Reflekt Me may have just moved to town, but the RetailTech startup is no stranger to the Atlanta startup ecosystem.
The startup, dedicated to making e-commerce shopping a more inclusive and engaging experience, was part of the Creative Destruction Lab’s 2021 cohort at Georgia Tech. Co-founders Tope Mitchell, Ph.D. and Gerald Mitchell, Jr., Ed.D., decided to relocate to Marietta from the Research Triangle earlier this year to embed further in Atlanta’s entrepreneurial and RetailTech ecosystems.
Reflekt Me saw a massive need to make sure e-commerce platforms reflect all shoppers. So it is looking to change the face of online shopping.
Retailers use Reflekt Me to showcase real people using and wearing their products. “People really want to be represented,” Tope told Hypepotamus. “They want to be seen and they want companies to acknowledge the beauty of their diversity.”
Instead of building a plug-in, Reflekt Me creates a window for shoppers to explore product photos of people of different heights, weights, ages, ethnicities, and genders, in order to get a better sense of how that product will work for them.
This doesn’t change the design or layout of the website, but still gives shoppers a hyper-person experience.
For Gerald, the window is part of the startup’s “secret sauce” and was an important product decision as the team looks to work with larger enterprise clients. “Their brands take precedence over your technology, and you don’t want your technology to interfere with the complex ecosystem that is their website,” he told Hypepotamus.
“UGC (user-generated content) was the first step of showing real people engage with your products,” he added. Reflekt Me takes that a step further by taking UGC, typically found on social media pages, and bringing it directly onto product pages. This, the Reflekt Me team believes, helps brands curate a better online experience.
While both co-founders have roots in academia, Tope sees jumping into the entrepreneurial scene as a way to make a positive impact on generations to come. And she believes a startup like Reflekt Me can help change how consumers “see” themselves reflected in various brands.
“This is not just a research problem or a work problem,” the mom of two told Hypepotamus. “It was a way we can make the world better for our kids. Because we can help our kids to love themselves, but we can’t show them from a societal level.”
Reflekt Me’s ability to create a more inclusive e-commerce environment has caught the attention of worldwide brands like Levi’s, which rolled out Reflekt Me’s technology this week with its “see it in my size” button.
This is Tope and Gerald’s second entrepreneurial venture together. This time, the two were intentional about seeking help and being part of accelerator programs across the country as they worked to scale. In addition to CDL, the team participated in New York Fashion Tech Lab in 2021 and has been part of several pitch competitions across the country.
The team also received a pre-seed investment from Backstage Capital in early 2021.
Alongside the co-founders is a growing team of technologists, influencers, and marketers helping the startup scale.
