Each year the Hult Prize brings together young people with startup ventures from all over the world to compete for one million dollars. The road to the grand prize consists of three stages: winning an on-campus local competition, winning a regional qualifier, and ultimately competing in the final competition for the grand prize. This year’s theme of the Hult Prize competition is sustainability in the fashion industry. As fashion is one the biggest polluters in the world, this theme is extremely relevant and will give youth a platform to make their sustainable fashion solutions a reality.
Baruch College held the on-campus qualifying competition for the City University of New York (CUNY) system on Friday February 24th. Five teams, each with three to five CUNY students, competed for a spot in the regional qualifier in Boston and three hundred dollars. Three judges scored the three minute pitch that each startup presented. Pitches included the conceptual idea of the startup, the problem they are solving, financial projections, competitive advantage, market size, and team information. Christina Torres, a third year Ph.D. student at Teachers College, was chosen to be a judge for this on-campus competition. She used her experience teaching sustainability at the Fashion Institute of Technology, and expertise from being the former co-founder and chief scientific officer of the B2B SaaS startup See Thru in judging these proposed sustainable fashion solutions.
First prize went to the startup Element. They are positioning themselves to disrupt fast fashion consumption in Gen Z by creating technology that allows people to easily exchange clothing with their peers and build new wardrobe ideas based on their existing pieces. They have a clear go to market strategy, first thinking about how to reduce fashion waste on college campuses. The Element team will go on to compete in Boston, representing the CUNY system. If they win the regional qualifier, Element will compete for the grand prize in Paris, France in Fall 2023.
Any questions or suggestions for the Element team can be sent to: YING.HUANG6@baruchmail.cuny.edu