Harriet Noy, 26, founder and CEO of Hazaar, created a platform to reduce single-use clothing consumption among students. While studying at the University of Birmingham, she spotted a gap in the market and now turns over £120,000 a year.
From campus idea to thriving business
Harriet, from Manchester, started Hazaar after noticing friends regularly buying fancy dress costumes on Amazon Prime. 'When you're a student, you have a constant need for new things, and you end up buying things you will only use once,' she told Metro.
'I thought there was a big opportunity to create campus based marketplaces – there would be no postage, you'd list the item and once sold just meet outside the library to hand over the item. It's about making sustainable options available to students. I wanted it to be accessible both in price point and convenience.'
Initially using Facebook groups, Harriet got 20,000 students to sign up through posters around campus. After graduating, she developed an app with carbon reporting data and sold it to universities, so students could access it without a membership fee.
Making sustainability affordable
'The key thing for me is making the sustainable option the cheapest, the most affordable, the most desirable, and it just so happens to be better than buying something brand new,' she says. 'I interview students about what they're wearing and why, and it's often brands like Shein, and they always say it's because of the price point.'
As universities tightened budgets, scaling became difficult. Then brands approached Harriet with excess stock they wanted to sell to students. This led to a remodel: the platform still runs student-to-student resales but now also lets fashion companies list items for students at the lowest possible price.
Preventing waste and building community
This stock would otherwise end up in landfill or recycling centres. 'The price point will be a lot lower than anywhere else, and students have to verify their status to be able to purchase it,' Harriet explains of the feature launched last month.
'The rise of secondhand is great, because there's so much excess stock from brands in the world. I want to bring that to students at secondhand prices,' she adds. 'I want to prevent stock from going to waste.'
Lessons learned as a young founder
Harriet has learned that people 'are rooting for you' and advises reaching out to experienced owners for advice. She also cautions against 'chasing' investments over revenue. 'Investment should only be used when you're trying to scale in a direction that you know works,' she says. 'In the early days, I used investment almost as a distraction from figuring out if the business model actually works.'
Looking ahead, Harriet hopes Hazaar becomes the go-to platform for brands targeting students, and that students find a reliable, affordable community there.
