What is retail-as-a-service? How can I, a small business, access customers IRL and take my digital business to the next level? Where can fashion lovers discover new brands with unique and authentic products?

Those are just a few of the many questions Isabella Godim, Founder of Canadian fashion-tech startup, Zäsh, considered when she began her journey into entrepreneurship.  As growing ecommerce fashion brands demand new channels to distribute their products, and consumer shopping  trends  lean towards sustainability, authenticity, and transparency, attitudes in the fashion-marketplace are changing and redirecting. We spoke to Isabella about her inspirations to bring her vision of  Zäsh, a retail-as-service startup that implements an omnichannel strategy for digitally native brands, to life.

IBU: Good morning Isabella, we’re ecstatic to welcome Zäsh onto our fourth issue of IBU Links! Our theme this month is all about Canadian Retail Innovation, tell us a bit about Zäsh?

Isabella Godim: Zäsh is more than a store, we are a lifestyle movement. We strive to change the status quo of what and how we consume by connecting shoppers IRL (in real life) to  brands that are “better for the people, better for the planet”. To brands, we democritize the access to brick-and-mortar retail and omni-intelligence.

Zäsh was founded to service small and medium brands, and to connect them with young, vibrant, fashion lovers through tech-enabled shopping experiences. “For the next generation of brands and buyers”, they are in the midst of brand onboarding and in preparation for a Toronto soft-launch - a  pop-up to connect Zäsh brands to our city shoppers.

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‍IBU: What inspired you to start Zäsh?

‍Isabella Godim: I have always been passionate about how fashion, beauty, and lifestyle consumer products can make people feel their best in their own skins and spark their unique personalities. However, with the massification of production, consolidation of consumer brands, and dissemination of social media, I felt that the goals of these industries were lost. Thankfully, the next generation of buyers demands authenticity and information. Beauty is becoming plural, fashion’s carbon footprint and labour practices are known by consumers, and the barrier to entry to new brands has never been lower.

Isabella noticed that more creatives and entrepreneurs have begun to deploy a consumer centric and responsible approach when developing their new up-and-coming brands. She recognizes the potential of these sustainable attitudes to pursue greater things in the industry. With Zäsh, she was motivated to connect these communities together, to create a new answer to the question, ‘Where can I buy this?

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‍IBU: What sets Zäsh apart from other creative start-ups in your industry?

Isabella Godim: Zäsh provides a plug-and-play "retail-as-a-service" solution to digitally native brands so they can implement an omnichannel strategy at flexible terms. Zäsh’s multi-brand, tech-enabled stores are designed to cater to the new generation of brands & buyers. The experience we aim to create is the following: When you walk into a Zäsh store, it will feel like scrolling through your Instagram Feed, but IRL.

‍Unlike traditional department stores, a retail- as-service model connects a variety of retailers together, and provides digital brands accessible solutions to bring their ecommerce business to the retail market. Isabella noticed an interest in fashion consumers to develop a unique, personal style, but often these products were only available through online exclusive brands or social media based businesses like Instagram. She sought to bring that digital marketplace to physical retail.

IBU: As a female entrepreneur, and sole founder of Zäsh, what are some challenges you’ve encountered developing your startup? How have you overcome them?

Isabella Godim: As a young female entrepreneur, it can be challenging as mentors and investors are often out of the demographics impacted by the problems I am solving at Zäsh – both for brands and shoppers. So I must bring a lot of data, make parallels to other industries and techniques to convey the tremendous value Zash can create, our scaling potential, and the overall impact we can have by enabling the shift in production cycles and making pre-orders work with our showroom-style store. Besides that, it is also pretty hard to put together a high-achieving team of passionate individuals working reletlesly to make Zash come true. It is all about selling the dream and connecting with people. If you want to connect with me, by all means, just reach out! I’d love to know more and see how I can be helpful in your journey!

‍Isabella advises all entrepreneurs to participate in opportunitues to share your experience, build your network, and to connect with the community. When putting together a team at the early stages of a startup, she encourages asking around your network; there’s no better way to find the best team than through people you know.

IBU: We’ve noticed that it’s been a common trend for entrepreneurs to struggle with finding time to unplug. What have you been doing to keep that work-life balance?

Isabella Godim: Oh, that’s a hard one! For all entrepreneurs out there, I am sure you know what I mean! It’s really hard to unplug, to not think about the business, and to not feel guilty when I am taking care of myself and taking time off. But at the same time, everytime I do, I am a much better founder! So I force myself to take time off, to take care of my physical and mental health and just do other things that make me happy and ignite my creativity. At the end of the day, I love what I do: I get to reinvent retail to support brands I love .

IBU: Thank you so much Isabella for your time today! We can’t wait to see Zäsh’s retail pop-up open in Toronto. Before you go, how can the IBU community help you?

Isabella Godim: As a part of the community, I’m excited to connect with small businesses that could discover our brand services, both in our Digital Marketplace & Toronto Soft Launch!

Our time with Isabella provided us insight to the evolving consumer trends in the industry, and how physical retail shopping still remains a classic interest, even amid a world of eccommerce. We’re excited to announce that we will be partnering with  Zäsh for an exclusive collaboration : look out for special offers at IBU and Zäsh when your brand joins our IBU Community.