The Viennese startup Neworn has developed a platform that enables the trading of second-hand baby and children’s clothing. The young company wants to reward environmentally conscious behavior through loyalty points. Neworn cooperates specifically with small, local and exclusively sustainable companies. Caroline Schober, co-founder of the young company, spoke to our startup interviewer.
Neworn: Viennese startup launches clothing swap app for environmentally conscious parents
Can you introduce us to your startup?
Caroline Schober: Neworn is a platform focused on revolutionizing the way parents use and purchase baby clothes. Our mission is to create a sustainable solution to buying and selling baby clothes that simultaneously promotes community and environmental awareness.
We connect parents in Austria to buy and sell used children’s clothing & accessories. The aim is to extend the short lifespan of the products and to reward sustainable practices with exclusive offers from sustainable partner companies. With our mobile application, we give parents access to a diverse marketplace where they can buy and sell used baby clothes and accessories. By encouraging the exchange of baby clothes within an engaged community, we promote reuse and reduce the need for new products.
Who is on the founding team?
The founding team of Neworn consists of my co-founders, Ole Kramer and me, Caroline Schober. Ole has dealt a lot with sustainability in the past and, before founding Neworn, worked at Esade University, where he taught students, among other things, “Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility”. I (Caroline) was able to gain a lot of experience through my time at several startups, most recently at Friday Finance as Head of Account Management, where I joined as one of the first employees and was able to set up the Sales and Customer Success area.
What is the story behind your startup?
During our MBA studies in Barcelona, the idea for Neworn came about as part of a university project that we worked on together. At this time we noticed that many of our friends were having babies, and I was often asked if I knew anyone who wanted to donate children’s clothes or anyone who needed them. At the same time, we were inspired by alarming statistics about clothing waste and the environmental impact of the fashion industry. In Austria, for example, around 83 percent of clothing is not recycled and ends up in landfills, which represents a significant contribution to the global waste problem. The fashion industry’s CO2 emissions even exceed those of global air and shipping traffic combined.
We noticed, particularly in the area of children’s clothing and accessories, that excessive new purchases and clothing waste are a major problem. Due to children’s rapid growth, clothing items need to be replaced often, resulting in significant waste. Given these challenges, we decided to create a platform that allows parents to buy, sell or trade high-quality used children’s clothing and accessories. Our goal was to offer a sustainable alternative to the traditional purchase of new clothing while helping to reduce environmental impact.
What differentiates your startup from the competition?
We connect parents across Austria to buy and sell used children’s clothing & accessories. The products can be used for as long as they are really needed and then published again with just one click. This creates a closed cycle. Neworn’s focus is exclusively on children’s and baby clothing, which enables a targeted focus on the needs of the target group and promotes constant interaction with users. The platform is designed to be user-friendly to make the process as simple as possible and to allow purchasing from multiple providers at the same time.
We create trust through our community and a transparent reuse history. We also offer a secure payment system with a money-back guarantee to protect our buyers and support our sellers. Neworn is also the only app that rewards parents for their environmentally friendly behavior. Over 20 partner companies have supported us from the very beginning, on the one hand to reach their target group and at the same time to share our vision – such as Holie Living, Mama Matters or SooNice Sunnies. In this way, we create a trustworthy platform for children’s clothing & accessories that is tailored precisely to the needs of parents, revives the tradition of living on and promotes community.
What technologies do you use or what in-house tech have you developed?
We have developed our own mobile app, available on iOS and Android platforms. This app allows users to buy, sell and exchange used children’s and baby clothing. We use real-time communication technologies to enable seamless interaction between buyers and sellers. Because protecting our users’ data is our top priority, we use advanced security and privacy technologies to ensure the confidentiality and integrity of the data.
The payment flow that will be introduced at Neworn on June 1st is unique – as it allows us to offer our buyers a money-back guarantee. We are currently working on integrating AI to create a personalized shopping experience for parents based on the size of the child and the rate at which they are growing, as well as style and cut, to know what the user is currently looking for and when the clothes or that Accessories are needed. The topic of quality control should also be secured with AI in the future.
Who is your target group and how do you reach them?
Our target group are parents and families, especially those who are consciously looking for sustainable solutions and want to support the reuse of children’s and baby clothing. To reach them, we rely on a multi-channel marketing strategy that includes both digital and traditional channels. We also do a lot through partnerships with various players in this area. For example, we are in contact with various kindergartens, play groups, yoga studios, midwives and are represented in maternity clinics. First and foremost, we rely on creative solutions and growth hacking to use our marketing budget as efficiently as possible.
What about previous financing? Are there already investors?
We are currently in discussions with potential investors. It is very important to us to find the right match who shares our vision and with whom we can work together in the long term.
Can you explain your business model to us? How does your startup generate revenue?
Neworn has developed a diverse business model that relies on multiple revenue streams to drive sustainable growth. The main source of revenue is the commission on the sales price of successful transactions via the platform. Additionally, sellers can highlight their products to increase their sales chances. The Concierge Service allows sellers to send their products directly to Neworn, with the company handling the sales process on behalf of the sellers.
Neworn also offers advertising opportunities for companies and allows professional (but only sustainable) sellers to list their products on the platform, offering a special package to maintain the focus on second-hand products.
What are the next steps for your startup?
The next steps for Neworn include continued development of the platform, expanding the user base and strengthening partnerships with sustainable companies. We strive to increase the number of transactions on our platform and promote awareness of sustainable consumption. We will continue to diversify our services and develop new revenue streams to ensure sustainable growth. Our specific goals for the future include increasing community size, improving user experience and expanding our services to better meet the needs of our users.
Do you have any tips for other founders?
1. Weigh the opportunity costs in every step and set priorities correctly. 2. Network and have the courage to ask for help in the network!
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