ReStyle

Home Page
Mission Statement
ReStyle Page Blank
Sign Up Page
Create Post Page
Swipe Page
Landing Page
ReStyle Page With Image
Explore Page Top
Explore Page Bottom

Inspiration

Every year, 92 million tons of textile waste end up in landfills. We wanted to create a website that fights fashion waste by helping users see the potential in every piece of fabric. We love the ideas of thrift stores and believe that every old garment deserves a second store, whether that is through creative repurposing or finding a new home.

What it does

ReStyle is a clothing recycling app that allows users to upload a photo of old clothing or textiles and instantly receive five AI-powered suggestions on how to repurpose it. If repurposing is not their style, users can list the items on our retro-inspired marketplace where they can sell or swap with others. Our unique "Swipe" feature is a recommendation system like Polaroid photos in a Tinder-style interface. This makes sustainable fashion discovery fun and engaging. The Explore page showcases all available items in the vintage Polaroid gallery.

How we built it

We built ReStyle using React and TypeScript with Vite as our build tool and Tailwind CSS for styling. Our frontend developers divided responsibilities across six pages (Landing, Get Started, Home, Restyle, Swipe, and Explore).

For the backend, we used Firebase. Firebase Authentication handles user accounts, Firestore stores item listings and user data, Firebase Storage manages uploaded images, and Firebase Functions connects to the Gemini API to generate repurposing suggestions.

We also used the Gemini API. It was utilized when a user uploads a clothing photo. We send it to Gemini with a curated prompt that responds based on the garment's condition, style, and fabric type. It then returns 5 related repurposing ideas.

Challenges we ran into

Creating and connecting our database was the hardest part for us. We encountered many issues connecting, getting, and pushing data to the database. It also slowed down everyone else's progress because we were waiting to use the data that would be displayed from the database. It was difficult to develop features we couldn't test as we made them.

It was also difficult using our tech stack. We chose to use tools that none of us were too familiar with, so we faced many setbacks related to a lack of understanding of how our code functioned. This slowed us down, but we were able to get through it by applying our coding knowledge from other languages.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud of creating a functional website in just 24 hours. Specifically, we are proud of the idea that we came up with, the UI that matches the theme, the Gemini API integration, and the database that handles user data. ReStyle has potential real-world impact. It is a tool that could help reduce textile waste. During development, we found ourselves actually wanting to use it.

What we learned

Most of us did not have experience with the frameworks and tech stack we are using. This was a big learning curve for us. For example, we were able to gain hands-on experience with Firebase's ecosystem for managing authentication and databases. We also deepened our understanding of React. Lastly, we learned valuable lessons about team coordination to work efficiently and effectively.

What's next for ReStyle

Given more time, we would have added user-to-user communication. This would help us better moderate the selling and purchasing process, while also increasing ease of access for our users. We also plan to add more moderation to our website. We want to prevent users from uploading unrelated content to the image upload, and only stuff they are trying to sell/find out repurposing ideas for. We also want to allow for more security on our site, including better data handling and account security. We would also want to implement payment options within the site, preventing the need for third-party communication.