With Berlin Fashion Week right ahead, we caught up with someone whose impact can be seen from front rows across Europe and the United States: In a video call from London Airport, between two key industry stops—Pitti Immagine in Florence and The Mills Fabrica in London—we spoke with Gabriele Rorandelli, CEO of ZEROW, a platform for sourcing high-quality deadstock materials.

It is no coincidence that Rorandelli is particularly busy at the moment. His business idea has proven highly relevant—and is increasingly sought after by both emerging and established fashion brands. At Fashion Council Germany, ZEROW is no stranger either, but a longstanding supporter of several of our initiatives. Most recently, the platform contributed deadstock materials for our Fashion x Craft initiative, supporting designers in their collection development.

Now, ZEROW continues to support Fashion Council Germany and young designers by providing deadstock materials for a design competition we organize together with the whisky brand ABERFELDY. Beside that and for the first time, ZEROW provided materials for the entire SS27 collection of the FCG member brand Nowrubi, which will be presented on July 3 during Berlin Fashion Week. So it's about time we spoke with Gabriele about his brilliant business idea.

Gabriele, you co-founded ZEROW in 2021 with the goal to make surplus and deadstock materials more accessible and work towards circularity within the fashion system. Today, five years later, did that goal change or evolve?

No. What’s changing is the industry itself, shifting towards smaller sizes, volumes, and orders. The dead stock issue still concerns the major industry and large brands on the supplier side, because nowadays—especially with micro-trends—it's very hard to forecast demand. On the smaller side of the industry, more brands are embracing a more ethical and a smaller approach to production, where dead stock is gaining value—not only as a tool for producing more ethically and efficiently in terms of time and resources, but also as a way of strong, reliable storytelling towards the client. I think that we are going to see more brands embracing this strategy, rethinking their business model and adapting to current times.

"Waste cannot be just one single topic that brands think about once or twice a year."

How do you approach luxury brands on the supplier side, and how do you convince them of your business model? 

This is our biggest challenge and a crucial element of our vision—because we can't repurpose something we don't have. In order to convince luxury brands, fabric mills or tanneries, we need to show that we have a big vision, that we're growing—which was almost impossible in the beginning, as we didn't have a lot of commercial or business action to show.  Alessio Troisi, our other Co-Founder, and I leveraged what we had: our connection and our trust in the industry from our respective previous experiences. It was hard in the beginning, but it becomes easier to make a more valuable proposal and offering to our partners every day. Now that we are building institutional partnerships with Italian and German institutions such as Fashion Council Germany, we are going in a direction in which what we propose is going to become a standard that is appreciated and applied by many companies and pushed by financial, as well as sustainability goals. 

Even though the industry is evolving, fashion still relies heavily on exclusivity. How does that dynamic shift when luxury brand materials become accessible to smaller labels?

Brands have always been very vigilant about their materials and products, because those materials were part of their brand identity and, in the past, not commonly shared—especially when it came to luxury materials. But today, that whole concept of exclusivity is shifting in the sector, away from the product itself and more towards community, culture, and experiences. So the product becomes one of the touchpoints, but not the touchpoint itself, and that’s why brands are more open to sharing it.

On the other side, exclusivity is also built on the goodness and ethos of the brands—those with a strong ethos are going to stay relevant because they can do things that others are not capable of, and that is what customers appreciate. The fact that they’re sharing part of their materials and resources with smaller brands is going to add value—if it’s embedded holistically and long-lasting in their strategy. It can even help them build a better brand image and become more exclusive.

What has been your biggest achievement with Zerow so far?

For our company, the biggest achievement so far was going international immediately after launch. We knew that, in fashion, you have to be visible everywhere to be relevant. Now, after a couple of years in the market, we have a strong presence in Germany, the UK, and France, and we are also starting to become known in the US. With more than 1,200 clients outside Italy and that number still growing, building a global brand in less than two years and being recognised as a reliable source is, I would say, our biggest achievement so far. It is also one of the best parts of the business, because you are constantly in touch with different cultures and approaches, and that really feeds back into the brand. 

And what are some of the biggest challenges you are currently facing?

We are currently evolving our proposal, we created a logistic platform for brands and companies to adopt our solution, supporting them with logistics, and finances. Our biggest challenge now is evolving this platform called Circula into an all-in-one solution for fashion waste. We are creating a software that embeds not only the sales channel we represent with our marketplace, but also reuse, recycle, and donation solutions, so partners can manage different streams, become zero waste, and do it in a fully measurable and easy-to-adopt way. We are also expanding the scope of the platform to include the social side within the EPR schemes [environmental policies holding manufacturers accountable for their products' entire lifecycle]. This approach brings complexity, but also helps partners turn compliance into economic and environmental value. A solution designed to make the industry truly zero waste, not just a slogan.

How can you measure circularity?

Being able to measure the material flows, quantities and kilos, is already an achievement—because the industry often doesn’t even know how much leather and fabric has been disposed of because they have an externalised supply chain. We measure the quantities across different channels: how many metres or kilos have been resold, reused, recycled, or donated, thanks to our platform. On top of this data, we can analyse the footprint and the CO2 that has been saved. In a broader scope, we also measure the economic impact, as these materials were previously disposed of or sold very cheaply, and the social impact, as we support small businesses, charities, and NGOs. We are also adopting our solutions for new reporting standards such as the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation, [an EU law that sets design rules to make products more durable, repairable, and recyclable,] and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, [which requires companies to report on their environmental and social impact through common EU sustainability.] This will lead to more detailed measurements of waste in the future, and we think we can have a role in that.

This season marked a premiere: you are the exclusive and official technical partner and sponsor for the upcoming collection of Berlin-based designer nowrubi, supplying all materials for his collection. What is your key takeaway from that experience, and do you see more collaborations like this in the future?

We love a collaboration, where we see our material used for creative, meaningful, and purposeful projects supporting the initiative of young entrepreneurs.

They really want to make an impact and I think that nowrubi is a great example because he combines powerful design with strong storytelling—creating an entire collection exclusively with our deadstock fabrics. I can't wait to see it. In addition to nowrubi, we will also support other emerging brands such as UNVAIN, sample030 and ML Heart. For the previous edition of Berlin Fashion Week, we supported the V-Collective as part of the Fashion x Craft initiative by Fashion Council Germany. All these projects show how circularity is possible – an interesting story not only for customers, but for all the other brands. 

What makes Berlin an interesting partner or context for your work?

Berlin Fashion Week is creating something new, with circularity, responsibility and emerging talent at its core. I also love how accessible BFW is with different events, activations, and exhibitions for the public. It’s a perfect place for us to deepen collaboration and make circularity real, not just a concept, but something meaningful and shareable. We have already supported other FCG initiatives, such as the Echoes of Tomorrow collection and continue in doing so. I think the standards Fashion Council Germany is setting, and the way brands are following them not to tick a box but because they genuinely want to, is remarkable. I hope and believe we’ll see more of this—maybe Berlin Fashion Week can even become the first fully circular fashion week.

What role can deadstock play in helping small designers balance creativity and sustainability? 

There is a gap between what a small designer can do in terms of sustainable production and what the industry standard is—which is important to be aware of in advance and, at some point, comply with. But in the beginning, it’s more about how relevant your product, your vision, and your creativity are. That’s where they should focus, and I think deadstock allows them to do that by helping them concentrate on what really matters. 

What are you hoping for the future of the fashion industry?

Circularity as something that the final customers understand, embrace and appreciate. I think it is in the power of the big luxury brands to bring it to the public and teach them how crucial it is for the economic development of the European region, which is by definition scarce of resources. We think our brand solution can help these brands better conveying the storytelling to the final public, so that, one day, hopefully soon, circularity is the standard—not a niche topic.