Turning overstock into opportunity: Student entrepreneurs tackle fashion’s environmental crisis

The fashion industry is one of the world’s top polluters, accounting for 10% of annual carbon emissions, consuming vast amounts of water, and generating significant plastic and textile waste.

Grace Anne McCooey knows these numbers all too well. Since high school, she’s been working to develop a grassroots solution to one aspect of this devastating problem: inventory waste.

When a family friend opened a boutique clothing store, McCooey discovered some staggering facts, including that up to 30% of new overstock clothing goes straight to landfills. Many high-end brands avoid off-price retailers to protect their brand image, even if it means dumping perfectly good merchandise. That’s when McCooey had the idea to connect unsold high-end clothing with young consumers, and the concept of InstantReplay was born.

InstantReplay is a platform that gives college students access to affordable, high-end fashion while offering brands sustainable liquidation options that foster brand loyalty and long-term engagement with Gen Z consumers.

Upon arriving at Princeton, McCooey immersed herself in the entrepreneurial community. She joined the eClub and enrolled in Keller’s Entrepreneurship Certificate Program. “I took John Danner’s course Designing Ventures to Change the World and was able to apply the hands-on problem-solving skills he taught directly to advancing my venture,” she said. “EGR 488 was by far my favorite Princeton course, and Prof. Danner was so helpful in getting me prepared for where we are now.”

A rising senior in Anthropology, McCooey applied for the eLab Incubator and received pivotal advice from Professor of Practice Derek Lidow, who encouraged her to focus on integrating technology into the business. Taking that advice to heart, she expanded her team and began developing a scalable model that leverages automation.

She brought on Nadula Gardiyehewa, a Computer Science major, and Sergei Kudriavtcev, an Electrical and Computer Engineering major, to build the technical infrastructure. Vivian Chang, a Public Policy major, leads marketing, and Ayushmaan Kher, an Economics major, handles business operations. Together, they’ve been working intensively in the eLab Summer Accelerator to take InstantReplay to the next level.

“Getting the opportunity to devote the entire summer to developing our venture side-by-side, every day has been such a great experience,” said Gardiyehewa. “Being in the Entrepreneurial Hub surrounded by all this startup energy has been very motivating.”

The team is also grateful for their mentors — Entrepreneur and Design Fellow Ben Lehnert and Entrepreneurship Program Specialist Joy Marcus.

“Ben keeps us on track, always course-correcting and helping us identify and minimize distractions,” said Chang. “He said something that really resonated with me, and I keep coming back to: ‘Don’t take the time to fix something you don’t yet know is broken.’ That’s been extremely helpful.”

McCooey adds, “Ben has helped me develop my leadership skills and learn from my mistakes as a founder, to keep growing not only as a CEO, but as a person as well.”

Lehnert sees InstantReplay as tackling three connected challenges: “Fashion brands are often disconnected from Gen Z customers, college students have unique shopping behaviors, and the overproduction of the fashion industry is polluting the planet,” he said. “Their early research has shown real traction, and with the new app built specifically for college students, we’re excited to see how it lands as they pilot in the new academic year.”

Marcus, who brings deep experience in both the fashion and venture worlds, sees lasting potential in the model. “For brands, InstantReplay does more than monetize unsold inventory — it potentially creates brand loyalty during a critical moment in the customer journey,” she said. “This summer, the team did the hard work of building an MVP app, which will be tested in the market more broadly this fall”.

As they prepare for the upcoming eLab Summer Accelerator Demo Day, where they’ll showcase their progress to industry experts and an audience of entrepreneurial enthusiasts, the group reflects on how much they’ve gained from working in a shared space with other founders.

“Spending our days in the co-working space at the Hub has been more valuable than we anticipated,” said Kudriavtcev. “Even casual conversations with other teams can spark new ideas; it’s a very collaborative environment.” He also credited summer associates Jay Mentink and Arya Paliwal for their hands-on support. “They’ve been incredibly helpful — valuable extensions of all of the teams.”

Kher added, “Some of our best input has come from fellow eLab founders who are on similar trajectories with their ventures. There’s real insight in just walking over to help another team think through a challenge — and having them do the same for us.”

With a growing team, strong mentorship, and a mission grounded in both sustainability and innovation, InstantReplay is poised to make a meaningful impact on both the fashion industry and the environment. For McCooey and her team, this summer has been just the beginning, and Demo Day marks a step toward transforming an ambitious idea into a scalable solution for real-world change.