Vietnamese-origin founders in Finland: Keep surprised the whole world

Never has a company in the world been able to produce shoes from coffee grounds and plastic waste before Rens. However, Jesse Khanh Tran and Son Chu have turned the sketch into an artifact.

Co-founders of Rens introduced their products to National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue when Mr. Vuong had a meeting with Vietnamese start-ups during his visit to Finland on September 11, 2021. (Photo: VOV)

Breaking record after record

In 2019, Jesse Khanh Tran and Son Chu suddenly popped up and amazed the global startup community with their phenomenal fundraising stage on the Kickstarter platform.

For just less than 24 hours, these two young men gained half a million USD from investors around the world and immediately became the vedette for a series of articles in major magazines around the world.

Thanks to many great achievements with Rens Original, in the year of 2020, both founders have entered the world's most prestigious business rankings: Forbes's 30 Under 30 Europe and Forbes' 30 Under 30 Viet Nam.

In early August 2021, Tran and Chu returned to the fashion race, showing the world their power with Rens Nomad - the world's most advanced recycled shoe product.

They decided to run a fundraising campaign on Kickstarter one again, but this time, it took them only 2 hours to successfully achieve their goal, which was 12 times faster compared to the first fundraising stage, making them become the “Record Breaker” among fashion start-up in Europe.

The miraculous success of Rens has lead people to question, why does Rens shoes worth that much faith?

Secrets of success

Among many reasons behind the outstanding success of Rens Nomad, the breathable and odor-preventing properties of the latest products are competitive advantages that not many shoe brands in the world possess.

Exclusive SkyStep Performance Midsole technology in Rens Nomad, researched by the brand itself, is estimated 10 times more effective than Aqua Screentech technology attached in the first Rens Original. Rens Nomad challenges all standards of breathability in anti-slip products in the world.

Customer service is another key to the success of this start-up. For a new brand of fashion like Rens, it would be very risky and dangerous if the brand cannot meet the standard and requirements of old customers, according to Jesse Khanh Tran and Son Chu.

Therefore, the two founders sent a set of questions after buying and using the product to thousands of customers all over the map in order to get the insight. Afterwards, they realized that durability is their "Achilles heel".

That’s why, for this new product Rens Nomad, the brand immediately took the comfort and durability of the shoe to a whole new level. The quality of the product is also guaranteed by a 1-year warranty from the brand. Thus, when wearing Rens 2.0 - Nomad, customers can have full faith in comfort and durability while wearing Rens Nomad.

On the other hand, Rens 2.0 also has an eye-catching visual as well as a trendy appearance that captures people’s attention.

Rens Nomad Collection has a total of 9 colors, suitable for all genders and will officially be on sale at the end of this year.

Jesse Khanh Tran (black shirt, born in 1992) and Son Chu (orange shirt, born in 1996) are listed in many of the world's prestigious business rankings. (Photo: Rens)

Advisor of Project 844

Since the launch of Rens in 2019, the impressive success of the brand has helped Jesse Khanh Tran and Son Chu become a “hot issue couple” in many business magazines around the world.

In Viet Nam, two young men also turn out to be the ideal role model for the youth who are passionate about starting a business.

Owing to all of these influences, Jesse Khanh Tran has just been honored to be invited by the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Viet Nam to participate in Project 844 as an advisor.

Which is to say, Tran will contribute ideas and lessons that he has accumulated in Finland, and from running Rens to support the startup ecosystem in Viet Nam.

Project 844 is implemented to create a favorable environment to promote and support the formation and development of fast-growing businesses based on the exploitation of intellectual property, technology, and new business models.

“Developed countries around the world have been implementing this ecosystem for a long time, Viet Nam is not the first country to put this into operation, but it is going on the right track at the perfect timing.”, said Tran.

He also shared that, Viet Nam has many powerful start-ups that is not inferior to other countries in Southeast Asia. Especially, in the field of technology, Viet Nam has the potential to become the top player in the region.

Vietnamese people are gifted with calculating ability and seem to be very sensitive to technology. In case they get enough supports from the State along with experienced businessmen, Viet Nam’s start-up ecosystem will climb the ladder to get on in the world.

In fact, the contributions of Jesse Khanh Tran and Son Chu are extremely important to the Vietnamese startup community, especially young founders who do not have much business experience.

In addition, the act that Rens moves 100% of its shoe production line made from coffee grounds and plastic waste to Viet Nam, and uses Vietnamese workers in Binh Duong province is the answer for their determination in supporting the development of Viet Nam's start-up ecosystem.

Jesse Khanh Tran expressed: “Actually, I am very happy and proud of our new product, Rens Nomad.

On the one hand, its quality is just premium and unparalled, the whole team is very satisfied with this result. On the other hand, I am proud that every pair of shoes on customers' feet in all five continents is created by Vietnamese people, researched by Vietnamese people, and now even manufactured by Vietnamese people."

Rens Nomad collection. (Photo: Rens)

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