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How I got into rebe and why the topic is so close to my heart

By rebe TeamDecember 18, 202550 min read

Not every start-up journey begins with a master plan. Mine began between winter jackets in the cloakroom and the question: What do I really want to do?

Hi, I'm Erika. I'm 28, founder of rebe, and probably the only person who openly admits that their laptop is their biggest hobby.

Apart from that, I love cooking for friends, exchanging ideas, motivating people, and making them feel welcome.

I'm someone who likes to get things done and enjoy building things from the ground up. Even if the implementation is often chaotic. My everyday life consists of flying notes and jumping thoughts. My motto: “It'll be fine.”

How it all began

My path to founding the company was anything but straightforward. After dropping out of business school and earning a bachelor's degree in business communication, I knew one thing for sure: none of it really suited me.

After graduating, I worked as a hostess for a while (longer than I had hoped). This gave me one thing above all else: a lot of time to think while I was on coat check duty. There, between three winter coats being handed in and long waiting times, I realized that I wanted to use my time differently.

I wanted to do something that fulfilled me. Something that had meaning. Something that was really needed.

So I looked around and started my master's degree in Sustainable Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation. In short, sustainable entrepreneurship. Here, I tried out ideas as part of a team, rejected them, and eventually realized that we couldn't let go of the topic of fashion—especially secondhand fashion.

"I didn't buy much secondhand myself in the past. I was fully immersed in fast consumption. And that's okay."

— Erika

It was important for me to understand that living more sustainably doesn't mean doing everything perfectly overnight. It's more of a learning process. It's about feeling your way, trying out new possibilities, and also making mistakes. The important thing is to stick with it and do your best. Today, I find myself consciously trying to buy secondhand more and more often. Sometimes it's easy, sometimes it's hard. I'm not perfect at it, but I'm doing it more and more often. And I've noticed that it can be fun if you get into it.

And that's exactly why rebe exists: I want to make secondhand shopping easier for people. For everyone who says, “I'd like to, but I don't know where to look,” or “I just don't have a local place to buy secondhand,” or even “I love vintage and secondhand and just want to discover new shops.” I wanted to create a place that provides an overview, inspires, and, above all, makes visible the many small, independent secondhand shops that put so much heart and soul into their work every day.

What I hope you take away from my story

I didn't start out with the perfect idea. I made mistakes, sorted myself out, and started again. And that's perfectly fine.

It's the same with consumption:

you don't have to be perfectly sustainable.

You don't have to buy everything secondhand.

It's enough to just get started. Take small steps and allow yourself to be imperfect. Change takes time. Time that we all need to take.

rebe is not a finished product either. It is a labor of love that we want to realize step by step as a team. But we are not building rebe for ourselves. We are building it for you and with you. And for that, we need you and your trust.

You can support us by:

following us on Instagram,
discovering small shops via rebe
or simply giving it a try

Every beginning is difficult, that's normal. But we are walking this path together, and that is exactly what makes rebe special.

My vision for rebe

When I think about rebe in a few years' time, I see a place where people go first when they want to buy something secondhand. A platform that gives small secondhand stores real visibility, makes sustainable consumption suitable for everyday use, and shows that “sustainable” doesn't have to be complicated or elitist.

In short: If you're looking for something and you can't find it on rebe, then it's okay to buy it new. But I would hope that you would check with us first.

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#Interview #Meet The Founder