Sustainable Ecommerce

Welcome to Episode 65 of Sustainable Ecommerce!

https://sustainable-ecom.com/ep65

If you were to take the time to go all the way back to Episode 1, you’d hear my original definition of Sustainable Ecommerce. 

While my knowledge of this space has certainly exploded thanks to all the amazing guests we’ve had on the show, chatting to today’s guest forced me to look all the way back to those foundation principles and remember that above all else, sustainable ecommerce is about managing balance.

It’s about managing the balance between profit and purpose. It’s about managing the balance between growth and sustainability, between analysis versus action, between building knowledge internally versus hiring external talent, between supporting small, local and uncertified providers vs validated overseas brands, between enthusiastically sharing how your product is better for the planet vs avoiding greenwashing at all costs.

So, my guest today is Hayden Brass, founder and CEO of Zea, a sustainable health & wellness brand with the goal to improve the quality of life and enrich the wellbeing of 10 million people globally by 2030. 

Today’s conversation is a fascinating one because Hayden shares insights into just how pervasive that balance is, across all facets of his brand.

He also candidly shares many of the challenges he’s faced in the struggle to maintain the balance, especially when you’re striving for growth in both business and impact.

Welcome to Episode 64!

https://sustainable-ecom.com/ep64

Today we’re chatting with the founder of another brand making very deliberate, conscious decisions to reduce their footprint and help their customers live more sustainable lives.

Prue Rocci is the founder of Rocc Naturals, a dental care brand aiming to make more nutritious toothpaste without the lasting impact on landfill. 

In fact every year, over 1.5billion tubes of toothpaste end up in landfill, and being made in a non-recyclable way, there they stay for over 500 years.  Rocc has combined a complete reformulation of their paste with biodegradable tubes that break down in just 6 years. 

The brand has been on the market for just a couple of years, and quite impressively managed to secure national distribution through Coles in their very first year.  Chatting with founders who think about sustainability just as much as growing their brand is always fascinating, and if getting into the big chains is something on your growth horizon, this episode is definitely one for you!

Welcome to Episode 63 of the Sustainable Ecommerce Podcast!

https://sustainable-ecom.com/ep63

One of the most important and challenging aspects to sustainability marketing is ensuring your story is authentic.  You can and should get science-backed proof in the form of certifications, and I’m working on a mini-series to help you with that later this year.

While those elements are important, they’re not the full story.  To choose your brand, customers want to know that your products are both better functionally AND better for the environment.  Proving sustainability claims with science does just that, without focusing on proving how your product solves the customer’s problem.

So today we’re exploring 2 other forms of proof that check off both of these two problem sets by talking with a founder that I think is doing this particularly well. 

My guest today is Sue Campbell, an Aussie entrepreneur building her solid shampoo brand KIND2 over in the UK.  Being bootstrapped, like many brands cashflow is extremely tight, which means spending 10’s of thousands on Life Cycle Assessments was out of sight, yet Sue knew that customers were never simply going to take her word for how her shampoo was both effective and Kind to the Planet.

And to solve that she’s always placed a strong focus on acquiring the 2 forms of proof we’re talking about today.  The first is social proof, and of course we’re talking about reviews and testimonials.   And the other one is sustainability awards.  Of all the brands we’ve had on the show so far, I think Kind2 probably has the biggest trophy cabinet, which is no small achievement given she really only has a handful of products. 

What I’m excited to share with you though is the strategic approach she takes to getting those awards.

Welcome to Episode 62!

https://sustainable-ecom.com/ep62

Obviously its inspiring and sexy to chat with the founders of brands that have been built from the outset to solve sustainability problems. Whether that’s actively using up recycled materials and eliminating trash or working on minimizing food waste or turning into something of value, they always make for compelling episodes.

But I never want to lose sight of the fact that every brand has an important part to play in how we collectively build a healthier planet.

So, I think it’s really important to cast a hero spotlight too on the brands who’s core Purpose lies outside sustainability, yet still weave conscious, sustainability-focused approaches into everything they do. And today’s guest is a brilliant example of that.  

Bridget Carmady is the Founder of Clemence Organics, a skincare brand built on the backbone of certified organic ingredients and Bridget’s experience as a Naturopath.  

That’s awesome in itself, but if you isolate the brand Purpose from how Bridget navigates the choices she’s making on everything from suppliers, to primary packaging, to logistics, you’ll see exactly what I mean when I say that any brand can make conscious and sustainable choices.

Welcome to Episode 61!

https://sustainable-ecom.com/ep61

As brands we can help consumers live more sustainable lives in many different ways. Perhaps central to our value in that regard is what we make our products out of, the materials we choose to use. 

So, I’m always very excited to discover new sustainable materials, especially in the fashion and apparel space.  One particular area I’ve been reading up on is the emerging field of plant-base leather alternatives.  You may have heard of products like Pinatex made from Pineapple leaves, and Cactus Leaf Leather, which has been taking European fashion houses by storm over the past year or two. 

In my humble opinion, neither of these two vegan leather alternatives hold a candle to the Leaf Leather I want to introduce you to today. 

My guest is Sridevi Blair, founder at Karuna Dawn, a new ethical and sustainable brand bringing Fair Trade bags and accessories to the Australian market. 

I don’t want to get too carried away in my personal excitement about her leaf leather products, because doing so would detract from the overall story of her brand and the importance of the ethical choices she’s making across her various suppliers, which we also explore in this episode.

Nevertheless, Karuna Dawn’s leaf leather products are among the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen!

Welcome to Episode 60!

https://sustainable-ecom.com/ep60

Frankie Layton is the founder of the Dirt Company, among the earliest of this new breed of brands in the laundry and home cleaning space truly redefining what it means to be sustainable in this category.

As a founder of an early stage brand, it can be so confusing to know the best pathways to grow and evolve, but reflecting back on this conversation with Frankie I’m forced to concede that if I were starting a sustainable brand from scratch, I would approach it just like Frankie did. 

If I was designing and improving new products, I would follow Frankie’s methodology. 

If I was leading a DTC brand really looking for better ways to operate, I would try to live up to Frankie’s commitment and finally if I wanted a shining example of how to ensure my brand’s Purpose was congruent end to end, I can think of few better brands to model out.

Welcome to Episode 59!

https://sustainable-ecom.com/ep59

You might be forgiven for thinking that I’m becoming a little obsessed with brands that turn waste into value, and you’d be right!

Last week we had Goodcitizens, aiming to Untrash the Planet by turning post consumer plastic into desirable eyewear.

This week we have another incredible Aussie entrepreneur, who’s getting even grubbier (pun very much intended) by using insects to turn food waste into protein and fertiliser. 

Phoebe Gardiner is the Co-Founder of Bardee, and AgTech start-up from Melbourne who’s managed in just 3 years to scale operations up to processing 40 tonnes of food waste every single day. 

Food waste is one of the biggest contributors to Greenhouse Gas emissions. It’s estimated that every tonne of food waste averted from landfill saves nearly 2 tonnes of emissions, so quite aside from the alchemy of turning waste into value, Bardee’s operations are already materially contributing to our struggles towards Net Zero. So much so, that they’re the first insect tech project in the world to become a recognised & certified Carbon Offset provider.

Welcome to Episode 58!

https://sustainable-ecom.com/ep58

It’s so tempting isn’t it, to believe that other brands and other entrepreneurs have all the answers and so have had an easy path to success.  We’ve all been sucked in by the alluring stories of hockey stick growth. Few brands like to share the real story lest it tarnish their investable image. 

But when you’re a purpose driven brand, honest & transparency about the realities are far more powerful.  Imagine openly promoting your 2500+ failed attempts to make your first.  And imaging the emotional challenges of 752 days in which your commitment is tested, your leadership is needed to keep your team motivated, your values are challenged, all the while your bank balance is draining.    

What does it take to build an internationally recognised, ground breaking brand from that kind of standing start?

To answer these questions, my guest today is the hugely inspirational founder of Good Citizens, Nik Robinson.   Together with his wife and 2 children, all equal shareholders in the business, Good Citizens makes eyewear where the frames are made from 100% post-consumer plastic, and in doing so are executing their Purpose of Untrashing the Planet.  

There are a number of things I hope you’ll take from this episode.

Firstly, just how hard it really is to make things out of recycled plastic. I hope you’ll excuse some somewhat self-indulgent questions about the details of how they make products, having been down this path myself I was fascinated by and somewhat in awe of what they’ve achieved with their manufacturing process.  And if nothing else, I hope that you pass a BS filter over claims made by many brands about how their products are made from recycled materials.

But in many ways, this episode is the story of how Purpose, and especially the Robinson family’s commitment to each other to see that Purpose through, has sustained them through what continues to be a turbulent journey.

And far from being back-room idealism, Good Citizen’s mission drives everything they do and has enabled a story so compelling that they were able to secure a front window spot at Selfridges in London before they even fully launches, and get invited to speak to the leadership at Tesla, Google and even at the UN.

I hadn’t intended the show to about Purpose especially.  But as we were chatting, and my mind increasingly opened to the question of whether Purpose is in fact the key to overcoming adversity and generating resilience as a founder.  Please do listen right to the end for my take on that, having had this amazing opportunity to chat with Nik.

Welcome to Episode 57 of the Sustainable Ecommerce Podcast!

https://sustainable-ecom.com/ep57

Last week I got to chat with Nikki Ciancio, from Blaek Store, who’s been focused on re-inventing retail and build a model that supports consumers as we all move to a more circular economy.  I loved having that different perspective on things, and so this week I though it would be cool to get another angle on things, this time with a Corporate Gifting business. 

Michelle Smith is the founder of Curated With Conscience, a gift box brand that, as the name implies is doing the hard work of seeking out brands with ethical, sustainable and purpose-driven stories that match the growing needs of business to work with vendors that align with both their own values as well as their ESG directives. 

As you’ll see, far from being an opportunist, frankly like many of the hamper and gifting brands that have sprung up in the past few years, Michelle herself is driven by a deep sense of Purpose, and its abundantly apparent that it’s those values that have both driven her business growth to date, as well as what will see her through the current challenging economy that we are all experiencing.

Welcome to Episode 56 of the Sustainable Ecommerce Podcast!

https://sustainable-ecom.com/ep56

This week we return to sort of normal programming by chatting with the founder of a sustainable retail store. Nikki Ciancio is the Co-Founder of Blaek Store, a retailer store attempting to define a better model model for supporting consumers on their journey to sustainability. 

Of course, Nikki’s brand is doing the hard work of carefully curating sustainable and ethical brands to sell in store, making Blaek a go-to destination for buying better on the Northern Beaches, but much more than that, she’s providing the consumer service structure needed to help us move towards a circular and lower-consumption economy with recycling, recommerce and repair services needed to keep items in circulation for longer.  

What’s especially interesting to me is that they think of themselves as a fashion retailer, and so they really are forging a new type of sustainability store.  In the show today, Nikki shares her experiences in forging new type of retail store, as well as her opinions on exactly  what sort of information brands should be providing to help consumers make better purchasing decisions.