How Revive and CEO Allison Lee Are Turning Fashion Waste Into Profit—and Purpose
Revive provides a turn-key virtual tailoring solution that helps fashion brands reduce returns and deadstock by analyzing and refurbishing garments for resale.
Most startup pivots are reactive. Allison Lee’s was visionary. When the pandemic ground her first company, Hemster, to a halt, Lee didn’t fold—she reframed. Armed with nothing but grit, a sharp eye for inefficiency, and a data science infrastructure built for fit, she launched Revive: a fashion-tech startup transforming “unsellable” inventory into a new source of revenue for brands—and a bold bet on sustainability that’s already paying off.
Now a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, Lee has grown Revive 46x in under a year, secured $3.5M in new funding, and proven that sustainability doesn’t have to come at the cost of scale. In fact, it might be the next frontier for fashion profitability.
From Alterations to Circular Fashion
Lee’s original venture, Hemster, digitized tailoring services for omnichannel retailers. But when COVID-19 wiped out in-person operations, she zoomed out. What else was broken in fashion—and where could her tech make a real dent?
The answer: product returns. Retailers lose billions annually from damaged and returned goods—many of which are still in wearable condition. Globally, the fashion industry generates 92 million tons of textile waste each year, much of it from overproduction and markdown losses. Lee realized fixing and reselling these items could unlock huge value.
With Revive, she built an elegant solution:
Brands ship in damaged returns
Revive uses AI to assess the damage and recommend a repair budget
Approved items are refurbished through ethical vendors
Refurbished goods are either resold by the brand or listed on platforms like eBay and ThredUp, with Revive taking a commission
This model lets brands recapture lost revenue while reducing landfill waste—turning sustainability into a smart business decision.
Built from Scratch, and Then Rebuilt
Lee’s journey wasn’t linear. A Korean immigrant who arrived in the U.S. at age 13, she studied psychology at UC Berkeley and broke the mold of expected paths in medicine, law, or finance. Despite having no connections in venture capital—and facing bias as a young, Asian female founder—she raised her first round by sheer perseverance.
The pandemic forced a hard pivot, but Lee didn’t scrap everything. Instead, she asked what problem she was uniquely positioned to solve. That insight became Revive—and her second raise came easier, with a seasoned team, a clear mission, and strong traction.
“Entrepreneurship Isn’t Glamorous—But It’s Worth It”
Lee is the first to say it’s not all startup buzz and glossy headlines. “It would be naive not to acknowledge that it was a risky move,” she said. “There’s a lot of brand news.” But that uncertainty is the point. For founders like her, entrepreneurship isn’t about glamor—it’s about solving real problems with real grit.
Her advice to other underrepresented founders? “If you’re meant to be doing something, you’ll know. Don’t be afraid to take risks—but be prepared to face the challenges.”
With Revive, she’s not just leading a company. She’s proving that sustainability can scale—and rewriting what success looks like in fashion tech.
Read more on Forbes
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