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About Us
Built from experience, scaling with community-driven data.
Converte Global is building community-powered, AI-powered circular infrastructure that will turn industrial deadstock and post-consumer apparel waste into structured, decision-ready data for at-scale category routing and measurable value recovery.
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Our origin is hands-on upcycling with artisan partners; that lived experience informs the infrastructure we’re building now.
Our origin is our advantage
Converte didn’t start in theory. It grew from real workshops with real people, assembling teams of designers and artisans to tackle consumer apparel waste head-on.
In 2019, our founder engaged
Artisan Fashion, a Nairobi-based, EFI-accredited production hub, with a bold vision: affordable, scalable, design-led apparel made from discarded clothing.
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With access to production infrastructure, we refined early methods on the factory floor, side by side with artisans, designers and upcyclers.
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A pop-up showcase inside Artisan Fashion drew interest from global brands, including PVH, exploring circular opportunities.
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That inflection point informs everything we’re building now: human-centred, data-first circular infrastructure that can scale globally.
From Converte World → Converte Global
2018–2024 — Converte World
Community-powered upcycling with artisan production and retail tests that proved demand and informed our early methods.
2022 — Factory showcase
Methods refined inside Artisan Fashion, with brand conversations following, including PVH interest.
2024 Converte Global
UK-registered and SEIS/EIS-approved, pivoting to AI-assisted classification and routing for apparel waste, with community data collection as the engine.
What we’re building now: data-first capture, AI classification, at-scale category routing, and monetisation.
We standardise industrial deadstock and post-consumer apparel flows at source through community/partner tagging.
A simple prompt flow creates clear, consistent categories linked to images.
Those labels train our classification logic and power tools for at-scale category routing (e.g., resale, repair, remanufacture, recycling, upcycling, or other) with traceability.
WAYste then provides an upcycling pathway that shares value back to the communities who power the data.
Sort → value
You can’t route what you can’t identify. Practical, at-scale categorisation turns unsorted apparel flows into clear, consistent categories, moving stranded stock into the right resale, repair, remanufacture, recycling or upcycling streams.
Waste → raw material
Simple, consistent labelling for discarded apparel creates a common reference for sorters, upcyclers, municipal teams and holders of deadstock—helping textiles re-enter the economy as a resource, not a burden.
Chaos → clarity
We’re not replicating DPP/EPR rules. We’re building the missing operational layer for existing apparel waste, so policymakers and operators have usable data, circular start-ups can source identifiable inputs, and communities can monetise what was previously lost.
People-powered momentum
Community tagging at the place of discard builds a dataset that improves over time, adds local context and unlocks new circular projects. It also develops practical skills and enterprise pathways, turning mountains of waste into jobs, growth and opportunity—future wealth for people and planet.
Governance & ethics
We only collect what’s needed, with clear consent, light QA, and secure storage.
Every record has an audit trail linked to the capturing group and site.
Contributors are recognised and compensated, and may access WAYste upcycling pathways.
We prioritise women- and youth-led groups and uphold safeguarding across all pilots.
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Data minimisation · consent logs · role-based access
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Spot-checks & dual-tag samples for label quality
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Privacy by design; export on request; deletion on request
Where we’re working
Pilots are activated where volumes, partners and policy align. Current hubs: UK, Kenya; new regions open via partner MoUs.
Values
Planet-friendly: reduce waste and maximise real circularity
People-powered: communities generate the data and share in the value
Community-owned: building mechanisms for shared upside as the system scales
Our stage
Converte Global is early-stage and data-first, building on Converte World’s real-world lessons.
We’re scoping pilots with aligned partners to develop the dataset, train classification logic, and prove at-scale category routing in live settings.
Founder
Allison Turnley, Founder.
Systems-minded circular-economy practitioner with decades in ethical fashion and upcycling.
Member of Savvitas; invited to speak at the UK House of Lords WBW Summit; contributor to the “Rethinking Capital” white paper; panelist on “Circular Economy and Why It Matters” at the Sustainability Summit.
Allison’s work centres real value, shared power, and practical pathways to ownership.
Ready to explore a pilot?
Tell us your volumes, intake workflow and target KPIs — we’ll propose a scoped pilot that fits your lines and reporting needs.