Could consumption and manufacturing be tempered simply by avoiding overproduction in the first place? And what if retailers had precise, real-world data about which products would truly resonate with shoppers, allowing them to produce just enough, neither too much nor too little?
These are the questions that Finnish startup Clair, founded in 2025, has set out to answer. CEO Eerika Savolainen launched the company with two partners, driven partly by personal irritation.
“I’ve always been fascinated by retail and fashion, but I’ve also been frustrated with how the world works,” she says.
For her, the sticking point is overconsumption.
For nearly five years, she bought only second-hand clothing, until one discovery derailed the experiment: finding well-fitting trousers on the used market was nearly impossible.
“There is a place for new products too,” she notes.
Teaching retailers what consumers really want
Slush is one of the world’s leading startup and tech events, bringing together startup founders, investors and global innovators in Helsinki each year.
Clair is building an AI-powered assortment-planning tool that helps buyers and product managers decide what to purchase and in what quantities.
“The root challenge is whether we can understand, in a data-driven way, what consumers truly want and will buy,” Savolainen says.
“Once we know that, production can focus on the right items, so that manufacturing serves its purpose as efficiently as possible.”
The company works with consumer brands and retailers across the Nordic countries and Europe, particularly in categories with long production cycles – apparel, sporting goods, children’s products and pet supplies – where orders for the next season are placed more than a year in advance.
“There’s also a visual dimension: what a garment feels like to a buyer,” she says. “That emotional response can be measured with data, but traditional methods struggle to capture it.”
To bridge that gap, Clair trains its AI on each client’s specific context, allowing it to learn the nuances of their customer base. Broad generalisations about “what sells” become both difficult and beside the point.
The founder’s path: from Slush to startup life
At Slush 2025, over 6,000 startups, 3,500 investors and 1,700 partners and ecosystem builders convened in Helsinki.
Clair is the first company founded by the 30-year-old Savolainen. Before launching it, she explored job opportunities but found nothing that felt compelling enough.
“Now it feels like I’m using my time meaningfully,” she says. “It’s important to me that if we succeed, we’ll bring something into the world that deserves to exist.”
She had previously found similar purpose at Slush, Europe’s most energetic startup event, based in Helsinki. Savolainen joined as a volunteer during her studies and eventually rose to lead the organisation.
“I’m very proud to have been part of it,” she says. “It was addictive to work somewhere with limitless room to grow and constant new responsibilities.”
In 2022 and 2023, she served as Slush’s CEO. At the 2025 event, she returned simply to enjoy the atmosphere and to meet potential partners for Clair.
“But I still have strong physical memories,” she says. “When I woke up on the Monday before Slush, I immediately felt what the [Slush] team must be experiencing as they gathered for final preparations. I felt it deeply.”
Lessons carried forward
Throughout Eerika Savolainen’s adult life, Finland’s and Europe’s economies have been dragging. “That’s why it matters that there is momentum, and people who refuse to settle for the status quo,” she says.
There are two insights from Slush that stayed with her.
First: Once you’ve worked in a place where your contribution truly matters, you become selective afterwards. You want the next role to be just as meaningful.
Second: You can make things happen yourself.
“That sense of agency is essential if you’re going to become an entrepreneur,” says Savolainen. “You need the courage to put yourself out there.
“As a founder, you must be willing to become an expert in areas where you’re only just beginning to grow as one.”
Those two insights continue to be relevant in her work at Clair, helping her decide which directions are worthwhile and how to navigate the early stages of a young company. For her, they offer a practical foundation in an evolving industry.
Text and photos by Emilia Kangasluoma, December 2025
