Eco Friendly Online Apparel Store

[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution.

We propose creating an unofficial Cardano apparel website. It will sell Cardano and ADA themed apparel, alongside apparel that will display NFTs and promote projects that are built on Cardano. NFT apparel will be designed with QR codes, so that the ownership of the NFT can be verified and inspected. Initially Tangent apparel will be sold, with the hope of slowly integrating other popular projects on Cardano for representation (subject to their permission and respect for IP). The website will also integrate with ADAPay in order for purchases of the products to be transacted in ADA. With Cardano’s low transaction fees and efficient transaction speeds, the website is sure to show off the qualities that makes Cardano one of the most superior blockchains to-date.

   An important principle within the Cardano ecosystem is environmental sustainability. The use of the Proof of Stake (POS) structure, alongside initiatives to plant 1 million trees, are all examples of the dedication the Cardano ecosystem has to protecting the environment. In accordance with this ethos, products sold on the website will be sourced from suppliers who use fabrics made of recycled materials. Additionally, the background of suppliers will be researched to ensure that all products are produced under fair labor principles.

[IMPACT] Please describe how your proposed solution will address the Challenge that you have submitted it in.

   Dapps, products, and integrations are crucial in providing real use cases for Cardano and the ADA currency. Most uses for cryptocurrencies like Cardano are mainly localized to other digital applications. In other words, there are few opportunities to use ADA to purchase real world goods. A Cardano apparel store addresses this problem by creating an online website that allows customers to purchase Cardano related apparel with ADA. By reaching out to other Cardano based tokens/projects and seeking their permission, representation of the diversity that exists on Cardano could be showcased within the store and this would provide invaluable promotion to these smaller projects. Furthermore creating a store of this sort not only provides greater utility to use of ADA, but also can expand upon the utility and value to Cardano NFTs with the sale of special NFT themed apparel that provide NFT artists/owners with another form of passive income and monetization for their NFTs.

[IMPACT] What are the main risks that could prevent you from delivering the project successfully and please explain how you will mitigate each risk?

   Creating an apparel product line is a significant endeavor. Using high quality fabric created from recycled materials while ensuring fair labor practices further increase the challenge. Manufacturers will need to be vetted and where possible traceable industry standard compliance certificates displayed to ensure that fabrics are indeed sourced from sustainable means (i.e. is this cotton 100% organic, where is the proof, etc). Creating a website is simple enough, and the payment system of ADAPay is already developed. Another issue is forming partnerships with NFT artists, native tokens, dapps and projects built on Cardano. It is very important to ensure that Intellectual Property is respected and that artists receive a fair share of any profits generated from the sale of apparel based on their designs. Also verifying that NFT holders do indeed have the rights to reproduce their NFT and sell them is another issue that will require investigation. Therefore taking an approach of gradually rolling out designs and merchandise for sale is the best approach. For example starting with Cardano (ADA) designs (that are subject to open source copyright) and then moving to the larger native token projects who would be happy to just have promotion for their project/dapp, before finally contacting NFT artists and holders.

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed plan, including timeline and key milestones for delivering your proposal.

2022 Q2:

• Apply for Catalyst fFunding (done)
• Acquire relevant URL for online store (done)
• Liaise with the ADAPay team regarding payment implementation requirements (doing)
• Communicate with relevant artists for garment design (doing) 
• Communicate with existing, sustainable apparel stores for design specifications (doing)

2022 Q3:

• Development of online apparel store
• Building wWeb app & UI 
• Testing of apparel store with ADAPay integration
• Community discussions and voting on chosen garments for sale
• Marketing campaign launch across social media push #1

2022 Q4:

• Full launch of online clothing platform (adagarms.com) with payment via ADAPay only
• Onboarding of artists from Tangent’s artistic grants programme for further apparel design
• Whitepaper V2 lLaunch

2023 Q1: 

• Seamless use and recognition of online store (adagarms.com) as an unofficial apparel store for the Cardano ecosystem 
• Marketing campaign launch across social media push #2

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed budget breakdown.

Online store Design (internal & external) = $10,000

ADAPay Website Ongoing Integration Costs = $2,000

Product Sourcing Costs: $1000

Website Hosting & Maintenance: $800

Marketing = $2,000

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide details of the people who will work on the project.

Clint Alexander // Co-founder, Head of Development 

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/clint-alexander-049742233/
• calexander@tangent.art
• Responsibilities within Tangent: overview / decision making / development / basic coding

Bio:

• Serial entrepreneur & cryptocurrency enthusiast since 2013
• Miner
• Investor
• Digital asset fund manager
• Solidity back end smart contract development
• CEO & manufacturer of Bitcoin SHA256 ASIC miners and other electronic hardware
• Worked alongside Bitcoin mining hardware companies such as Bitmain, Rockminer and Gekkoscience

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Ben Gordon // Co-founder, Visionaire & Marketing Technologist 

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-gordon-352b37232/
• bgordon@tangent.art
• Responsibilities within Tangent: overview / decision making / marketing / development

Bio:

• Cryptocurrency enthusiast since 2017
• Previous freelance marketing executive for a number of leading international educational establishments in Asia
• Transitioned to blockchain project development in 2017
• A knowledge of all stages from brand creation, overall strategy, research, analysis, law and and token creation.
• Freelanced on a number of blockchain projects including Northern Lights before creating Tangent in 2021

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Benjamin Grabow // Senior Software Engineer 

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-grabow/
• bgrabow@tangent.art
• Responsibilities within Tangent: staking contract / front-end development / coding

Bio:

• Previous Senior Software Engineer at Dcentralab, NFTChain, Relive
• Previous Team Lead at the Bloomtech institute
• Javascript, React, React Native, Next.js Node, Three.js Express, AWS, Netlify, Heroku, Docker, Kubernetes, Truffle, Hardhat, Remix, Web3, Ether.js, Solidity, Notion, Trello, Jira, Figma.
• Responsible for Full-Stack related tasks
• NFT focused: https://www.citrus.app/ NFT gallery for creators and collectors - Twitter: https://twitter.com/citrusdisplay (Responsibility: Fullstack Blockchain Developmen
• NFT gallery platform with a specific focus on Backend where we index all users NFTs, track all changes etc. )
• NFT focused: https://www.nftchain.tech/: Developed a full-stack production-ready fully decentralized NFT marketplace with NFT minter that stores files on the IPFS protocol on ETH & MATIC Testnet, MATIC Mainnet (Smart contract -, Backend -, Frontend - Development)
• DeFi focused: https://play.hord.app/: Developed a full-stack production-ready ETF platform on ETH & BSC Testnet & Mainnet (Smart contract -, Backend -, Frontend - Development)
• DeFi focused: https://play-dex.hord.app/: Developed a full-stack production-ready DEX on ETH & BSC Testnet & Mainnet (Smart contract -, Backend -, Frontend - Development)
• https://www.chainport.io/: Worked with Chainport developers utilizing their chain indexer for the DEX from Hord.app
• NFT focused: https://fourteenthcenturyseries.com/ Fourteenth Century Series NFT collection / mint site - from famous artist Reuben Wu https://twitter.com/Reuben_Wu (Backend -, Frontend - Development)

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Sydney Bright // Plutus Pioneer / Cardano Coder

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/sydneysbright/
• sbright@tangent.art
• Responsibilities within Tangent: staking contract / front-end development / coding

Bio:

• Plutus Pioneer Program - IOG
• Cardano Developer Associate - Emurgo
• Complete Python Developer in 2022 - Zero To Mastery
• Cardano Developer Professional Program - Emurgo (enrolled)

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Shahabaj Dange // Front-End Developer

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/dshahabaj/?originalSubdomain=in
• sdange@tangent.art
• Responsibilities within Tangent: front-end development / website upgrades / website connectivity / website design

Bio:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science and Engineering
• Diploma in Information Technology from MSBTE
• Full-Stack Development, Front-end Development and Responsive Web Design
• 6 years of high level experience working with a variety of blockchain companies

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Roman Gor // UI / UX 

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/roman-garp/?originalSubdomain=uk
• rgor@tangent.art
• Responsibilities within Tangent: UI/UX / front-end development / applications

Bio:

• UX/UI designer for Web and Mobile applications
• Enterprise software and SaaS web applications
• A focus on complex technical solutions related to the unique and innovative technologies.
• Competent in Web App Design, Sketch App (design), Axure (prototyping/wireframe), Principle, Flinto, Motion 5 (animation), Xmind (mind map/structure), Zeplin, Avocode (transfer source programmers), Invision, Trello, Active Collab, Jira & Redmine

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Alexis Golding // Legal Compliance Advisor

• agolding@tangent.art
• Responsibilities within Tangent: compliance / regulatory / contracts / general legal matters

Bio:

• Specialist financial services lawyer
• Admitted to the Law Society of England and Wales in September 2009
• Held various Head of Legal and Compliance roles in different global regions
• Acted as a regulator-approved Authorized Individual (Senior Manager Co & MLRO) for the past 8 years
• MA Hons from Oxford University
• Law degree from BPP London
• Advanced ICA qualifications (distinction) in both Compliance and AML
• Women's leadership advocate

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Henry (Kwrtz Artist) // Digital Artist 

Bio:

• Japanese Bohemian Artist
• Based in the Japanese Alps
• https://kwrtz.com
• https://twitter.com/_kwrtz_
• Specialising in digital art through NFTs including in 3D

+another 2 programmers for staking platform development

Further team information can be found here: https://tangent.art/team

[FEASIBILITY] If you are funded, will you return to Catalyst in a later round for further funding? Please explain why / why not.

We have set our budget accordingly, meaning return requests for further funding for this specific proposal is unlikely. After the initial start up costs listed, the online store should be self-sustainable, generating enough revenue to cover website hosting and maintenance costs.

Our team was fortunate enough to learn about the Catalyst programme a number of weeks ago and have been immersing ourselves within the community since. Town Hall has been a highly beneficial, weekly addition to our team in regards to knowledge building and networking, most notably within the breakout rooms post meet. Furthermore we plan to host a number of breakout rooms ourselves in the near future, if possible to promote collaboration between the online store and other Cardano projects.

[FEASIBILITY] Are you or any member of your team working on any other proposals in this Fund9?

[FEASIBILITY] Are you or your team working on any other proposals from previous Funds?

[AUDITABILITY] Please describe what you will measure to track your project's progress, and how will you measure these?

Progress in this project consists of two main phases:

1. Establishing an apparel line - the first import milestone for this project is successfully finding a manufacturer for the clothing line. It is critical that the fabrics are made from recyclable materials, and that the labor involved is fair. Once this has been accomplished, production of several Cardano, Tangent, native tokens, and NFT themed garments will be made and be ready for distribution. 
2. Growing the store - once the genesis clothing line is released successfully on the website, the next step is to grow the store into something grand. Ideally, other projects on Cardano will want to produce a clothing line to increase awareness of their work, which furthers the reach of the website as well. More exciting perhaps, is the idea of having different NFT projects make apparel for their art work as well, while having QR codes on the garment to verify owner authenticity. We will measure the success of the website by its growing user base and catalog.

[AUDITABILITY] What does success for this project look like?

Ultimately, success in the project will be determined if many different items can be sourced that promote Cardano projects and NFTs and the website is sustainable itself by generating enough profit to cover annual overheads (around $800 usd per year after initial setup costs). Before that happens though, success is the proper implementation of a clothing line that is generated with our ideals of sustainability in mind. Additionally, the hope would be that this store grows to support many projects on the Cardano ecosystems, while also providing support and utility to NFTs sold across the ecosystem. Success will be evident when many projects and popular NFT art are a part of the online store, all sharing in profits and outreach.

[AUDITABILITY] Please provide information on whether this proposal is a continuation of a previously funded project in Catalyst or an entirely new one.

This is the first Catalyst Fund Tangent is participating in. 

Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Rating

SDG goals:

Goal 12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

SDG subgoals:

12.5 By 2030, substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse

Key Performance Indicator (KPI):

12.5.1 National recycling rate, tons of material recycled

#proposertoolsdg