Waste2wear And The Impact Of The Corona Virus: An Update From Our CEO

As Waste2wear we are serving many customers allover the world. We are a company with offices in 4 countries, and we feel the global impact the virus has on each of one of us. Our Chineses head office managed the difficult situation
March 23, 2020

At the end of January, just around Chinese new year, we were all taken by surprise by the impact of the terrible virus in China, where our headquarters are located. The country shut down, and we tried to manage our business in the best possible way from a place of isolation. I am very proud of the way our Chinese staff handled this situation. We kept communicating. We managed to arrange masks for our people and families and kept moral high. We prepared and negotiated. We took care of our production relations and made early payments to support our partners so they could pay their staff on time. As a results we secured first production and sample room spaces by the time things would go back to normal.

We only had no idea when that would be.

The Virus Became A Global Virus

Now we are back in action after a few weeks and no new cases have been found locally. Having said that, while things are getting smoother here, the world is starting to face the pandemic virus now and in no time it’s a global situation.

We Are Pro-Active In Our Support

We will keep our communication short, crisp and informative and work pro actively for our associates and clients. Our offices will stay open and our staff outside of China, will mostly work from home. We anticipate to experience some delays in productions from India if factories would be also forced to shut down. In order to avoid this, we are taking all possible precautionary steps and moving some production back to China from India. We will keep you informed.

“We believe in the resilience of our people, our network, our spirit and our creativity to solve problems and face challenges.
We plan to get safely through this, just as we did in China with minimal impact in terms of delivery and service to our customers.”

Stay Safe And Take Social Distancing Seriously

Having experienced the uncertainty, the limitations, the shortages, the boredom, and the allover fear for something you do not understand, we know this is a terrible predicament to be in. We feel for our colleagues in other offices and for our customers all over the world, and we want to urge everyone to learn from the experiences we had here in China. We know how essential it was to really take this serious and avoid all unnecessary interactions and take the appropriate precautions . We also know, from our own experience, that if we do this, it will stop

Please Take Care, Stay Safe And Healthy. Monique Maissan, CEO Waste2Wear

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Sven Bleekemolen

Sven Bleekemolen is a Dutch entrepreneur and textile engineer. He is a versatile executive with a broad skill set and experience in a global marketplace. Lived and worked in Europe, Indonesia, and Turkey. Solid expertise in management of start-up to mature fashion companies in competitive wholesale and retail markets.

In his role as director of several companies, Sven built strong knowledge of international wholesale, retail, B2B sales, production and brand development. He has a strategic and innovative mindset, always focused on business development. He has a record of identifying opportunities and leading diverse teams to surpass revenue goals.

Sven has a strong focus on sustainability and is excited to discover the possibilities that lie in Waste2Wear’s groundbreaking material and blockchain technologies. He is committed to creating a major contribution to the business performance of Waste2Wear along with the transition to a more circular economy for a better outcome of the world.

Hein Barnhoorn

Olivier van Migem

Ruma Kinger

Rena Jiang

Rena Jiang has over 20 years experience in the textile industry. Knowing how polluting the industry is, Rena is proud to be making a positive impact by doing the right thing with Waste2Wear.

Christophe Marze

Christophe Marze has over 15 years specializing in structuring and powering up businesses in Asia. As a French national, he has spent many years living and working in Germany and in China. Christophe is passionate about continuous improvement, sustainability and compliance which are from him the pillars of a healthy business drive.

Jeroen van der Wind

Jeroen van der Wind is an entrepreneur, specializing in international trade within the textile and promotional industries in South East Asia for over three decades. He was managing partner of The Cookie Company for many years, producing licensed kids apparel for several multinational customers. In combination with a healthy business drive, he is determined to help further the Waste2Wear mission of relieving the planet of the plastic problem to create a better world, especially for his four adult children.

Eduardo Garza Garcia

Eduardo Garza Garcia is a Mexican designer and entrepreneur specializing in sustainable solutions for plastics. He has been pivotal in innovations including the industry-first recycled polypropylene (RPP) from discarded domestic appliances; a unique RPET verification method (RA-3) proving the recycled plastic content in materials and the industry-first blockchain technology. Thanks to his innovations, Waste2Wear has won several prestigious environmental awards. Eduardo is truly an innovator in the world of recycled plastics constantly working for new ways to bring more transparency to the recycling industry.

Stefan Kleijkamp

Stefan Kleijkamp is a highly experienced Global Quality and Compliance Manager with over 15 years of experience in the industry. Originally from the Netherlands, Stefan has spent the last two decades working in Asia, with 17 of those years in China. He is fluent in Chinese and has worked with a wide range of product groups including textile, apparel, hard goods and plastics. Throughout his career, Stefan has held positions in quality and compliance management for both large and medium sized companies, as well as in purchasing and logistics. His extensive experience has given him a deep understanding of the challenges and issues facing the industry, particularly in relation to traceability of recycled materials such as textile, cotton and polyester. With his expertise in quality and compliance, Stefan is dedicated to ensuring that the products and services provided by Waste2Wear meet the highest standards in quality, sustainability and environmental responsibility.

Monique Maissan

Monique Maissan is a Dutch entrepreneur and textile engineer specializing in sustainable solutions for the industry. As CEO and founder of Waste2Wear, she leads a committed team in creating products and services for a better future. Her vision has driven the company to produce fabrics and products made from recycled plastic bottles (RPET) and recycled polypropylene (RPP) plus award winning blockchain and RPET verification test RA-3.

Monique has won several industry awards, most recently:

Finalist of “Future Leader” World Sustainability Awards 2022;
“Outstanding Achiever” of Global Green Economic Forum, Women Eco Game Changer Awards 2022;
“Woman Leader in Plastic Recycling” Plastic Recycling Conference Asia** 2022;
“The Sustainable Entrepreneur of the Year” of Entrepreneurs’ Organization*** 2021.

She is constantly on the lookout for new and better ways to recycle more plastic. Monique’s drive comes from her determination to do her part to leave this world in a better place for her two adult children and all of the next generation