Trust, Taste, and Tech: How One Founder is Reinventing Resale

Why the next frontier in fashion isn’t a trend - it’s infrastructure.

There’s something immensely powerful about people who don’t rush. Who build in silence, solve real problems, and stay five steps ahead, not for show, but because they see the gaps before the rest of us.

Lauren Kennedy is one of those people.

She’s not the loudest in the room, but her work speaks volumes. A physics grad turned fraud analyst turned founder, Lauren’s latest venture, Verity AI, is quietly becoming the trust layer for fashion’s resale economy - the part that’s invisible but makes everything work.

And trust me, it’s needed.

Resale Is Booming, But Trust Is Lagging

The resale market is exploding. Platforms like The RealReal, Depop, and Vestiaire Collective have made it normal chic, even to buy secondhand. We love the thrill of the find. We love the lower footprint. And we really love scoring that one vintage Alémais dress or a Gucci Jackie at 60% off.

But behind the scenes? Counterfeits, scams, and messy returns are costing platforms and eroding buyer confidence. The resale boom didn’t come with infrastructure - and now the cracks are showing.

That’s where Verity comes in.

Lauren built Verity AI to fix what resale left behind: verification. Not just "is this real?" but how can we scale trust without slowing things down?

Think: AI that authenticates an item in under five seconds. No hardware, no expert gemologist with a loupe. Just smart tech, purpose-built from 10 years of real resale data.

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What Makes Verity Special

Verity isn’t a generic AI tool. It was born out of High End, Lauren’s original resale app, which hit 110,000 users and processed thousands of listings. That backend - trained on actual buyer and seller behaviour - became the secret sauce.

Now, Verity powers instant authentication through Shopify integrations, APIs, and even a mobile-first tool for P2P sellers.

Its models are vertically trained and brand-calibrated. Meaning: a Zimmermann dress doesn’t get the same check as a Jacquemus bag. Every item is assessed based on what matters. And when buyers see Verity’s trust badge? Click-through rates jump up to 20%.

The Founder Who Built It

Lauren’s path wasn’t linear. She studied physics, taught herself to code, and worked in fraud analytics at Macquarie before launching High End during COVID. While 38 weeks pregnant, she closed a funding round for Verity - and now runs the business with what I can only describe as surgical clarity.

She’s not in it for hype. She’s here to solve the problem - one line of code, one fraud signal, one product launch at a time.

“I’ve learned to cut through anything that doesn’t create real impact. It’s soft and brutal all at once - but I feel more focused than I ever have.”

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Why This Matters

This isn’t just about resale. It’s about infrastructure. And more broadly, it’s about how we rebuild trust in the platforms we use every day not through noise, but through design.

We live in a world of dupes and deception. Platforms are overwhelmed. Buyers are second-guessing. Sellers are burnt out. What Verity builds is quiet but foundational: a way to scale resale without eroding the thrill. A way to make trust feel effortless, not transactional.

To me, this is what innovation actually looks like - not a flashy app, but an elegant solution tucked under the surface.

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This piece is an adapted excerpt from my new media and platform, Rolodex - where my cofounder Jade and I spotlight the most exciting women building at the intersection of brand, business, and culture. For the full deep-dive (including market insights, monetisation model, investor risks, and strategic exit pathways), head over to Rolodex now.

Founder-to-Founder: At the end of every Rolodex feature, we ask one founder to leave a question for the next. Lauren’s?

“What’s something you’re doing that makes you uncomfortable, but you know it’s making you better?”

I’d love to hear your answer, reply in comments or DM!

With Love,

Mufaro