Indigenous-owned beauty brand makes toxic lip gloss to highlight clean water crisis
CategoriesSustainable News

Indigenous-owned beauty brand makes toxic lip gloss to highlight clean water crisis

Spotted: For June’s Indigenous History Month, Cheekbone Beauty launched a social-driven ‘#GlossedOver’ campaign with the help of agency Sid Lee. Cheekbone Beauty is a Canadian, Indigenous-owned beauty brand that makes vegan and sustainable cosmetics. The campaign recognised the struggles First Nations and Indigenous communities have faced for access to clean drinking water – a hot-button issue in the last three Canadian federal elections.

As part of the campaign, Cheekbone Beauty is releasing a line of lip gloss made using water from Indigenous communities in Canada. The twist? The lipgloss cannot actually be sold because the water is so contaminated.

With names like ‘Lucious Lead’ and ‘E.Coli Kiss’, the Cheekbone Beauty lip glosses are sure to get people talking—and thinking—about why anyone should have to put contaminated water to their lips.

Cheekbone’s mission is to make ‘a difference in the lives of Indigenous youth through donations addressing the educational funding gap, and to create a space in the beauty industry where Indigenous youth feel represented and seen’. To date, the brand has donated over CAD$150,000 (around €110,000) to a variety of non-profit organisations across North America.

Innovations spotted by Springwise that tackle contaminated water include a mobile filtration system that provides affordable clean water, a green technology to treat industrial wastewater, and kombucha used to remove e-coli from water.

Written By: Katrina Lane

Website: cheekbonebeauty.com

Contact: cheekbonebeauty.com/pages/contact-us

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Vegan athletic shoe brand champions social change
CategoriesSustainable News

Vegan athletic shoe brand champions social change

Spotted: Reducing reliance on petroleum is a driving force in many industries, and solutions are varied. In the UK, athletic shoe brand Hylo produces a vegan sneaker that looks as good as it feels. Even better, every sale contributes to the social campaign Common Goal. Common Goal uses the power of football to help shape positive social changes. Members of the Common Goal group contribute one per cent of their salary or income to the fund.

Hylo’s sneakers are made in China, with the majority of materials sourced from within 60 kilometres of the factory and all delivered by road, not air. No animal products go into the making of the shoes, and the company makes supply chain and production transparency a priority. Each pair of shoes is numbered, allowing for full traceability of every product. The company also offers a take-back service for shoes that need recycling, and gives every customer that returns a used pair a £10 credit.

In July 2021, Hylo joined the Sustainable Apparel Coalition in order to ensure compliance with the leading means of sustainable, caring production. The company’s investment in biogas digesters near its manufacturing hub further offsets its carbon emissions. Having secured nearly €3 million in a recent funding round, the company plans to expand its marketing and product development.

Coffee grounds, carbon emissions, and algae are only three of the other sustainable ingredients Springwise has spotted being used to improve the environmental footprint of the footwear industry.  

Written by: Keely Khoury

Email: hello@hyloathletics.com

Website: hyloathletics.com

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Ethical accessory brand celebrates heritage crafts
CategoriesSustainable News

Ethical accessory brand celebrates heritage crafts

Spotted: Social enterprises are a type of business that earns profits for the benefit of a local community. One such organisation in Malaysia, the Earth Heir accessory brand, works with weavers and jewellers to produce handmade bags, baskets, jewellery, stationery, and more. The company spent more than a year earning its Fair Trade certification by the World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO), and works with refugees as well as local artisans.

Earth Heir helps individuals and groups of artisans design a product to sell. The company then provides additional support in the form of education and training for sustainable business longevity. As well as selling directly from its website, the company also accepts commercial commissions for events and individual products and matches artisans with requests.  

The Made51 jewellery line is the result of the brand’s partnership with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). Making the jewellery helps people in some of the most insecure situations improve their finances – something that is particularly powerful in locations where the host country does not allow refugees to work.  

With ethical consumption becoming a more common goal for many people, artists around the world are providing the means to shop sustainably. Springwise has spotted a South African social enterprise working with young people with disabilities and special needs to help them earn a living from their craftwork. And an e-commerce platform centred on Mexican handicrafts provides a transparent supply chain that supports some of the country’s most vulnerable artists.  

Written by: Keely Khoury

Email: team@earthheir.com

Website: earthheir.com

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