About Us

Giving Fashion More Than One Life

Giftsy was founded by Cindy Lee with a simple belief: clothing should have more than one life.

Growing up in South Korea as part of Generation X, Cindy remembers a time when clothing was valued and cared for. If a garment had a tear, it was repaired. If a button was missing, it was replaced. People took care of their clothing because it was something worth keeping.

Over time, she noticed a dramatic shift. Clothing became cheaper, more accessible, and increasingly disposable. Many garments are worn only a few times before being forgotten in closets, donated, or discarded. While donation centers do important work, Cindy learned that many donated items never reach a new owner. If an item is damaged, out of season, or does not meet a charity's needs, it may ultimately end up in a landfill.

At the same time, she saw something different happen when clothing was shared directly between people. Friends exchanged items. Families passed clothing to one another. A simple gift often gave a garment another chance to be worn and appreciated.

These experiences inspired Cindy to create Giftsy.

Instead of building another platform for buying and selling, Cindy created Giftsy as a community where people can gift and exchange pre-loved fashion through stories. By connecting people directly, Giftsy helps extend the life of clothing, reduce textile waste, and create meaningful human connections.

Today, Giftsy combines clothing reuse with storytelling, allowing members to connect through the items they share and the stories behind them.

Cindy Lee

Founder & CEO

For Cindy, Giftsy has never been simply a business idea. It has been a long-term mission to create a more sustainable and connected world through sharing.

Building Giftsy also became a journey of personal growth. English was not her first language, and public speaking did not come naturally to her. She knew that if she wanted to lead Giftsy and share its mission with the world, she would have to face her fears and continue growing.

While working on Giftsy, Cindy pursued higher education and completed her MBA. She believed the knowledge, skills, and confidence she gained would help her lead the company into its next chapter.

Her vision is simple: make reuse more personal, more human, and more meaningful—one story and one garment at a time.

LinkedIn: Cindy Lee

Rosario Petditto

Chief Technology Officer

Rosario has been part of Giftsy's journey from the beginning and serves as the company's Chief Technology Officer.

Over the years, he continued developing his technical expertise and expanding his knowledge of software engineering, artificial intelligence, and emerging technologies. As Giftsy evolved, he became increasingly involved in exploring how AI and data-driven systems could support the future of clothing reuse and environmental impact measurement.

Today, Rosario leads Giftsy's technology development and contributes to the design of future carbon impact measurement and verification infrastructure that can help quantify the environmental benefits of extending the life of clothing.

For Rosario, Giftsy represents more than a software platform. It reflects years of collaboration, learning, and belief in a mission that can create positive environmental and social impact.

LinkedIn: Rosario Peditto

A Partnership Built Across Continents

The story of Giftsy is also the story of an unlikely friendship and partnership.

For more than six years, Cindy and Rosario worked together to build Giftsy while living on opposite sides of the world—Cindy in the United States and Rosario in Italy.

During those years, they faced many challenges together, including the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic. While the world was navigating an unknown future, they continued working on Giftsy, supporting one another with the information, knowledge, and encouragement they could share from their respective countries.

Despite working together for years, they rarely communicated through video calls. English was not Cindy's first language, and Italian was Rosario's native language. Most of their collaboration happened through WhatsApp messages, written discussions, and countless hours of problem-solving. Despite the distance, time zones, and language differences, they continued moving the project forward.

As Giftsy entered its final stages of development, Cindy could see how much the project meant to Rosario personally.

Outside of his full-time job, Rosario dedicated countless evenings, weekends, and late nights to developing Giftsy. Year after year, he continued improving the platform, solving technical challenges, and working alongside Cindy to move the project forward. What began as a development project had become a mission he genuinely cared about.

Through the highs and lows, Rosario remained committed to the vision of creating a community that could extend the life of clothing and bring people together through sharing.

Seeing his dedication, loyalty, and deep understanding of the platform, Cindy realized there was no one else she could imagine leading the technology behind Giftsy. She told Rosario that she could not imagine anyone else serving as Chief Technology Officer of Giftsy and asked him to take on the role.

Rosario accepted.

For both Cindy and Rosario, the decision represented more than a title. It was a commitment to continue building Giftsy together and to pursue the mission they had worked toward for so many years.

After more than six years of working together remotely, Cindy and Rosario finally met in person for the first time in Doha, Qatar, in 2026.

It was a special moment. After more than six years of building Giftsy from opposite sides of the world, Cindy and Rosario finally met in person while representing Giftsy at Web Summit Doha, Qatar. Together, they proudly shared a vision they had spent years building across continents.

The meeting was an opportunity to get to know each other beyond messages and project discussions, reflect on how far the journey had come, and proudly share Giftsy with others.

Their story reflects the values behind Giftsy itself: connection, persistence, trust, growth, and the belief that meaningful things can bring people together, regardless of distance, language, or circumstance.