What is your name?
Claudine Tanner and Sabina Gasser
What is your function?
Co-Founder & Co-CEO
What is the name of your company?
moya kala AG
What is the problem your team wants to solve?
We want to counter fast fashion, i.e. clothes made under unfair working conditions and environmentally harmful materials. With our production facility in Bulgaria, we want to give local women a perspective. We give our customers in Switzerland the opportunity to support other women by buying beautiful and sustainable body basics.
What are you doing to solve this problem?
We develop and sell high quality, versatile and durable Body Basics & Loungewear, made with sustainable materials under fair working conditions, good wages and with social return (fund for sewers). In addition to seasonal collections, we carry never-out-of-stock products that are much more sustainable than fast fashion trends.
How do you do that?
In our business model, we incorporate sustainability into all processes. Our growth must always be in line with our values. Fairness and quality must not suffer. We regularly visit our production facility in Varna, Bulgaria, to maintain the partnership and ensure that our specifications are met.
How do you want to earn money?
A profit margin is really only possible through economy of scales, i.e. large production volumes. With our omnichannel sales strategy (B2B & D2C, stationary & online) we want to open up new sales markets. We focus strongly on B2B and have over 30 partner stores in Switzerland so far. Next, we would like to expand abroad. We are also expanding our webshop and collaborating with online marketplaces.
Which market are you addressing and who are your competitors?
We are currently addressing the Swiss market, but are planning to expand abroad in the near future. Our competitors are Hanro, Blue Lemon, Hessnatur, Organic Basics and Zimmerli.
What milestones have you already reached? What are the plans for the future?
We have over 30 B2B partner stores that sell our products. We have doubled our turnover in 2022. And we are the winner of the Vegan Fashion Award 2022. We are aiming for a turnover of CHF 10 million by 2023.
A great team is probably the most important asset of any company. Please tell us something about your team?
Our very diverse team consists of pioneers with the desire to set new standards in the fashion industry. They share our passion for the idea that a company can be sustainable, fair and contribute to changing the economy for the better. We also count our production partner in Bulgaria among our team. The 12 sewing women and employees are an important part of Moya Kala - our heart.
How much capital do you want to raise and how will you use these funds?
We are aiming to raise CHF 250,000-500,000 through crowdinvesting via the OOMNIUM platform. In order to compete with the big fashion labels, we need more reach and an expansion of sales markets. With the financing, we can build the necessary distribution structures to drive international expansion. In addition, the investment serves as a foundation for the social fund, which fully benefits our sewing women to enable them and their children to receive an education.
What was the problem or challenge you faced before you approached OOMNIUM & Aktionariat?
We had looked for investors. However, our turnover was still too small for traditional venture capital firms and larger investors and our case was therefore not interesting enough. In addition, as female founders we were faced with the classic problem: the mostly male investors were not interested enough in women's clothing.
What measures did you take to overcome the challenge(s) and why did you ultimately decide on OOMNIUM & Aktionariat?
Co-founder Claudine had already had positive experiences with the crowdfunding platform Wemakeit in the past. The idea of democratizing access to money through crowdinvesting really appealed to us. We want to make people co-owners who also have a passion for the textile industry and share our values. This is exactly what Aktionariat AG stands for, turning the community into co-owners. This strengthens the bond and is a win-win for all parties.
Why would you recommend OOMNIUM & Aktionariat to other start-ups and SMEs?
Because OOMNIUM's focus is on sustainability and female founders in particular are very welcome. We also appreciate the pioneering work to open up the private equity sector to fewer financially strong investors and thus make it more democratic. Aktionariat, on the other hand, have proven to be at the top with their technical solution, especially in the area of digital stocks.
To learn more about moya kala AG and their Crowdinvesting, you take a look at their investment pitch.
