When it comes to inventory management and planning, brands struggle to find an equation for success. Through supply chain slowdowns, macroeconomic headwinds and vacillating consumer demand, they’ve grappled with having too much or too little product—or an assortment that’s just not quite right.
Fashion trends and demand patterns are both shifting more quickly than ever, rendering traditional fashion calendars and production cycles obsolete, according to Ahmed Zaidi, a Cambridge Computer Science PhD and co-founder of Catalyst AI. His new venture, Hyran Technologies, aims to connect brands with their supply chain partners on a collaborative production platform. The solution, developed with co-founder and Meta veteran Jordan Zhang, will help companies optimize their sourcing strategies to slash waste and drive in-demand product onto store shelves quicker.
Launched this month with an investment from Closed Loop Partners, Hyran aims to replace the siloed sourcing models of the past by bringing players across the value chain into the loop, collecting and synthesizing up-to-the-minute data about material availability as well as product sell-through, Zaidi said. “What we’re building is a visibility tool that gives brands access to what materials the manufacturer has and allows them to plan based on what’s available, as well as being able to make to order,” he told Sourcing Journal.
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Overproduction is one of the biggest sources of industry waste, and many brands have built excess into their business models. Even though the design-to-shelf timeline has shortened in recent years, brands are still making ordering decisions too far out and without relevant data, Zaidi said. “There’s been a lot of work on building better forecasting algorithms, but no fundamental change or rethinking of how we manage the supply chain,” he continued. “I spent my academic career building forecasting models, so one thing I know for sure is that they don’t work.”
Instead, Zaidi believes brands should build nuanced production cycles for different products. Hyran’s modeling systems organize product manufacturing into separate tracks. A white T-shirt, for example, doesn’t need to be produced on demand, as brands likely have historical data to support a smart buy before the selling season. Trend-focused fashion products typically create much more market uncertainty.
Without historical data, the model relies on high-level sales patterns and rule-based systems to categorize the product into its own “swim lane” characterized by the use of certain fabrics, inputs, suppliers and processes. The brand is able to put off producing some portion of that seasonal inventory until it has better read on performance, with visibility into the materials and production capacity at its disposal. Hyran’s modeling optimizes ordering, using AI to determine which products need to be reordered, and in what volumes. The platform serves as a “reliable data intermediary” between brands and their suppliers, who also need insights into sell-through in order to plan production.
Hyran is currently developing partnerships with international manufacturers, brands and retailers following its official launch this month. The company’s vision resonated with Closed Loop Partners, which has invested in fashion technology such as Browzwear as well as multi-industry circularity solutions. Managing director Caroline Brown, who served as CEO of DKNY and president of luxury fashion house Carolina Herrera, said the industry is “under increasing pressure to address its contribution to global waste,” noting a “great need for new technologies to support a sustainable transition in the retail supply chain.”
“To build efficiencies and reduce waste in supply chains, we must first build connectivity across shared interests,” added Brown, who is also head of Closed Loop Partner’s Ventures Group. “Hyran’s focus on breaking down long-standing silos in the fashion supply chain can enable collaboration and unlock shared economic benefits, ultimately aiming to minimize waste generated through the supply chain.”