Our Selection Criteria
To support you in becoming more conscious consumer, we bring you a collection of carefully selected products made by suppliers that want to use business as a force for positive change. We hope to support them on their sustainability journeys as we grow together. Leveraging our strong relationships, we intend to offer unique services such as making refills, packaging-less delivery and trying on different sizes convenient for our customers.
As a start, we’ve tried to find products that have a positive social and environmental impact. In thinking about this, we created a framework to guide us. Of the five criteria listed below, we have only listed products that meet at least four of them:
Intention. The organisation explicitly states its intention is to do more than make profit. For example, an organisation might be trying to upcycle waste, offer healthier alternatives or handmake their products to support local artisans.
Effective functionality. The product performs at least as effectively as conventional alternatives to do effectively compared to conventional alternatives. This is a requirement for any product we list. Understanding how well a product functions for our customers’ individual needs is important to us, that is why product reviews are invaluable to us.
3Minimal harmful substances. The product contains no or minimal substances that are harmful to humans or natural systems. For this reason, we favour products that are made from natural materials. This is another requirement for any product we list.
4Social impact. Meeting Fairtrade requirements, paying a living wage, ensuring employee wellbeing and fair treatment are practices upheld by the organisations making the product. We also look for organisations inspired by nature (biomimicry) and those that are preserving ancient wisdom, indigenous knowledge and artisanal skills. Because of the enormous inequality and unemployment problems in our country, being a local business also meets this criteria for now.
5Environmental impact. The organisation is making efforts to reduce environmental harm across the lifecycle of its products and not just at a superficial level. Suppliers are transparent about where they source raw materials, and source locally where possible. The materials used are natural and renewable. Products are exceptionally well made so that they are durable and can last a lifetime if cared for. Products are designed so that parts can be repaired or replaced. Products are timeless in design so won’t become obsolete with seasonal trends. Minimising waste and unnecessary packaging are other criteria we look for.
We want to push the boundaries of what sustainable production and conscious consumption look like. We therefore view this set of criteria as a starting point, and we will update it as we learn more.
Our decisions are based on publicly available information and communication directly from the suppliers. As a small and growing business without the resources to verify claims, we have to trust that what other organisations state publicly is true.
There are rare instances where we have listed products that don’t meet our criteria because we have not found a suitable alternative but believe the product is important in our range. Where we do this, we explicitly mention this in the product description.
We recognise that sustainable production is a journey for small businesses who have limited resources. This might mean, for example, that a micro enterprise might not be able to pay living wages (note: this is different to minimum wage) from the beginning of its existence. Our criteria is designed to provide some leeway for situations like this.
If you found this interesting, think anything is missing, or want to share a comment please let us know. Your honest feedback will be valued enormously.
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