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Someone Somewhere proved AI can create jobs for artisans, not replace them
Antonio Nuño , Fatima Alvarez , and Enrique Rodriguez have been friends since they were five years sure-enough . As teenager , they became Volunteer facilitate indigenous community — first in Mexico , then in other country — and visit that many of the charwoman were artisans .
The three get along to take in that these artists “ made very beautiful things in a very sustainable way , ” Nuño recalls , and by the time they were 25 , the idea for a business had burgeon forth . They imagined connect these artists , “ their technique and their stories with the supplying chains of spheric companies looking for more sustainable ways to produce products . ”
So in 2016,Someone Somewherewas born . Today the Mexico City - based inauguration works with hundreds of rural artificer in seven of Mexico ’s short states to apply traditional handcrafts on vesture and accessories , with the mission of creating “ character , on - trend products . ”
Someone Somewhere helps artisan groups organise as cooperatives or small stage business , formalize , get at a bank account , and build communitary savings news report . The journeyman are give for each product they make . The startup supplies the stuff , and pay 50 % in advance and 50 % once they finish each product .
A viral post
In its first few years , Someone Somewhere landed contracts with some large companies such as Ben & Frank ( the Warby Parker of Latin America ) and Rappi . But in 2023 , the trio realized they could use AI — particularly Stable Diffusion ’s textbook to range of a function model — to help the company scale even further .
They feed their database all the various material and techniques the craftsman used intoStable Diffusion ’s modeland began designing AI - assisted concepts , produce as images , of well - known product . The idea was to “ show companies how some of their most iconic items could appear if they were made with artisans from unlike area . ”
They post the concept on LinkedIn , tagging the companies . For exemplar , they created images for Red Bull and Trader Joe ’s .
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But it was when they posted their concept of an Adidas - branded Mexican National Team association football tee shirt on LinkedIn in March that their business changed forever . That postwent viral , ultimately have more than 1 million opinion , with people tagging Adidas employee for visibleness .
In the post , Nuño estimated that each shirt would “ bring forth six months of fair work for more than 3,000 artisan ” and “ allow for more than 15,000 people , admit families , to break the cycle of poverty . ”
He wrote : “ We can imagine what would happen if Mexico ’s next jersey was made in collaboration withSomeone Somewhere , and incorporate component hired hand - aggrandize by various communities in the country . It would be the first meter that a national team launches such an initiative , and it would doubtless root on dozens of other commonwealth to replicate it since cunning are the secondly enceinte author of employment in all of Latin America , Africa and Asia . ”
Just one day after the berth went up , Nuño say that Adidas reached out and asked for a meeting . Within weeks , his company had an agreement to set in motion a physical production made available to adiClub members , as well as to Mexican association football actor and contentedness creators .
All told , the selling post achieve more than 50 million hoi polloi , and was covered on national telecasting and over 100 media outlets , agree to Nuño . On June 21 , the companies announced the new collection of Mexican National Team jerseys , hand - embroidered by women artisans from the Sierra Norte of Puebla , Mexico .
Each shirt represented more than 11 hours of hand - embroidery work , symbolically symbolize the 11 participant who proudly represented Mexico in the Copa América .
“ Through these jerseys , both Adidas and Someone Somewhere seek to respect the work of Mexican artisans and go along embracing the cultural heritage of the country , both its solution and the seeds it leaves for next originative generations , ” say Pablo Cavallaro , senior director , Brand Activation at Adidas , in a affirmation . “ This collection is inspired by the communities where the artificer make each of their piece , the space they call ‘ dwelling ’ . ”
The shirts available to the populace include Someone Somewhere ’s signature detail : a QR code so that the user / buyer can learn more about the craftsman who helped create it .
“ Now we are working on more things with Adidas that we will launch next year , ” Nuño said .
AI helps create jobs
Nuño credit advances in AI for his inauguration ’s late growing .
“ We found that make product with AI shows company the potency so it ’s easy to move forward , ” Nuño told TechCrunch . “ It has allowed us to develop partnerships with a muckle of companies , establish in the U.S. mostly , ”
The scheme is work on so well that Someone Somewhere went from designing 10 products a calendar month to 5,000 .
“ This has helped us accelerate , and it ’s an awesome elbow room of showing that AI can take away problem but also create them , if used creatively , ” he added . “ Just in the last 12 calendar month alone , we ’ve made more than 10 million product with this modeling . ”
Meanwhile , Someone Somewhere ’s gross has grown 36x in the last three years . This class , the 75 - soul team is working with triple the number of mark than it did last yr , in large part thanks to the use of AI to co - create products .
The Stable Diffusion model that Someone Somewhere is using came out last year and allows users to fine - line the concept images it make .
“ you could control the silhouette of products , ” Nuño said , adding that this allows his inauguration to try out with framework and embroideries when developing a concept mathematical product .
“ Before our main chokepoint was present companies the potential of what we could do together . We had to make forcible products , which takes a lot of sentence . This technology spread out doors — they say an image is more than a thousand countersign . Now we ’re able to connect with these big brand and that do the conversation go way quicker , ” he said .
That ’s led Someone Somewhere to deals like a co - mark sustainable accessory line of reasoning with Gator Cases , and with company such as Google , Uber , Stripe and Amazon ( among others ) to make product for their employees , events and marketing campaign .
QR codes land a deal with an Apple supplier
AI is not the only affair responsible for for Someone Somewhere ’s growth .
The company also accidentally landed a trade , through its use of those QR codes , that aim some of its product in Apple stores worldwide and online . The Cartesian product are made through a partnership with a company called Nimble , which makes sustainable electronic accessories . Someone Somewhere sell its products to Nimble , which in turn betray it to Apple .
Nimble chief executive officer and co - founder Ross Howe is aDelta Onebusiness family customer , and on a flight last year the airline gave him an agreeableness kit made by Someone Somewhere .
“ The item were neatly packed in this material bag , which immediately caught my attention , ” he tell . “ It was very high - calibre , and had a QR code to assemble the artisan who made it . By the time the aeroplane landed , I memorise everything I could about the company behind it , and wanted to research an opportunity to work with them . ”
Nimble already had some concepts for raw products that included a carrying case but “ just needed the right partner to help create it , ” Howe said . “ Aside from their apparent design capabilities , Someone Somewhere ’s mission and status as a fellow Certified B Corp checked so many corner for what we wait for in a spouse . ”
So the society reached out to learn more .
Today , its fresh Apple - exclusive collection have a serial of PowerKnit Travel Kits with USB - C charging cables . Each include a travel case made in collaboration with Someone Somewhere . The pocket are being sold in Apple stores in 30 countries , including the U.S. and most of Europe .
“ After old age of explore possible company to collaborate on this type of task , we had n’t come across anything quite like what Someone Somewhere is doing , ” Howe said . “ We are explore additional projection for potential future release . ”
All of this growth has come after provoke a totality of just $ 1.7 million in financial support from investors such as Impact Ventures PSM , Dila Capital , GBM Ventures , Kalei Ventures , Louis Jordan , Soldiers Field Angels , and Unreasonable Capital , so far .
Someone Somewhere has been profitable since 2022 , and is in the process of raising a newfangled round “ to take vantage of the nearshoring and sustainable procurement trends that are intelligibly growing , ” Nuño said .
