Many companies are jumping on the green bandwagon, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they all take the word seriously. If you’re looking for genuine eco-friendly products, here are 4 brands you need to learn about (or get to know better).
The Bouqs works exclusively with eco-friendly, sustainable farms, certified by agencies such as Veriflora and The Rainforest Alliance. This direct method ensures that stems are not wasted in the supply chain, while many other companies waste up to 1 out of every 3 stems. The Bouqs cuts their flowers right when they’re ordered and not a day sooner.
Most of their flowers are grown on the equator in South America, located 10,000 feet above sea level on an active volcano (seriously). That way, the flowers receive much more sunlight, giving them exceptionally vibrant colors. For last-minute shoppers who need overnight shipping, they offer flowers that are grown on the sunny California coast.
In addition to their environmentally-friendly practices, their pricing is completely straightforward. At checkout, you won’t find additional delivery fees or hidden charges. For most of their products, they offer three sizes: the Original is $40, Deluxe is $50, and Grand is $70.
The Newsweek Green Rankings are one of the world’s most recognized assessments of corporate environmental performance. According to their research, Nike is amongst the Top 15 Greenest Companies in the US! Their energy, carbon, and water productivity ranges anywhere from 61.6% to 92.4%! Here are a few reasons why:
- Since 1995, their shoe boxes have been made from 100% recycled content.
- In 2003, they started incorporating recycled polyester into their designs. On average, their national soccer kits are made from 18 recycled plastic bottles each.
- In 2012, they created one of their greenest shoes yet by applying over 40 years of knowledge about runners and the environment. The Nike Flykit was engineered in a way that only used yarns and fabric variations in the places where they are absolutely needed. This new technology allowed them to reduce the amount of materials used, with 80% less waste than a traditional shoe. In addition to the eco-friendly aspect, customers enjoyed a lighter, more breathable shoe with a virtually seamless upper.
- In addition to making improvements within their own company, Nike also seeks to inspire other brands to create eco-friendly products. In order to do this, they created a free app. Based on data from the Nike Materials Sustainability Index, Nike created an easy-to-use tool to help designers make better choices about the materials they should use.
- To date, Nike has recycled over 28 million athletic shoes.
Threads 4 Thought uses a combination of green methods and materials to ensure that they aren’t harming the planet. Here’s how they do it:
- Eco-friendly dyes: Water is a key component used in manufacturing and dying clothing. Threads 4 Thought made a decision to source their products from a city in China called Weihai, where they have one of the most advanced water recycling programs in the world. In the US, the recycling rate for water is only about 20%, but in Weihai, 82% of that water is purified, recycled, and reused again.
- Organic cotton: Conventional cotton uses more than 25% of the world’s insecticides and 10% of the world’s pesticides. Threads 4 Thought uses organically grown cotton which does not contain harmful insecticides, pesticides, or GMO seeds in the growing process. This reduces the toxicity of a cotton t-shirt by 90%!
- Recycled polyester: Last year, the US used enough plastic bottles to stretch around the world 190 times, with less than 10% of that being recycled! By simply using recycled polyester, Threads 4 Thought is able to reuse these plastic bottles and turn them into fashion rather than waste. Recycled polyester uses 90% less water than traditional polyester by cutting down the use of water in the manufacturing process.
If you decide to spend $100 or more on your website purchase, Threads 4 Thought will donate 10% of that sale to the IRC’s New Roots program. This campaign helps refugees become self-sufficient and contribute to their new home through community gardening, nutrition education, and small-business farming.
As part of their commitment to environmental sustainability, they absolutely never throw away any of their books. If it can’t be sold or donated, they will recycle the product. To date, they have reused or recycled over 153,000 books! Better World Books has also reclaimed more than 900,000 pounds of metal shelving from libraries across the United States.
In 2011, they started a Book for Book campaign. Now, for every book that you purchase, Better World Books donates another one to someone in need through Feed the Children and Books for Africa. So far, over 15,000 books have been donated!
As another added bonus, all of their products ship for free, so you can save all kinds of green with every purchase.
