1. Upside Down
salut@upside-down.ro
Andreea Zaharescu, Project Manager
Upside Down is an initiative developed by a group of young
people in Romania aiming to promote the concept of Upcycling by
converting waste materials into new, creative and functional products.
Slide 1

2. In Romania, the waste management for banners is deficient.
These materials are normally burned or simply thrown away in
landfills.
Our solution is the following: we create new products that
consist of wallets, bags, gadget cases and other accessories, from
unconventional materials, like used banners collected from the
corporate segment.
We contact companies, persuade them to give us their waste
and scrap materials as a way to have a smaller negative impact on the
environment, collect the materials and transform them into new
products. Through our workshop we also create job opportunities to
people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Slide 2

3. Upside Down collects scrap and waste materials (banners)
from companies and converts them into new, beautiful and useful
products sold through our online shop. Profits from sells are invested
into offering jobs in tailoring to people in need.
When measuring the impact, we focus on the awareness level
that our products create in our country and how this makes our buyers
become responsible customers. Most of the companies that use
banners as a medium for publicity don’t do much with it after it is over,
they either throw them away or store them for indefinite time.
The second issue we address is the social aspect. Which
every employee we hire from a disadvantaged background, we make a
social impact in the local environment.
Thus, the number of employees, buyers and the attitude and
awareness level will be taken in account when measuring the impact of
our actions.
Slide 3

4. Upside Down has launched an online store (www.upside-down.ro) where
our products can be purchased. Along with that, we perform personalized orders
for our corporate customers, either by providing them products, or by helping
them upcycle the materials that else way would have been thrown away. Many of
these materials are actually used banners from different campaigns or events.
Our target groups are individuals and corporate consumers.
Individuals are people from 18 to 30 years old, from urban area, with a medium to
high income, superior studies; open-minded, sociable, clever and nonconformist.
They are always searching for new trends of the market.
The Corporate consumers are companies who are social responsible or who are
interested to become.
We reach our individual customers through:
• direct distribution through:
- our online store: www.upside-down.ro;
- C.U.I.B. (urban center of good initiatives) - concept store to be implemented in
Iasi, that sustains community projects, NGOs and handmade artisans;
- fairs and exhibitions in different cities of Romania;
• indirect distribution through partnerships with offline and online shops with
clothing and accessories and green products.
Personal sale meetings are established for corporate customers
Slide 4

5. As part of the producing process, the raw material is collected from the
provider, cleaned and sectioned according to the product sewing pattern.
Later on, the tailor sews and assembles the pieces into a functional, new
and final product. We are currently working with 220 V industrial Second Hand sewing
machines.
Once the product is tested, it becomes available on stock via our online shop
(www.upside-down.ro). Then we deliver the ordered products to our clients through a
mailing Romanian company (by Post or Courier).
Slide 5

6. Our marketing strategy consists in entering the market with alternative
products to existing ones, which are not environmentally friendly.
We want that people to interact with our products, to see all the details of the product
(the sewing, the texture of the material), that is why we try to expose them through
fairs, different shops and boutiques. We like tot tell our products’ story, either by
talking to posssible clients or through the label that accompanies every product.
We also thank people who supported our idea by offering sampling products, and let
them be the ambassadors of our brand.
Promotion takes place via the official Facebook page and the online store. We also
post information on our blog, where customers can find out more about Upcycling,
the work behind the project and get more familiar and comfortable with our products.
Slide 6

7. Upcycling it’s a rather new concept in Romania. Our current
competitors are Turific and Remesh. However, our target audience
differ in terms of products and customer criteria.
The important thing is that together with our competitors we can
promote the concept of Upcycling and offer a creative solution to
environmental issues.
Slide 7

8. Our team consists of 6 inspired people in their 20s. The initial idea was
conceived by 3 of them, which are currently in the board of directors. Besides them,
the team consists out of 3 interns, that chose to invest their time into a good cause.
Each member has its own area of expertise and responsibility: Management, Sales,
Product design, Communication, Finance and Logistics.
We join our efforts and provide constant feedback to each other in order to have
consistent and qualitative results.
A major role in improving the work we do has the Hub community, which acts as an
advisor. Along with that, we seek feedback from each of our customers in order to
correctly asses their needs and provide qualitative products. We also have a mentor
that helps us with advice.
Slide 8

9. In 5 years from now Upside Down will be sold offline in 15 cities in Romania
through our partners. We will have opened a shop in Bucharest with our label: Upside
Down.
The minimum projected revenues should be enough to cover our basic
costs: administrative and direct costs of raw materials and labor. We aim to have
enough revenues to expand our work and hire more employees, increase physical
presence through stores all over Romania.
The main source of revenue are the sold products made in our workshop. Of
course the primary customers are our friends and families that know the project well
and appreciate the impact that we are trying to have in the local environment.
So far, we have covered those costs with the 4000 euro prize from Social
Impact Award received in 2012. This amount of money was enough to start a
workshop, launch an online store and hire 1 person from the disadvantaged
background. Based on the forecasted revenues and expenses we estimated that the
money we have will help us survive two more months from now.
Slide 9

10. Besides the primary production line which is based on recycled materials we
try to create products that use only materials that don’t harm the environment. The
most common combination is made out of banner and textile materials. Our products
are packaged in boxes made of other old cardboards.
We strongly believe in protecting the environment, so we aim to be as
sustainable as possible, while putting our creativity to the test. This is why we chose to
furniture our headquarter with Upcycled items.
Slide 10

11. In 2012 we won the Social Impact Award, which was a great push-up to start
the production process. Not only we received a monetary prize, but most importantly,
access to the Hub Community, which plays a major role in counseling us.
For the near future we plan to expand the production line in order to be
able to hire more workers. This has a direct connection with our second mission goal –
to have a social impact. Currently we are working with a person that comes from a
disadvantaged background, by offering a pleasant work environment and a salary.
The main use of this prize money will be upgrading the work environment
we created to produce Upside Down products and hire more employees. For this we
will invest in:
- 3 new sewing machines and devices for them to help them create products more
easily ~ 1500 euro each;
- salaries for hiring 4 employees in our workshop - 350 euros/per person/month;
- quality accessories that add value to our products and allow us to create new lines of
products;
- one psychologist/person specialized in labor market integration
Slide 11