Carbonfact buys Vaayu to boost its environmental traceability solutions for the fashion industry

Carbonfact, the Parisian specialist in environmental data for the fashion and footwear industry, has acquired its Berlin-based counterpart Vaayu Tech GmbH. The operation has brought together two leading experts in measuring the environmental impact of products in the fashion and retail industries, at a time when the textile sector is facing a global tightening of environmental regulations. By acquiring Vaayu, Carbonfact has grown the two companies’ joint client portfolio to over 300 brands, including major names like On, Ganni and The North Face.

Sustainability staff in many fashion brands are currently working to transition more quickly towards transparent sourcing practices, while new regulatory tools like the European Union’s digital product passport, the law on environmental labelling in France, and California’s SB253 climate corporate data accountability act, are coming into force. The acquisition means a major acceleration in Carbonfact’s business growth, a few months after the company boosted its industry services by deploying new solutions to centralise supplier data.

“This agreement provides the industry with a unique and rigorous foundation, and brings together two of the most comprehensive datasets in the fashion world,” said Marc Laurent, CEO of Carbonfact. Among the company’s long-standing investors are Alven, Headline and Y Combinator. “Vaayu clients will find a platform capable of managing all the regulatory frameworks and compliance deadlines they will be facing, backed by a wealth of data that no other platform in the industry can match,” he added.

Vaayu was founded in 2020 by Namrata Sandhu, head of sustainable development at Zalando, and has established itself as one of the foremost specialists in measuring the carbon impact pf products in the retail sector. Vaayu has received $13 million in funding from the Atomico and CapitalT investment funds, and its portfolio includes 100 partner brands and marketplaces, among them New Balance, Axel Arigato, Ace & Tate and Asket.

“We launched Vaayu to give retailers and fashion brands the granular, product-level climate impact data they need to truly decarbonise, not just to file reports,” said Sandhu, founder and CEO of Vaayu. “Carbonfact shares this belief, and together we can respond to [these needs] on the scale that the sector now requires,” she added.

Ultimately, as the volume of data gathered will increase, Carbonfact aims to deploy a layer of environmental intelligence assisted by AI tools. This is set to make carbon footprint expertise, with its complex data underpinning, accessible by any organisation’s entire staff. And it is expected to enable brands to eventually move beyond the reporting stage.

For the time being, the 100 brands and marketplaces collaborating with Vaayu will add to Carbonfact’s extensive database, containing more than 150,000 emission factors specific to fashion, as well as primary data from over 7,000 factories supplying the fashion and footwear markets.