Upcycling for Impact, Not Product - with Michael Pfeifer

The Business Behind the Brand

Michael Pfeifer didn't come to upcycling from fashion, but from a belief in business as a force for good. He studied business administration, worked corporate and startup jobs, and co-founded MOOT with Nils Neubauer, a trained fashion designer who'd seen fashion's waste problem up close.

MOOT started with 20 T-shirts made from bed sheets, launched during the lockdown. Today they work with some of Germany's largest corporates, transforming many different types of discarded material — textile and beyond — into a wide range of new products.

They deliberately partner with companies that have nothing to do with sustainability, because that's where they see the biggest potential to shift culture. They've also found a formula where the waste source is also responsible for, and makes revenue from, its own waste — MOOT provides upcycling as a service.

Angie and Michael talk through what it took to get there: closing two Berlin stores, moving from B2C to B2B, and the shift from design-led to volume-led — what creativity looks like once the goal is impact, not the single best piece.

Michael makes the case that one upcycled product, carrying its own story, changes how people think about consumption more than sustainability messaging ever could. And he tells us what, in the whole world, he'd love to upcycle.

Listen also on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

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Cover Photo: © FUNKE Foto Services | Sergej Glanze