A tech and fashion start-up created by three University of Southampton students has launched an international platform aimed at the European market. 

The project Cece was started by sisters Marcella and Melissa Wijngaarden and their friend Noor Veenhoven, who met whilst studying in Amsterdam.

The ethical fashion brand is an online platform that combines the sustainable products of over 300 fashion webshops and 500 fashion brands on one website. The company aims to make it easy for shoppers in Europe to find sustainable and ethically made products and offer an easy alternative to large fast-fashion platforms such as H&M, ASOS, and Zalando.

Founder, Marcella Wijngaarden, who is 28-years-old, said: "Me and my co-founders wanted to buy things and clothes more ethically. However, it was so much more difficult to find ethical alternatives. 

"We realised that it shouldn't be this hard to find sustainable purchases and that not everybody has the time to research all these brands and look into everything else. 

"None of us has a background in fashion, but everyone buys clothes, including us. We realised it was our problem too and we could do something about this. 

"Since the launch of Project Cece, a lot has happened. We started as complete outsiders to the fashion industry, with no idea of what we were doing. However, we are quite pleased with how far we have come and how much our brand has accomplished after many trials and errors.

The trio founded and launched the Amsterdam-based platform in the Netherlands in 2017, and it has since extended to Germany and the United Kingdom. The growing demand for sustainable products in Europe prompted their largest international launch to date.

The founders explain their mission: "We want to offer European shoppers the ease and accessibility of a large platform, while still shopping sustainably and supporting independent small businesses."

Project Cece does not rely on third-party services and can collaborate with small and large businesses that manufacture ethically and sustainably, resulting in the most curated sustainable fashion products in one place. 

Marcella is completing her PhD in Physics and Astronomy at the University of Southampton. 

She hopes that one day, Project Cece will become a household name for sustainable fashion. She said: "For now, we will be working very hard to establish our brand in Europe, but we hope that one day people across the globe will know what Project Cece is." 

For more information, visit: https://www.projectcece.com/aboutus/