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Abrams 2nd place

Meet the 2022 Abrams Sustainable Business Challenge 2nd Place Winners

Story by Mars Reilly

The School of Environmental Sustainability and the Baumhart Center for Social Enterprise and Responsibility kicked off the second annual Abrams Sustainable Business Challenge on Friday, October 14, with a gathering in the McCormick Lounge on Loyola's lakeshore campus. Attendees got the chance to hear from several speakers, including Nancy Tuchman, dean of SES; Megan Yamauchi and Tay Ali, founders of TIKAL and last year's challenge winners; and Megan Scarsella, executive director of Eleven Eleven Foundation. Scarsella also cofounded Cool Globes with Wendy Abrams, the namesake of the challenge whose generous donation makes it possible. She explained that "it's important for competitors to have a both/and mindset when it comes to creating a business venture or product. Maybe your idea has been done before, but not in the way you're proposing—this is where innovation happens." Prospective competitors also had the opportunity to speak with all three winning teams of last year's Abrams challenge, meet some of the supporting faculty and mentors for this year, and connect with other students looking to collaborate for the competition.

As the Abrams Sustainable Business Challenge process begins for the 2023 cycle, we continue with our deep dive into the top three winning teams from the Spring of 2022.

Second Place Winners: LOOP

LOOP founders and 2022 second place winners Caro Bush and Elise Giles spoke to students during the Abrams Sustainable Business Challenge kickoff event.

Second-place winners Caro Bush and Elise Giles created LOOP, an app designed by and for university students looking to buy and sell preloved clothing sustainably. Though it works similarly to traditional consignment sites such as Depop or Poshmark, LOOP is uniquely contained within Loyola's campus community, and users make all sales and exchanges in person.

Bush and Giles explained that they were motivated to develop their venture by their frustrations with the fashion industry and its shortcomings: "Over the past few years, it seems like fast-fashion brands have decreased in quality and increased in price. So, our go-to shopping spots became secondhand stores and online resale platforms that offered more well-made pieces at better prices. Even then, we wanted secondhand shopping and selling to be easier and less wasteful than the existing consignment platforms were making it."

The fashion industry's carbon footprint is incredibly large, especially with the growing popularity of bulk shopping hauls on social media. Waste generated by the fashion industry is an enormous global problem that LOOP's founders are addressing on a local scale. Their approach cuts down on the packaging waste and shipping emissions involved in buying and selling clothes across long distances. "By keeping all transitions within the university community via in-person hand-off" on Loyola's campus, LOOP users are virtually carbon neutral, an unheard-of phenomenon in the fashion industry. Clothing resale also combats the purchase of fast fashion items that contribute to excess waste and environmental pollution.

Business majors Caro Bush and Elise Giles won second prize in the 2022 Abrams Sustainable Business Challenge.

As business majors with passions for sustainability, Bush and Giles jumped at the chance to enter the Abrams Challenge. "We were very excited by the opportunity to put our degrees into action. It felt like the perfect culmination and application of our time at Quinlan," they explained. Throughout the challenge, Bush and Giles received support from their Challenge-appointed mentor and Loyola faculty members who helped them develop and troubleshoot their business venture. "Everyone was so generous with their time," they said. "We remain in close communication with the Abrams Challenge team and always appreciate their support and guidance."

In April of 2022, LOOP won second place in the final round of the Abrams Challenge, and the platform has only improved since then. This past summer, Bush and Giles got the opportunity to participate in a workshop at Chicago incubator 1871, which aided them in planning and progressing through the next steps of their business. Since its launch in the Fall of 2022, LOOP currently has over 350 users from Loyola's community exchanging their preloved clothing.

Their website and app are currently up and running for Loyola students looking to buy or sell used clothing. According to its founders, "LOOP was created to help college students become more conscious consumers and save some cash." Although it is exclusive to Loyola students right now, Caro and Elise's model could be expanded for use on campuses across the country. Motivated by their desire to keep LOOP as "student-centric as possible," they currently employ several Loyola students as campus ambassadors and interns. Likewise, they want to encourage their fellow students to keep innovating: "If you have an idea, a passion, anything you are interested in–go for it! Never stop pursuing topics that keep you up at night and wake you up in the morning. You never know where they can take you."

Bush, Giles, and LOOP are great examples of the opportunities afforded by the Abrams Sustainable Business Challenge. The winners explained that "it was a great way to exercise all we had learned at Loyola up to that point. Each round of the challenge provided new opportunities to grow and push ourselves out of our comfort zone." They added, "It is unbelievable how far we have come since the challenge, and we are so thankful for the support from Loyola's community." We at Loyola are thankful to them for bringing a new way to be sustainably fashionable on campus.

Registration for this year's competition is now open. The registration deadline is February 6, 2023, but teams who register sooner will get early access to resources such as workshops, mentors, and support from SES and Quinlan.

Learn more

Challenge Hosts

About the Abrams Challenge

 

 

Meet the 2022 Abrams Sustainable Business Challenge 2nd Place Winners

Story by Mars Reilly

The School of Environmental Sustainability and the Baumhart Center for Social Enterprise and Responsibility kicked off the second annual Abrams Sustainable Business Challenge on Friday, October 14, with a gathering in the McCormick Lounge on Loyola's lakeshore campus. Attendees got the chance to hear from several speakers, including Nancy Tuchman, dean of SES; Megan Yamauchi and Tay Ali, founders of TIKAL and last year's challenge winners; and Megan Scarsella, executive director of Eleven Eleven Foundation. Scarsella also cofounded Cool Globes with Wendy Abrams, the namesake of the challenge whose generous donation makes it possible. She explained that "it's important for competitors to have a both/and mindset when it comes to creating a business venture or product. Maybe your idea has been done before, but not in the way you're proposing—this is where innovation happens." Prospective competitors also had the opportunity to speak with all three winning teams of last year's Abrams challenge, meet some of the supporting faculty and mentors for this year, and connect with other students looking to collaborate for the competition.

As the Abrams Sustainable Business Challenge process begins for the 2023 cycle, we continue with our deep dive into the top three winning teams from the Spring of 2022.

Second Place Winners: LOOP

Second-place winners Caro Bush and Elise Giles created LOOP, an app designed by and for university students looking to buy and sell preloved clothing sustainably. Though it works similarly to traditional consignment sites such as Depop or Poshmark, LOOP is uniquely contained within Loyola's campus community, and users make all sales and exchanges in person.

Bush and Giles explained that they were motivated to develop their venture by their frustrations with the fashion industry and its shortcomings: "Over the past few years, it seems like fast-fashion brands have decreased in quality and increased in price. So, our go-to shopping spots became secondhand stores and online resale platforms that offered more well-made pieces at better prices. Even then, we wanted secondhand shopping and selling to be easier and less wasteful than the existing consignment platforms were making it."

The fashion industry's carbon footprint is incredibly large, especially with the growing popularity of bulk shopping hauls on social media. Waste generated by the fashion industry is an enormous global problem that LOOP's founders are addressing on a local scale. Their approach cuts down on the packaging waste and shipping emissions involved in buying and selling clothes across long distances. "By keeping all transitions within the university community via in-person hand-off" on Loyola's campus, LOOP users are virtually carbon neutral, an unheard-of phenomenon in the fashion industry. Clothing resale also combats the purchase of fast fashion items that contribute to excess waste and environmental pollution.

As business majors with passions for sustainability, Bush and Giles jumped at the chance to enter the Abrams Challenge. "We were very excited by the opportunity to put our degrees into action. It felt like the perfect culmination and application of our time at Quinlan," they explained. Throughout the challenge, Bush and Giles received support from their Challenge-appointed mentor and Loyola faculty members who helped them develop and troubleshoot their business venture. "Everyone was so generous with their time," they said. "We remain in close communication with the Abrams Challenge team and always appreciate their support and guidance."

In April of 2022, LOOP won second place in the final round of the Abrams Challenge, and the platform has only improved since then. This past summer, Bush and Giles got the opportunity to participate in a workshop at Chicago incubator 1871, which aided them in planning and progressing through the next steps of their business. Since its launch in the Fall of 2022, LOOP currently has over 350 users from Loyola's community exchanging their preloved clothing.

Their website and app are currently up and running for Loyola students looking to buy or sell used clothing. According to its founders, "LOOP was created to help college students become more conscious consumers and save some cash." Although it is exclusive to Loyola students right now, Caro and Elise's model could be expanded for use on campuses across the country. Motivated by their desire to keep LOOP as "student-centric as possible," they currently employ several Loyola students as campus ambassadors and interns. Likewise, they want to encourage their fellow students to keep innovating: "If you have an idea, a passion, anything you are interested in–go for it! Never stop pursuing topics that keep you up at night and wake you up in the morning. You never know where they can take you."

Bush, Giles, and LOOP are great examples of the opportunities afforded by the Abrams Sustainable Business Challenge. The winners explained that "it was a great way to exercise all we had learned at Loyola up to that point. Each round of the challenge provided new opportunities to grow and push ourselves out of our comfort zone." They added, "It is unbelievable how far we have come since the challenge, and we are so thankful for the support from Loyola's community." We at Loyola are thankful to them for bringing a new way to be sustainably fashionable on campus.

Registration for this year's competition is now open. The registration deadline is February 6, 2023, but teams who register sooner will get early access to resources such as workshops, mentors, and support from SES and Quinlan.

Learn more

Challenge Hosts

About the Abrams Challenge