The challenges of being a sustainable brand

This is a sponsored article from SustainabilityTracker.com member Bamboozld.

What does it mean to be sustainable?

At Bamboozld, we are not only super passionate about fun, vibrant socks; we’re also fiercely protective of the natural environment. Without the wonderful waterways, the endless green spaces, the birdlife, the wildlife, and the flowers; our lives would be very dull indeed. Nobody wants that! We also know that protecting the environment is very important to our customers. We are conscious of the increasing demand from our community to ensure that our products are sustainable, our processes are environmentally friendly, and our vision takes into consideration our impact on this Earth. Our goal is to try and minimise our imprint wherever possible. We cannot rely on others to protect our home, we all need to do our bit, but it is not always easy. 

There is no guidebook that maps out how to be a sustainable brand, the journey is different for each brand. Sustainability is also measured in different ways and has different practicalities depending on the scale of the organization or the industry in which you operate. 

Is it simply ensuring packaging is recyclable? Or should we also make sure that it is compostable too? Is there a way to be 100% sustainable or should we aim to be as sustainable as our supply chain will allow? All these important questions need to be considered. It is a constant juggling act as we also need to make sure that all our products will continue to have the quality and great vibe that our customers love. We are constantly challenging and re-evaluating ourselves every time we prepare a new range of products or review existing practices. We are holding ourselves accountable for our actions and taking every step to make sure we are doing what is best, while still offering a quality and fun-filled product. 

We are essentially just curious children, always asking ‘why, why, why?’ We are continually reviewing the products and processes we undertake to ensure we are not taking more than we need, not leaving a damaging mark and not impacting the environment in a negative way.

Our packaging is a great example of this constant search for improvement. Our packaging was originally paper packaging with a plastic hook and plastic Gimble pin. The plastic hook was first use plastic, and this was then packed into polybags for transport. 1 polybag for every three pairs of socks, not very eco right? We knew we could do better! 

We then moved to a recycled card for our packaging, evolving the design by removing the plastic hook and replacing it with a sewing method (cotton thread) for attaching the card to the sock. To hold 3 pairs of socks together for transport, we used a paper wrap and used a recyclable PU liner for the shipping cartons. This liner was able to protect the products from dirt and water during shipping, not only was this solution sustainable but super convenient. Win, win! The packaging change resulted in the removal of over 900,000 plastic hooks from circulation per year plus we said goodbye to 300,000 polybags and pretty much a gazillion Gimble pins. While we were happy with these stats, we were not satisfied it was enough. 

We did find that unfortunately, in the current market, there are no products that are 100% biodegradable in terms of plastic bagging for carton liners or shipping bags – many claim to be Biodegradable but none have been proven to pass the residue tests that can confirm they leave behind no trace elements. Since we don’t know for sure that they cannot be reabsorbed into the food chain, we choose to avoid them in favour of recyclable materials that we know can at least have another life and not cause harm to animals or humans.

We are also trying hard to find alternatives for replacing Polyester and Nylon in all our products. Exploring natural plant-based dyes is also another area we are working on. We will never stop! 

We know the road ahead will be filled with more twists and turns, but we are committed to the greater good for all, we will continue to be super reactive, and we are very optimistic about what the future holds.

This is an article from a SustainabilityTracker.com Member. The views and opinions we express here don’t necessarily reflect our organisation.