Meet Zady

Zady is a new online shopping platform that promotes the conscious consumer movement by connecting consumers to the makers of the products.

Say hello to Zady, a newly launched online shopping platform for the discerning, conscious consumer.

The brainchild of childhood friends Maxine Bédat and Soraya Darabi, Zady is inspired by a desire to connect consumers not only to quality products, but also to the makers that produce them. 

Zady.com is about telling stories, stories about craftsmanship, the responsible use of materials and the transparency in the production process.

For Bédat and Darabi it is about informing customers about the conscious consumer movement, and its far-reaching benefits. The movement itself calls on consumers to be more aware and more responsible, to consider what they might be sacrificing – quality, craftsmanship, raw materials – when they choose fast fashion and cheap prices, rather than demanding and supporting transparency across the value chain.

The website Zady – which takes its name from the Yiddish word for a beloved grandparent or caretaker, as well as the Middle Eastern term for prosperity – is a smorgasbord of fashion, gifts and homeware. It’s about shopping, yes, but it’s also about doing so in a responsible way and about getting to know the stories behind the products.

As such, Zady tells the story behind each product. It highlights what makes that product unique, who made it, what materials were used and why it’s special. To highlight the unique attributes of each piece (for those shoppers with limited time to read the whole story) the duo have opted to use a set of six badges as iconography that points to a product’s bespoke features (handmade, high-quality raw materials, environmentally conscious etc).

Zady is a one-stop destination for consumers who care about craftsmanship, quality and timeless style. It proposes a new vision for shopping that looks beyond buying for the mere sake of it, but to understand and appreciate the process and implications. Bédat and Darabi believe Zady is for the “conscious consumer who is looking for more out of the products they purchase”.

Every item sold on Zady is curated by the founders and must meet the selection criteria, which includes being environmentally conscious, handmade and using high quality raw materials. The price ranges of the products on the site (starting at US$15) make it accessible not only to the high-end shopper but to anybody wanting to support craftsmanship and invest in bespoke, high quality products.

Based in New York, where they hold stock of all items sold on Zady, they are currently only able to ship within the USA, though Bédat and Darabi say going beyond these borders are at the top of their to-do list.

What’s more, five percent of proceeds from every sale on Zady.com will benefit the company’s non-profit partner The Bootstrap Project, which works to promote and revive centuries-old crafts and customs around the world.