Circular fashion is part of the circular economy, an economic system that at its core is embedded with an ideology of reuse, recycle and refurbish in order to eliminate waste, stop items from going into landfills, and extend the lifecycle of products by keeping them in use and in circulation. The fashion industry is notorious for its wasteful and environmentally damaging practices accounting for over 10% of global carbon emissions a percentage which is slated to increase to 24% of the global carbon budget by the year 2050 at current demand. Much of this is due to the synthetic fibers and fabrics primarily used in fast fashion, 70 million barrels of oil are used to produce polyester every year and wasteful practices exacerbate the impact, it turns out that the equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is landfilled or incinerated every second! Fresh on the heels of a $175 million raise, thredUP is poised to capitalize on the growing $24 billion second-hand market through its use of artificial intelligence to bring efficiencies and scale to every area of its operations, while fueling the circular fashion trend among traditional retail brands with the launch of its "resale as a service" offering. The company's mission is to inspire a new generation of shoppers to think second hand first, keeping clothing out of landfills so that people can look great without being part of the problem.

The latest Payments And The Platform Economy Playbook examines how marketplaces are using technologies like AI to innovate the customer experience. Much has been written about artificial intelligence (AI)-powered tools for fraud detection and security. What else can it do, though, especially for online marketplaces? AI is being increasingly focused on visual search and personalization. The popularity of Instagram and Pinterest demonstrates the rise of visual platforms.

People attend Shoptalk, a retail and technology conference in Las Vegas. If you weren't at Shoptalk in Las Vegas last week, you missed a great conference. Shoptalk has evolved into a must-attend retail event with more than 8,000 attendees and growing, a destination where retailers and brands go to learn and collaborate and where networking opportunities are key. The conference included content on the latest retail trends around technology, data, and wins and losses in the online vs brick-and-mortar battle. Here are my key takeaways from the conference.

For shoppers who absolutely love a good deal but hate hunting through racks, ecommerce company thredUP has a new offering just for them. The secondhand retailer has launched Goody Boxes–a non-subscription, no commitment box filled with discounted items for purchase. Over time, thredUP's Goody Boxes will learn your tastes, using a machine learning algorithm to figure out what you like and dislike based on what you keep and what you send back, essentially taking the rack hunting out of shopping. Here's how it works: For a deposit of $20, the company will send a box filled with 10 to 20 secondhand items to customers to try on. Consumers can keep what they like and send back any items they don't want.