Portrait of Aline, Céline and Rawhiti, founders of the beautiful Pitiga brand, a brand that makes life easier for future parents by offering healthy childcare items for their babies,
How did you get the idea to start your business?
It has been two years since we tested our activity in the Cooperative of Activity and Employment (CAE). The idea came to Celine and me only because we are mothers of three children. During pregnancy, we had a desire to surrender to the creation. I have a degree in style and I put it aside for a few years.
how did you meet
I had already started my activity as a micro enterprise and she was already in CAE and she found my card somewhere. We both made baby items but we weren’t exactly making the same products. Céline specialized in everything being a nomad to facilitate family outings and I did more than just toys, so complementary universes, related to Awakening and bedroom stuff. We chatted and he told me about CAE, which I really liked because I knew I was still employed but I was going to find myself unemployed. The nice thing is that this activity allows me to have my perks while testing my activity within the cooperative. It made me feel safe and I closed my micro business. We started working together on the generic collection and we created a generic brand “Three Little Bikers” including a pregnancy box, where we send out one article every month that will help the mother-to-be to project herself and that will be useful to her. It will happen when the baby comes and finally we give a gift for the woman who has just become a mother.
Has a third partner joined you?
Yes it came at the end of March of last year! It turns out that when we decided to leave the cooperative to be able to grow and access funding, we took the time to set up our project with a business plan, forecast, and methods. We looked for someone to handle communications, social networks, etc. And it turned out that Rawhiti Daniels youth was looking for an internship to validate her master’s degree in product marketing and she was not likely to go away being a young boy of 4-5 years old. She had to live in Angoulme and we didn’t want to leave her before her internship was over and she didn’t want to leave either. She had experienced the birth of the patriarchy and became a participant.
What were the main stages?
Construction took place in June 2020, but Pitigaya was born in the eyes of the world in September 2020, even though we were in a cooperative in 2018. We both developed our partnership and we created the Les 3 P’tits Chamailleurs brand as well as The Box. We specifically approached the nascent sector in our area with an activity that was gearing up towards professionals or resellers. We had to build our own structure to go ahead. In September 2020, we launched a crowdfunding campaign on Tudigo. The idea was to test the public’s appetite for our products and our commitments. We wanted to raise money to get the GOTS label, especially to go through work integration workshops because we haven’t made our own since we launched the Pitiga brand. It is something that is especially close to our hearts and that we want to keep. The website was released two months late on November 5th and it must be said that with the health crisis we had to reload all our products because the company we had to call was completely out of content. We missed the holiday season a bit because the launch was delayed and now we’re on hold, which is great.
What are the future areas of development?
We want our products to be as accessible as possible to everyone. We don’t want them to be only for certain people. We strive to have healthy products with a genuine commitment to protect the health of the little ones. We do not want it to be reserved only for those who have the means and we want to broaden the public by presenting our articles especially in nurseries, places of reception where children spend time, regardless of parent’s Sometimes you don’t have the ability. Get them for them. We want to be present with experts, exclusive brands like Baby 9. Already, we are probably moving towards something more normal. But suddenly, we aim to get a real educational approach as well because it’s better to buy less, but of better quality. We prefer items that are already there for the planet and to avoid scams like poor quality ingredients or even Uyghurs that imply that it is necessary to know who the person is. Made bib for 2 euro and if he doesn’t. at its reasonable price. It’s about returning these values to Made in France. We want to transmit all these values through our products which are an endorsement of our value. We want to show that it is possible to do things the right way, especially by removing the material derived from plastic and making a real organic product that has no polyester, for example.
How does your business work today?
There is a direct sale of goods to individuals on our website. We also promoted resellers for notoriety and early childhood professionals in nurseries or maternity hospitals etc. More and more maternities and nurseries are taking an eco-responsible approach, whether in materials, household products or even textiles.
Do you feel hired for the material?
Yes, besides that, I’d probably like to “rant” a bit over the materials that are in fashion and which have wind in their sails like bamboo. It is currently being promoted everywhere saying that it is natural, antibacterial, does not require water to grow… We do intensive farming on these ingredients. Knowing that bamboo is basically a brittle material and in order for it to become a flexible fiber to be spun, it must be dissolved in a bath of chemicals, sulfuric acid, etc. It is extremely ascites and has no return on health of children. It is viscose made from bamboo and not a natural product. Bamboo is good, but we should stop turning it into anything. I think it really puts the lives of others at risk and it’s very bad for the planet. This is why we seek natural and certified products with the highest international certification.