Between 10% and 40% of all garments produced annually across the globe remain unsold, while every second, a garbage truck’s worth of textiles is burned or landfilled. This mind-staggering statistic is a reflection of the $425B global overstock problem in fashion.
FARO, a South African AI-powered start-up, is addressing this issue by helping global brands reduce waste while making high-end fashion more accessible in emerging markets.
Predictive Analytics Helping Solve Over-Supply to Regions
Rather than relying on traditional resale models, FARO uses AI and predictive analytics to match unsold inventory with demand more effectively, opening new retail channels across South Africa.
The start-up company is also creating local jobs and working with major fashion brands to offer last-season stock at lower prices. With sustainability regulations tightening and overstock challenges mounting, FARO’s approach offers an interesting lens into how tech can reshape the fashion supply chain.
Fast Fashion and Fast Retail Building Mounting Fashion Waste
Unsold fashion inventory is one of the biggest problems for fashion retailers, with mounting levels of excess stock being discarded, incinerated or left to waste. The rise of fast fashion coupled with the rapid growth of e-commerce has perpetuated a textile waste epidemic.
Africa’s fastest growing fashion venture, FARO, is using AI to turn unsold global fashion into an opportunity. The company enables brands to reduce their overstock and environmental impact, with traceable distribution in emerging markets.
FARO has flipped the switch on fashion retail by creating high-end shopping experiences where customers have the opportunity to own and wear global brands that might otherwise be out of budget, and in turn, offers a sustainable solution to global brands struggling with unsold inventory.
How it Works:
FARO’s operating system, FARO IQ, learns from past sales, forecasts future trends, and tags each product with detailed attributes. This allows FARO to allocate the right stock to the right stores based on real customer behaviour – boosting sell-through and reducing waste.
The same tech drives FARO’s personalised marketing, delivering targeted messages to shoppers based on what they actually buy. While legacy retailers rely on spreadsheets and manual guesswork, FARO’s AI makes smart decisions in seconds, optimising planning, buying, pricing, allocation, and marketing across the entire supply chain.
“By designing AI-powered agents to automate complex workflows, we are able to streamline our operations, a key differentiator from legacy retailers”, explains FARO co-founder and COO, Amber Penney.
Making High-End Fashion Accessable to All
FARO founders Amber Penney, David Torr, William McCarren and Chris Makhanya, wanted to change the idea that high-end fashion was only available to a small percentage of the population, with textile waste being at the forefront of their solution. This approach not only ensures affordability for consumers but also reduces the industry’s environmental footprint.
“Our mission is to make high-end global brands accessible to South Africans, delivering unrivalled value to customers in an elevated shopping environment. We work with top global brands like G-Star, ZARA, Levi’s, Guess, Jack & Jones and Steve Madden, sourcing last-season stock at a discount and passing these low prices onto our customers,” adds FARO co-founder and CCO, Chris Makhanya.
Strides in Waste Avoidance and Job Creation
FARO has already had a meaningful impact on local unemployment, creating over 150 skilled jobs in their supply chain in the first year, with projections to create over 4,000 jobs by 2028 across the organisation. With every store that opens, more jobs are created both in-store as well as throughout the entire supply chain.
While many local retailers in South Africa focus solely on value, FARO is different, believing that shopping should feel luxurious for everyone. Each customer should feel stylish, valued, and unique when they walk in, and out of, their stores. Penney explains that at FARO, there is a major focus on personalised service, beautifully curated spaces, and an elevated shopping experience.
Quips Penney, “We like to think of ourselves in the realm of high-end fashion and curated spaces… minus the exclusivity and unattainable prices.”
Positioned for The People
The first store opened in Liberty Promenade Mall, Mitchell’s Plain, Western Cape, bringing premium fashion to a market where accessibility to high-end brands has traditionally been limited, ensuring that style and quality are no longer out of reach.
Since then, FARO has grown rapidly, with 6 stores in N1 City, The Glen, Fourways Mall, Bayside Mall, Mamelodi Mall. In late 2024, FARO closed a $6M funding round led by JP Zammitt, the President of Bloomberg, to fuel store expansion and strengthen its proprietary tech platform. The team have ambitious plans to expand to 1,000 stores across South Africa and other emerging markets in the next few years.
