BACKGROUND
This project was developed for a USC Product Management course under Professor Kanazawa. The "Bird of a Feather" assignment challenged teams to identify and develop a new business idea using fundamental product development frameworks.
ROLE
Product Manager
Collaborators
Li Hsieh L.
Selina L.
Shige S.
Arya M.
Phychea D.
Skills
Financial Analysis
Competitive Research
Value Proposition
End-to-end design
Timeline
6 Weeks
overview
Redefining Fashion for a Digital World Using an Emerging Technology, Augmented Reality
We began with a fundamental human contradiction. In an era of fast fashion, our desire for self-expression is stronger than ever, yet it's trapped in a cycle of unsustainable consumption. We are drowning in clothing, both physically (landfills overflow) and emotionally, with the guilt of our environmental impact.
The market was a paradox: people craved newness and identity but were increasingly aware of the toxic legacy of their choices. We asked: How can we liberate self-expression from physical waste?
The problem
Every year, 92 million tonnes of textile waste is produced globally!
The UN Environment Programme reports the fashion industry produces 20% of global wastewater and 10% of carbon emissions. Yet our need for self-expression only grows, creating an impossible choice between identity and sustainability.
insights
The Convergence of Two Worlds
We spotted a unique opportunity at the intersection of two explosive trends:
The Rise of Augmented Reality: Smart glasses are poised to become the next universal interface, overlaying digital information onto our physical world.
The Digital Identity Economy: A generation raised on gaming and social media already invests in digital goods(Fortnite skins, NFT avatars, etc.)to express who they are online.
Our breakthrough was realizing that fashion didn't have to be physical to be authentic. We could decouple expression from extraction.
Our early vision
A New Ecosystem for Fashion
We envisioned a platform for digital fashion "skins" worn through AR smart glasses. This wasn't just another app; it was a new layer of reality for identity.
Our users
To ground our vision, we defined built archetypes based on primary research.
We conducted 5+ interviews with our assumed core audience group to find out what they look for when it comes to digital fashion. From the results, we developed 2 archetypes to support our ideation.
Alex, The Creative Professional
A trendsetter who navigates between client meetings and gallery openings, using digital fashion to adapt his digital "uniform" to each context.
Maya, The Aspiring Designer:
A Brooklyn-based designer who uses digital fashion to showcase limitless creativity at industry events without the cost of physical samples.
The solution
AURA: Your Digital Closet for the Physical World
AURA is an end-to-end ecosystem for digital fashion. Designers craft impossible-in-real-life creations on our platform, which users then wear in the physical world through AR glasses. Every piece is collected in a personalized Digital Closet, allowing for limitless, waste-free self-expression.
Now let's talk business!
The Competitive Edge
A Sustainable Vision for Growth
While competitors were focused on phone-based filters or NFT speculation, we made a strategic bet on the future: AR glasses. Our focus on wearables and real-world event integration positioned us in a blue ocean, making the old competition irrelevant.
Market Opportunity
We validated our opportunity by targeting concentric markets, proving our strategy for focused growth.
The Business Model
A Sustainable Vision for Growth
We architected a multi-pronged business model designed for scale:
🛍️
B2C Digital Store
Direct sales of digital fashion items.
🏢
B2B Platform Fees
A "digital department store" taking a commission from brands and creators.
⚡
Token Economy
A native currency to fuel the ecosystem.
Interested in Investing?
Contact Us
AURA is more than a company; it's a manifesto for the future of self-expression. By bridging the digital and physical through Augmented Reality, we are building a world where fashion is an unlimited art form, identity is fluid, and the planet is no longer the price of admission.
We are not just selling digital clothes. We are selling a new dimension of identity.