communication Media and Culture, of Panteion Univeristy, Athens, Greece.
T-Share Facebook Page
T-Share Instagram Page
Team:
Frossini Drakouli, CEO
Jason Verbis, COO
Nikos Geramanis, Product Supervisor
Iakobos Vlachos. Social Media Strategist
Christina Koromila, Social Media Manager
