Team 24: Yu Ru Liu Fu (637634yl), Lara Oliveira Simões Alves Serra (703496lo), Fabian Pusceddu (788425fp), Olivier Reintjes (585065or)


The production and consumption of fast fashion is cheap. However, there is a significant environmental cost to be paid. Tons of textile waste, thousands of litres of water consumed, and not to mention the numerous landfills of unwanted clothes across the globe (Long & Nasiry, 2022). Although fashion trends continue to change, their consequences on the environment are definitely here to stay.

Consumers now also have the responsibility to be aware of their purchasing habits since the Internet and social media have made information widely accessible. This can be seen reflected in the increasing sales of clothes via second-hand channels like Vinted and Marktplaats (Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, 2024). Such businesses built on sustainable practices can leverage this current movement and demand to capture new customers who want to purchase more sustainably.

Our innovation aims to combat this problem by adding GenAI to Vinted’s platform. Vinted is a major consumer-to-consumer (C2C) marketplace for second-hand fashion. It generates revenue by collecting transaction fees from buyers, while offering free listings to sellers. To improve on this model, Vinted can integrate a personal AI sales assistant. This is aimed at improving both the buyer and seller experience. This increases the listing process speed for sellers and enhances the shopping experience for the buyer by acting as a virtual stylist. With this innovation, Vinted transforms from a simple resale platform into a smart and interactive shopping experience that will boost engagement, loyalty, and transaction volume.

When building the prototype on the seller side, automation tools such as image recognition, AI-generated product descriptions, and dynamic pricing recommendations reduce the hassle of listing items, encouraging more users to sell rather than throw away unwanted clothing. On the buyer side, intelligent discovery and outfit completion recommendations transform the platform into a personalized styling ecosystem that promotes reuse and creative combination of existing garments. Together, these innovations help extend the lifecycle of clothing and make sustainable fashion more accessible and appealing to a broader audience, aligning the profitability of Vinted with positive environmental impact.


Prototype:

Vinted’s use of GenAI improves customer satisfaction, market competitiveness, and operational efficiency. GenAI increases scalability and decreases friction by automating price calibration, photo enhancement, and listing creation (Trabucchi & Buganza, 2025). In line with Expectation-Confirmation Theory, which highlights that satisfaction is dependent on verified expectations, personalized recommendations and standardized descriptions boost user trust and purchase confidence (Brill et al., 2019). GenAI also strengthens Vinted’s position in the market by boosting seller participation and generating network effects that attract more customers (Mikalef et al., 2021; Parker et al., 2016). Additionally, data-driven insights enhance pricing and demand forecasting (Babina et al., 2024). However, there are challenges, including the possibility of data bias (Ferrara et al., 2023), privacy concerns (Ethical Considerations in Driven E-Commerce, 2025), and the environmental effects of AI energy use (von Zahn et al., 2022; Vergallo et al., 2025).




References:
Babina, T., Fedyk, A., He, A., & Hodson, J. (2024). Artificial intelligence, firm growth, and product innovation. Management Science, 70(3), 1762–1784. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2023.4837
Brill, T. M., Munoz, L., & Miller, R. J. (2019). Siri, Alexa, and other digital assistants: A study of customer satisfaction with artificial intelligence applications. Journal of Marketing Management, 35(15–16), 1401–1436. https://doi.org/10.1080/0267257X.2019.1687571
Ethical Considerations in AI-Driven E-Commerce Solutions: Balancing Personalization and Privacy. (2025). ResearchGate. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/389250000_Ethical_Considerations_in_AI-Driven_E-Commerce_Solutions_Balancing_Personalization_and_Privacy
Ferrara, E., Qamar, M., & Keegan, B. (2023). Algorithmic bias and fairness in online recommendation systems. Journal of Information Science, 49(4), 553–567. https://doi.org/10.1177/01655515221103100
Global Fashion Agenda. (2024, February 8). Pulse of the Fashion Industry 2019. https://globalfashionagenda.org/resource/pulse-of-the-fashion-industry-2019/
Long, X., & Nasiry, J. (2022). Sustainability in the fast fashion industry. Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, 24(3), 1276–1293. https://doi.org/10.1287/msom.2021.1054
Mikalef, P., Krogstie, J., Pappas, I. O., & Pavlou, P. A. (2021). Investigating the effects of big data analytics capabilities on firm performance: The mediating roles of dynamic capabilities. Information & Management, 58(3), 103414. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.im.2020.103414
Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management. (2024). Policy Programme for Circular Textile 2025–2030. https://www.government.nl/binaries/government/documenten/reports/2024/12/31/policy-programme-for-circular-textile-2025-2030/Policy+Programme+for+Circular+Textile+2025-2030.pdf
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von Zahn, J., Herden, M., & Becker, J. (2022). The cost of fairness in algorithmic decision-making. Business & Information Systems Engineering, 64(4), 389–401. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12599-021-00716-w

After my weekly night of catching up and watching Sex and the City with my girl friends, I couldn’t help but wonder: In a world ruled by AI prompts, where efficiency is rewarded over quality, what would SATC look like in the GenAI era?

If Carrie Bradshaw had access to ChatGPT, would she even wonder anymore? We encounter a BIG problem here. The ability to think critically and reflect is a privilege in today’s world. When given the option, people will most likely opt for what’s easiest and most convenient. The pressure to rapidly mass-produce and churn out work, regardless of quality and authenticity, ultimately leads people to succumb to the temptation of using algorithms. GenAI has now become a regular commodity. With GenAI making it increasingly easy to take creative shortcuts, will we lose the ability to reflect deeply and value original thought? It seems as though the rapid spread of GenAI may soon be the killer of creativity.

Artificial Intelligence has unknowingly crept into every aspect of our lives and quietly become central in our daily routine. Our dependency on GenAI grows as we demand it to take over our day-to-day tasks. Instead of analysing a woman’s codependency on men, Carrie might as well be reflecting on our codependency on ChatGPT. We ask it to make a travel itinerary for our next holiday, find literature sources for our next university assignment, and write the cover letter for our next job application. We cannot imagine a world without these tools.

But the discussion around AI is here to stay. So, instead of worrying about losing our jobs, maybe we should use this time to learn how to use these tools honestly and ethically. Perhaps that’s the key to a world where human creativity and AI work together and thrive. We must engage in a holistic view of AI. We must leverage it to allow us to invest more time in things we care about, rather than letting it take over what we care about.

So, how exactly do we coexist in a world of AI? How can we make our lives more productive and efficient, while remembering the value of original, thoughtful work? Well, I put myself in Carrie’s shoes (more likely heels) so you don’t have to. So I wondered, how would a Vogue columnist use Generative AI tools responsibly? Well, I asked this to ChatGPT and here is what it replied: “A Vogue columnist could use Generative AI responsibly by treating it as a creative assistant—fact-checking its outputs, crediting its role, and ensuring the final voice, originality, and ethical standards remain distinctly their own” (ChatGPT, 2025). We often think of using AI as a starting point to help with idea generation or structuring. However, ChatGPT’s response focuses on ways AI can be used once the original work is completed, to refine and strengthen its credibility and originality. So, I role-played as Carrie and pasted this blog post into ChatGPT. Then, I asked it to use AI the way Carrie would. And to my surprise, it gave quite a witty response:

• She’d see AI as the new “Mr. Big.” Mysterious, irresistible, but ultimately something she has to define the terms of her relationship with. Too much dependence, and she loses herself. The right balance, and it enhances her life.
• She’d turn the fear into a reflection. Instead of asking “Will AI kill creativity?”, she’d ask “What does it mean to create when you can outsource creation?” That subtle shift keeps the focus on human choice and agency.
• She’d end with a question. Just as you did — but hers might be something like: “If love is about connection, not convenience, maybe creativity is too. And if that’s true, is AI our greatest threat… or just another fling we need to learn how to handle?” (ChatGPT, 2025)

A query search would not have been able to personalise such an answer and communicate in Carrie’s language. So, taking ChatGPT’s recommendation into account, I will end this blog post with a question.

Because maybe the real luxury in the age of algorithms is not in owning the latest handbag or the smartest app. It is in knowing when to let AI polish the edges, and when to let your own voice, unfiltered and original, shape the conversation. And is not that the question every modern columnist must ask: where does the machine end, and where do we begin?