Clothing
Accessories
Footwear
About Amodamo
Amodamo is a fashion tech start-up founded by Jan, Martijn & Ulysse. We want to change the fashion industry for the better by making the process of finding sustainable clothing fun and convenient. By using Amodamo, you are actively contributing to a better planet. We value transparency, design and convenience.
A message from our founders.
We want to be a company with a face. Three faces, to be exact. That is, for the moment, because we are looking to grow our team in the near future. Anyways, Amodamo is not just an anonymous brick wall in a rainy street. We are a collective of motivated individuals, supported by many talented and kind people. Currently we are supported by the Belgian university KU Leuven, since all three of us liked studying here so much that we decided to stick around for another year. You can find us in the beautiful and historical city of Leuven, running around the abbey or eating lunch in the park. It is not always that idyllic though. We are pursuing an unusual path compared with of our peers, who are mostly working for big, established companies. However, we believe that we can truly make a difference with Amodamo and this belief fuels us through the day. So, the next time you feel lonely at night, just know there are probably three young Belgian guys working tirelessly on a website that fixes the fashion industry.
Ulysse Maes
As an avid web developer, I tend to think that every problem can be solved by developing a program for it. The classic hammer-and-nail fallacy! For example, it is nice that our toaster sends a message when the toast is burnt, but it would have been better if it hadn't burnt it in the first place. When I struggled with finding sustainable fashion, I came up with the idea to set up an online database with verified ethical clothing. And, this time it actually turned out to be useful. While you are reading this, I am probably testing out this script for the seventh hundredth time, to make sure everything works as it should.
Martijn Van Dooren
Since a few years, I discovered my veins are filled with entrepreneurial blood. I am very grateful to be working together with Ulysse, Jan and all our other amazing partners. After freelancing during our studies, we felt it was time to start the entrepreneurial journey ourselves; And here we are! Contributing to the clothing industry, contributing to climate action and meanwhile learning so much stuff every day.
Jan Van Baarle
Hello everyone, I am Jan!I am 22 years old, and just obtained my Master's Degree in Business Engineering at KU Leuven University. While many of my peers started a corporate job as consultant or financial analyst, I soon recognized a need to pursue a different path. In the past year, the notion grew on me how polluting and unethical the global fashion industry is. I want to show the world that there is an alternative. I believe that through Amodamo, I can leverage my economical and networking talents to make this positive impact.
How do you make money and what do you do with it?
We earn a small commission fee per item sold via our platform. This business model is called affiliate commission and is quite common in the fashion industry. It is however important for us to be aware of our responsibility to only work with verified sustainable brands. Therefore, we work with ratings provided by an independent third-party (see: how we select brands).
How we select brands
For the sake of separation of concerns, we base our selection of brands on the platform on a credible third party: Good On You. Good On You evaluates more than 500 data points to arrive at an honest and comprehensible sustainability score. Of course, in this process, their specialists consider legitimate labels and certifications as well. Think of the Fair Trade label, or the GOTS certificate. Each brand is scored on each of the following topics: people, planet and animals. Next to that, an overall score is provided. Brands that receive a 4 out of 5 (good), or a 5 out of 5 (great), can be included in the platform. We don't include any brands that have a lower score, even if they would try to buy a placement.
What we define as sustainability
There are numerous problems with the fashion industry: water pollution and -waste, overconsumption, endless landfills, bad working conditions, a high CO2-impact, ... The list goes on. Many of these problems are interconnected: those unhealthy landfills are the shadow side of the overconsumption in the west. Luckily the understanding of this problem is more wide-spread than ever, and consumers are actively demanding that brands take their responsibility. Most clothing brands feel the pressure, others double down and pursue an ever-shorter lifecycle of ultra-fast fashion. As a consumer, it becomes hard to tell the difference between legitimate efforts and greenwashing. A sustainable brand to us is an organization that fully understands the complexity of the problem, and actively tries to solve it. This means working on a combination of issues, since they are all connected. It also means providing transparency to check if their words are translated into deeds.
