Loopyty — capturing the shift from linear retail to a $12B pre-loved toy ecosystem.
Most parents today want to be sustainable. We want to avoid the endless mountain of plastic, the cluttered storage bins, and the environmental guilt that comes with modern childhood. But when we actually try to participate in the circular economy, we hit a wall. Finding high-quality used toys is a logistical headache, and wrapping up a second-hand toy for a birthday party still carries an uncomfortable social stigma.
That frustration isn't rare. The toy market is $120 billion globally, but it's almost entirely linear — buy, use, landfill. Meanwhile, the secondary market for children's toys is growing 11 times faster than traditional retail. The demand for a different way of doing things is already there.
By 2030, the pre-loved toy segment alone is estimated at $12 billion. Nobody had built the right infrastructure for it.
With my first venture, the real user needs only became clear after years of iteration. I started Loopyty differently. Instead of jumping straight into features, I mapped what parents are actually trying to get done — and what keeps getting in the way.
Across more than 20 in-depth interviews and surveys answered by over 240 parents, the same pattern kept emerging: the will was there, but the infrastructure wasn't. Parents wanted to do things differently. The market just hadn't made it easy enough to bother.
The intent was there. But two specific things kept blocking the shift.
Manage toy consumption sustainably from start to end.
The logistics of the secondary market are exhausting. Parents are forced to rely on generalist platforms like Finn or Facebook Marketplace — with endless chit-chat, ghosting, bidding wars, and awkward meet-ups. For toys that cost so little to begin with, the time and effort simply are not worth it.
Letting go of toys is harder than it looks. The ones with sentimental value start conversations no parent wants to have — so they avoid them, and the pile quietly grows. Most end up tidying in secret, bagging everything at once just to get it out of the house.
The desire was there. The infrastructure wasn't.
Loopyty is a child-friendly ecosystem built to make sustainable toy consumption the easy default — not a logistical project. Every design decision came back to the same question: does this make the circular choice simpler than the linear one?
No chit-chat, no awkward meet-ups. Transactions are simple and safe, supported by door-to-door delivery.
The interface is child-friendly, letting kids safely manage their own toy loops and build circular habits early on.
A shareable wish list for birthdays and holidays, removing the social stigma of asking for or gifting pre-loved items.
Because a Digital Product Passport for toys is years away, we built our own — helping parents evaluate environmental footprint before they buy.
Whether you have a clear brief or a hazy feeling something is off — a conversation costs nothing and usually clarifies everything.
Book a 30-min intro call