Our
Team
How We Come Together
Is How We Change The World
From our earliest days, we’ve recognized that capturing and drawing from diverse points of view improves our products, services and our company as a whole. We’re continuing to build a sustainable culture where everybody belongs. That’s what sparks our innovation and our progress towards a more inclusive workforce and a better world.
Our innovative DNA springs from a team of individuals, each collaborating and contributing their own perspectives, knowledge, and experience. In total, we have employees and agents from 15 different countries across Asia, Europe, North America, South America, The Middle East and Australia.
Waste2Wear passionately believes in developing outstanding female leaders and we support and fight for gender and salary equality by having many women in management and senior roles ensuring women in their workplace are set up for career growth from the very beginning to the peak of their careers.
We celebrate our differences because it helps to open our minds and allows the flow of creativity. This diversification ensures that we always have fresh perspectives on every topic, have a better understanding of several cultures and celebrate each other’s national and cultural events.
Chief Executive Officer
Monique Maissan is a Dutch entrepreneur and textile engineer specializing in sustainable solutions for the industry. As CEO and founder of Waste2Wear, she leads a committed team in creating products from recycled plastic bottles (RPET) since 2007, making them a true pioneer in the industry.
Monique has won several industry awards, most recently 2022, “Woman Leader in Plastic Recycling” awarded by Plastic Recycling Conference Asia (PRCA) and The Sustainable Entrepreneur of the Year Award, by Entrepreneur’s Organization (EO) in 2021.
In 2018, she was pivotal in introducing a fully transparent and traceable blockchain technology to authenticate the recycling claims throughout the entire supply chain. Monique was instrumental in developing the world-first 100% recycled polypropylene bags made from discarded domestic appliances such as fridges and washing machines etc. She also introduced ‘Ocean Fabrics’ in collaboration with local NGOs targeting highly congested coastal areas to collect post-consumer, pre-ocean plastic to create new ocean yarns, fabrics, garments and other products.
In 2021 she introduced the award-winning, patent pending, fully certified testing method to verify RPET content in fabrics. Called RA-3, this method identifies recycled plastic bottles in yarns and fabrics. Monique’s innovative R&D team is constantly expanding their recycled materials supply to help eliminate more waste.
Monique’s drive comes from her determination to do her part to leave this world in a better place for her two adult children and all of the next generation. She brings hope of a better future to all.
Chief Operations Officer
Jeroen van der Wind is an entrepreneur, specializing in international trade with South East Asia for over three decades. He has spent many years living and working in Hong Kong and The Netherlands. Jeroen has extensive experience working in the textile and promotional industries. He was managing partner of The Cookie Company for many years, producing licensed kids apparel for several multinational customers. Through Jeroen’s leadership skills he has re-organized different companies and implemented systems to support these businesses. His experience has taught him that clear processes and structures are key to improving commercial success, and satisfaction.
Jeroen is passionate about sustainability and brings decades of results focus with him. He is a cohesive force within Waste2Wear improving efficiencies and further strengthening the teams. In combination with a healthy business drive, he is determined to help further the Waste2Wear mission of relieving the planet of the plastic problem by innovating products made from recycled plastics using traceable and transparent supply chains.
As a family man, his goal is to help reduce plastic consumption in order to create a better world and a brighter future for all of us, but especially his four adult children. Jeroen is passionate about food and music and loves to entertain with his wife in his free time.
R&D Director
Eduardo Garza Garcia is a Mexican designer and entrepreneur specializing in sustainable solutions for plastics. His mission is to create a variety of products made from recycled plastics to make a positive environmental impact.
He believes that bold innovation and transparency in business are essential for true sustainable development and the key to solving some of the most pressing environmental and social issues. Under his leadership, Waste2Wear has created numerous innovations including the industry-first recycled polypropylene (RPP) from discarded domestic appliances; a unique RPET verification method (RA-3) proving the recycled plastic content in materials and the industry-first blockchain technology.
Thanks to his innovations, Waste2Wear has won several prestigious environmental awards including the highly coveted World Sustainability Award in the supply chain category for blockchain technology. Eduardo is truly an innovator in the world of recycled plastics constantly working for new ways to bring more transparency to the recycling industry. In his free time, Eduardo makes violins from scratch that he plays at various gigs around Shanghai. Besides making instruments and music, Eduardo is happiest going on long walks with his partner and their beloved two dogs.
Managing Director India Operations
Ruma Kinger is a strong and proactive leader who is fully charged up and committed in giving her best always. Her close to 20 years of vast experience in the textile industry and unwavering spirit to resolve difficult situations is an asset to the organization.
Ruma joined W2W in December 2020, due to her love for the sustainability initiative and valuable ethos of Waste2Wear. She believes in this philosophy of giving back to mother nature and making the world a better place to live in for the future generations.
Ruma’s gung-ho attitude and keen eye for details has put Waste2Wear India into growth trajectory and her devotion towards the work inspires her team to produce their best. Ruma is a mother of a teenage daughter and college going son. She treasures spending time with her kids and cherishes traveling with her family round the world. She loves playing Table Tennis and oil painting during her free time.
China General Manager
Helena Wu has over 20 years experience in the textile industry and trading business. She believes that environmental recycling is of significant importance and hopes to contribute to this great cause. With the company’s strong development capabilities and the use of blockchain technology to provide transparency in the supply chain, it will certainly take a more important position in the industry. When she’s not working you can find Helena enjoying outdoor activities with her two lovely daughters and their golden retriever.
Finished products Merchandising Manager
Rena Jiang has over 20 years experience in the textile industry. She has seen many changes in the industry over this time. Knowing how polluting the industry is, she wanted to do things better and Waste2Wear is the answer. Sustainability and environmental protection should be the right direction of the textile future. Rena is proud to be making a positive impact by working in the right direction and doing the right thing. In her free time Rena enjoys hanging out with her family, cooking with them and traveling.
Get in touch with us today and let us guide your way towards sustainability!