Committed to the circular economy, the startup Loopi is pioneering stroller design to last well beyond the needs of one user. The company is currently employing 8 people and also counts with 5 advisors.

One of the many pressing challenges parents face is choosing a stroller at a time when they do not even know what features the stroller actually needs to have. Besides, needs are likely to change with different requirements over time.

As a result of changing needs, sooner or later every stroller becomes obsolete, and the resources invested in it are wasted infinitely. While for parents this mainly means an inefficient use of time and money, for the environment and future generations it means an inefficient use of scarce resources such as primary materials.

The conventional stroller industry is part of the linear economy and therefore depended on continuous consumption patterns. Today’s strollers are simply not designed to make it back into circulation. As a result, in Switzerland alone, around 90’000 strollers, amounting to more than 600 tons, are disposed of as bulky goods every year.

When it comes to baby products, the stroller is one of the most expensive investments. That is usually why parents often lend or give away their stroller to friends and relatives, or they resell it when it is no longer needed. Although this extends the life cycle of the stroller, it does not prevent it from ending up in landfill at some point. In short: reselling a conventional stroller only makes something bad a little better.

Facing those design flaws in the stroller industry, the idea of Loopi was born at a family party. Mirco Egloff, circular economy design expert and co-founder of Loopi, recalls: “I was horrified when I took a closer look at my cousin’s stroller. Various materials, including loads of plastic, were riveted or welded together, making individual parts inseparable and therefore difficult to repair, replace and recycle. There must be a better way, I thought to myself”. In Simone Köchli, he found a partner to challenge this status quo. “It is about more than strollers. It is about a shift in mindset – away from linearity and towards circularity”, says Köchli. Together with Ali Herold, Chantal Lisci and Remo Mathys, they founded Loopi AG in March 2020.

Currently, the startup is in the product development phase. Until Loopi’s circular stroller launches, a cooperation with another stroller manufacturer will allow them to test and offer the stroller service model starting on February 1st, 2022, in Switzerland.

Loopi is tackling this problem at the root by innovating towards a circular business model to provide a sustainable and convenient alternative to parents and other caregivers with a stroller service system. It strives to design the first fully circular stroller and to offer it on a flexible subscription basis extending its life cycle well beyond the needs of one family.

Thanks to the modular design of the strollers, single components and features can be exchanged or adjusted at any time if needs change. The flexible subscription also makes it possible to switch to a different or additional model, with parents being able to choose between a city stroller, an off-road stroller, or a buggy.

By offering the stroller as-a-service, Loopi retains ownership of the product and therefore responsibility for its repair, refurbishment and recycling. Whereby recycling is always the last resort as closing the material loop, reusing is the starting point. Thus, every single part of a returned stroller is carefully inspected and tested. Only parts at the end of their life cycle are recycled while all other parts get another life through reusing, refurbishment, and upcycling.

Photo on Loopi website