Successful & Sustainable Business Models, Presented at the YEP Project Meeting

Ophemert (NL), Sept 15. Young Entrepreneurs in Professional Textile Care from 13 countries attended the YEP Program’s Project Meeting on September 15, organized by CINET. It was a session full of inspiring presentations, knowledge-sharing, learning and networking with like-minded your professionals having a high focus on new business models and new opportunities driven by sustainability. These were the coordinates of  the dynamics between the YEPs (Young Executives in Professional Textile Care) during the Kick-Off meeting of the 2021-2022 program.

The need for PTC becomes more evident

In his introduction, Peter Wennekes (CEO of CINET) underlined that in the current circumstances in which we we see significant changes in clients/customers behaviours, the need for Professional Textile Care is becoming more evident and getting more grip on scaling while providing specific services would be the key for a sustainable after-Corona future.

Updates on European and Dutch Legislation on Sustainability & Sustainable Key-Data, were presented by Frank Aarts (Executive Director at CINET), as well as the huge potential of the circular applications all over the world, with a particular focus of the immense opportunities related to CO2 savings.

 

Sustainability as a Business model

Regarding the experiences & ambitions in online business, Juan Ruiz, Co-Founder of WOSH (Spain), presented the successful online journey of the Barcelona-based start up, embarked on a mission to “sell leisure time for the customers”, while having sustainability at the core of their business. WOSH’s online dimension grew continuously during the pandemic, allowing the company to develop a franchize plan for Spain and internationally.

 

New generations drive the sustainability awareness 

The USA sustainable perspective and the US Trends in PTC Business were presented by Diana Vollmer (Ascend Consulting) and  by Jim Gilligan (Snedicors). As Mrs. Vollmer underlined, the need for action is urgent, since the world is “drowning in textiles”. The opportunity for circularity is also immense, since the average North-American throws annually the equivalent of 191 t-shirts. The USA’s younger generations are more aware of the impact of fast fashion and take steps to be less polluting. Mr. Gilligan emphasized the role of small operations in delivering a higher level of quality and service while addressing sustainability issues.

 

“97% of everything we clean is done in water” 

Wetcleaning’s performance & sustainable profile compared to domestic washing was presented by Dino Kantzavelos  (TSC Wetclean). The immediate impact on efficiency and profitability of wetcleaning was presented with specific figures on aspects of the process, resulting an annual cost saving of 20-25.000 Canadian Dollars (ca. 15-18.000 USD), according to Mr. Kantzavelos, who also underlined that the cleaning processes he implemented allowed his company to wetclean 97% of the items received.

 

Sustainable wetcleaning 

In the international suppliers’ contribution segment of the session, Christoph Richter (Electrolux) demonstrated the superior performance of wetcleaning over domestic washing in terms of sustainability, quality, convenience and hygiene. A particular segment of the presentation was focused on consumer’s behavioral changes caused by the pandemic, with formal wear being more and more the norm in the “work-from-home” current context.

 

Hung(a)ry for development!

In the National Wake-Up Calls section of YEP, various profiles of markets all over the world are presented. During this session, Mrs. Gabriella Deme (Adeka Consulting) presented a comprehensive report on the current status and evolution of Hungary in terms of sustainability PTC focus. Several initiatives in all verticals profile an intensive development of the Hungarian’s Professional Textile Care sector in the direction of sustainability

 

At the end of the session, Peter Wennekes presented the next steps in the YEP program and the coming sessions, up to ExpoDetergo October 2022 in Milan.

 

About YEP

YEP Program?s main goals are personal development & networking (through personal encounters with other young professionals who want to develop a personal network), as well as working together for an industry-wise goal, in this case profiling SUSTAINABILITY as a key driver for PTC in reaching new market segments, new business models and new opportunities.