Piktina sustainable fashion application

The fashion industry is currently responsible for 10% of carbon emissions and will reach 26% by 2050 if nothing is done to improve production volumes and annual consumption patterns. In this context, the transition from a linear economy to a circular economy is essential for all countries around the world, including Vietnam. 

Many sustainable fashion brands in Vietnam have helped ignite the local brand market's journey towards this inevitable trend. Beyond using environmentally friendly materials such as linen, organic cotton, coffee grounds and sugarcane bagasse, etc. these brands also create a strong ecosystem connected to local lifestyles, the environment and people. 

In addition, many young people have started businesses from second-hand clothing shops across the country, forming communities of people who love sustainable and creative fashion. However, these activities are still small-scale, bringing about limited impacts on the environment and society. 

Concerned about the current state of the fashion industry, but also recognising the enormous potential of using technology to unlock consumers' personal fashion wardrobes on a large scale and with significant impact, the two founders, Nguyen Hoang Phuong (Founder and CEO of Piktina, and former Co-founder and CEO of Be Group JSC) and Trinh Thanh Huyen (Growth Director with extensive experience in multinational corporations in the Southeast Asian market), brought together a passionate founding and operating team who love the environment and are always driven to create products with positive value for society. 

A pioneering application in Vietnam that actively focuses on extending fashion lifecycles: 

• Focusing on addressing the negative impacts of the fashion industry on consumption trends and the environment. 
• Promoting community-based exchanges on the application and through offline projects. 
• Connecting with all sustainable fashion brands, fashion retailers… to expand awareness and sustainable practices. 

The first application to effectively educate users about the positive impacts and contributions of each individual when participating in sustainable fashion: 

• Allowing products to “circulate”, being bought and sold repeatedly, opening up unlimited possibilities for fashion products to be used to their full potential before reaching the end of their useful life. 
• Automating the measurement of environmental impacts from even the smallest actions, such as giving, selling and buying... 
• Vulnerable groups such as orphaned children, abandoned animals and people in difficult circumstances... are supported through charitable giving programmes organised via Piktina application. 

An application that uses AI to optimise economic efficiency as well as the user experience: 

• Automatically compiling and analysing user preferences to provide the most suitable recommendations in terms of products, prices, styles... thereby avoiding wasteful, excessive or inefficient purchases. 
• Promoting interaction between users, contributing to increasing the sense of community and spreading positive values exponentially. 
• Controlling input quality, ensuring a civilised, healthy and trustworthy marketplace for users across the country. 

Objective

Piktina was established with the belief and hope that it could change the consumption awareness and behaviour of young people in Vietnam, thereby promoting the circular economy in both the Vietnamese and Asian markets.

By 2025, it is expected that there will be at least 360 million second-hand fashion products accumulated in users' wardrobes in Vietnam. If Piktina's model is replicated and sustainable consumption habits are established among users, 90,000 tonnes of goods will be reused, saving 1,800 billion litres of water resources and reducing 2,250 million tonnes of CO2 emissions into the environment. This will make a significant contribution to the process of reducing net emissions to “0” (net zero), helping Vietnam move towards its 2050 commitment. This is a major goal that the Piktina team is working towards, making continuous efforts to bring practical, accessible solutions to individuals and to the future of Vietnam's circular economy.

Vision

From the early days of nurturing the idea, the founding team met and interviewed thousands of young people who were school students, university students and employees, as well as hundreds of fashion brands and retailers. What was surprising was that the idea of building a high-tech platform that could connect people and spread the positive values of sustainable fashion received 100% support from everyone. This was a tremendous motivation for the team to quickly begin building an e-commerce application integrating all useful features for users, capable of quickly and conveniently meeting the needs of buying, selling and exchanging products in any locality, regardless of type, segment, payment method or delivery method.

Since its launch in June 2022, Piktina has received and continues to receive considerable support from users, investors, partners and brands that share its vision of a sustainable journey. In the business sector, Piktina serves as a unique and attractive marketplace for the sustainable fashion community, and as a place that promotes the effective and rapid “circulation” of products while bringing high value to users. 

Additionally, Piktina is also an active participant in collaborative activities with other organisations and communities across various fields to spread awareness and a culture of sustainable consumption, including: 

• The “Turn Old into Cool” campaign with Comfort fabric softener (Unilever) from July to August 2022 
• The “Dare 2 Rewear” clothing exchange event with food delivery application Baemin (Woowa Brothers) in October 2022 
• A talk show and second-hand fashion auction to raise funds for charity with Suntory PepsiCo Vietnam in October 2022 - The “One Step Forward 
• Sustainable Journey” exhibition and sustainable fashion performance event held in October 2022, sponsored and supported by reputable partners committed to a sustainable journey, including Sun Life Flagship, L'Officiel and Men's Folio, brands under A Way To Green (Nathy Nathy, More Than Blue, San Design Garden), ETU, Liliw, Red Union, Vietnam Vintage Community, Van Lang University, Baemin, etc. 
• A talk show and second-hand fashion auction to raise funds for charity with Suntory PepsiCo Vietnam in October 2022 
• The old clothing donation project, organising sales and auctions to raise funds for the Sharing is Caring programme in collaboration with Chau Bui's KOL team and Blue Dragon Children's Foundation from December 2022 to February 2023 

Budget

During implementation, Piktina received support from investors and secured US$1 million in funding to continue developing the model, bringing even more value to users, society and the environment:

• 400 thousand USD was used to build a smooth, high-tech application capable of meeting the needs of hundreds of thousands of users simultaneously. In addition, Piktina continuously invests in improving and launching new features to meet users' frequently changing requirements.
• 200 thousand USD was used to educate and raise awareness among fashion consumers in Vietnam of the sustainable values of reusing old products, saving resources and protecting the environment. Community activities are regularly organised to provide a healthy and beneficial space for fashion lovers.

These activities include the typical examples mentioned above, such as group activities, regular weekly and monthly workshops, speaking tours, talks at universities and businesses, cultural fashion events attracting large numbers of visitors, and events organised to collect old clothing to raise funds for children, people in poverty, etc. 

The programme has produced impressive results in both community scale and environmental impact. The platform recorded 600,000 users across 63 provinces and cities, reaching a total of 100 million people. The product ecosystem grew strongly, with 240,000 products from 4,000 participating brands. In terms of sustainability, the programme contributed to the reuse of 15 tonnes of old clothing, saving 300 million litres of water and reducing 380 tonnes of CO2 emissions.

In addition, more than 50 activities were implemented with the participation of over 50 workers. The programme also attracted more than 50,000 attendees and received support from more than 100 KOLs. At the same time, more than 5,000 fundraising products were donated, demonstrating the programme's reach and social value. 

As a technology-based application platform, Piktina is fully capable of bringing its solution to all users in Vietnam, based on many favourable conditions as follows:

• Vietnam is a country with a very high rate of smartphone use and network coverage, at 85% and 80% of the population respectively. The Piktina application has a user-friendly, easy-to-use interface for everyone.
• Piktina's solution always meets at least one need for buying, selling, giving or exchanging for any individual or business.

In a densely populated country such as Vietnam, with 33 million young people (>30%) who are the pillars of sustainable economic development in the future, Piktina aims to become a leading solution that makes a positive contribution to the circular economy, addressing the pressing issues of waste, the greenhouse effect and climate change caused by the fashion industry over many years.

In addition, Piktina can become a leading e-commerce platform in the region, contributing to promoting and bringing green, sustainable fashion products originating from Vietnam to Asian, European and American markets.