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Five ways business can make a positive impact on the planet
CategoriesSustainable News

Five ways business can make a positive impact on the planet

By Zarkon Group,

In 2002, Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia, and Craig Mathews, founder of Blue Ribbon Flies, founded 1% for the Planet – an organisation that encourages businesses to commit to donating at least one per cent of their annual sales (not profits) directly to vetted environmental organisations. This giving is then tracked and certified by 1% for the Planet through receipts and revenue documentation.

Fast forward to today, and the organisation has certified $500 million in donations and has set an ambitious target to reach the $1 billion mark by 2027. “Of the $500 million, we certified a hundred million in 2023 alone and it’s made up of small and large donations,” says 1% for the Planet CEO Kate Williams. “It’s diverse, democratic, and distributed – most giving at scale is in big chunks by big players who are calling the shots, but we have a mix of players all over the world coming together and demonstrating that if everyone participates, we can drive big, smart change.”

The many organisations supported by 1% for the Planet members work towards a wide range of goals, which means that for businesses looking donate, there will be something that aligns with their ESG strategy and offers tangible results. We’ve picked five inspiring examples.

Going wild for nature

Walking through the lowland British countryside at the turn of the 20th Century, you would be surrounded by the thrum of life, from the drones of insects and the songs of skylarks and turtle doves to the ‘qwark-qwarks’ of toads. In the uplands, you would stand a chance of spotting a black grouse or maybe even a golden eagle. Today, not so much. Since as recently as the 1970s, 41 per cent of UK species have declined, and wherever scientists look – from farmland to coastal waters – the number and abundance of species is waning. Despite this, Rewilding Britain believes that through protection, restoration, and regeneration work, the rich mosaic of Britain’s habitats can be reclaimed, with benefits not just for biodiversity but also for climate change mitigation and adaptation. Local communities, meanwhile, benefit from more resilient and diversified nature-based economies, as well as improvements in mental and physical health. The organisation has built a network of around 800 rewilding members and 25 marine projects, covering 145,000 hectares of land and 50,000 hectares of sea. Its ultimate goal is to restore and connect habitats across at least 30 per cent of Britain’s land and sea by 2030. Find out more.

Note: Springwise supports Rewilding Britain through its 1% for the Planet donation.

Girl power

In sub-Saharan Africa, 600 million people live without electricity – over half of the region’s population. Hundreds of millions more survive with a limited or unreliable power source. Stable access to electricity is transformational for communities on the continent, and in off-grid areas there is a unique opportunity to bypass fossil fuels and go straight to cleaner forms of generation. For Solar Sister, women entrepreneurs are the key to this process, with the organisation investing in local women so that they can start, grow, and sustain successful clean energy businesses. Support comes in the form of training, mentoring, and a ‘business in a bag’ – a set of key tools to get business owners up and running. In 2018, the organisation set a target to recruit, train, and support 10,000 women by the end of 2023, which it successfully surpassed. Every dollar invested in Solar Sisters creates $10 of economic impact, the non-profit claims. Find out more.

Blue is the new green

Hugging the coastline of every continent except Antarctica is a belt of ‘blue carbon’ ecosystems. Coral reefs, seagrass meadows, mangroves, kelp forests, and wetlands, these marine habitats are hotbeds of biodiversity, and they also act as a massive carbon sink. For all the (justified) popular focus on rainforest preservation, research suggests that coastal wetlands sequester carbon at ten times the rate of mature tropical forests. But despite their importance to the global carbon cycle, marine habitats are among the most threatened on earth with 340,000 to 980,000 hectares of blue carbon ecosystem lost each year. SeaTrees is a programme run by US non-profit Sustainable Surf that delivers coastal restoration projects across all five of the main blue carbon habitats. The on-the-ground legwork is delivered by local charity partners, and the projects deliver benefits to both people and the environment. To date, SeaTrees has planted just under 3 million mangrove trees and 40,000 square feet of seagrass, while restoring over 500,000 square feet of kelp, 14,500 coral fragments, and 85,000 square feet of watershed. Find out more.

From food waste to fine fare

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), if you could collect all the food that is lost and wasted around the world, it would be enough to feed 1.26 billion hungry people every year. In the UK alone, we throw away 9.5 million tonnes of food waste in a typical year – even though 8.4 million people live in food poverty. FareShare is the UK’s national network of food redistributors. Collecting surplus food from businesses across the food supply chain, its 18 member organisations provide the ingredients for nutritious meals to frontline charities and community groups. Delivered via homeless shelters, schools, lunch clubs, and community cafes, the rescued food nourishes vulnerable people of all ages from schoolchildren to the elderly. Each week, FareShare provides enough food to feed almost a million people. Find out more.

Securing Mother Earth’s sacred spaces

In 1990, a gathering of tribal grassroots youth and Indigenous leadership came together in the US to compare notes on the environmental ills afflicting their respective lands, waters, and communities. Out of this was born the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN), an organisation that helps tribal governments and Indigenous communities build mechanisms to protect their sacred sites and natural resources for the benefit of all living things. In the process, the network facilitates economically sustainable communities and promotes environmentally friendly livelihoods. Practically speaking, IEN acts as a clearinghouse for information, organises campaigns, and convenes meetings of Indigenous community and youth groups, primarily in North America, but also globally. Find out more.

The world is facing many environmental crises from climate change to biodiversity loss. But 1% for the Planet’s environmental partners are demonstrating that, despite this, there is cause for hope. The giving of thousands of global businesses adds up to a lot, and is being translated into tangible action on the ground.

Written By: Matthew Hempstead

Springwise is proud to be a member of 1% for the Planet. We feature Kate Williams in our latest report, Horizon 2030, where she shares how business is helping drive positive change as we approach the end of this decade. To read her opinion piece in full download Horizon 2030 here.

Reference

Planet Champions: Jennifer Droguett – Springwise
CategoriesSustainable News

Planet Champions: Jennifer Droguett – Springwise

By Zarkon Group,

One thing we often hear when we talk to innovators and corporates alike, is the importance of partnerships as we pursue our climate goals. We take a closer look at this trend and talk to Jennifer Droguett, Creative Director of Anciela, a London-based conscious womenswear label.

Founded in 2019, Anciela is a homage to Jennifer’s South American heritage. Taking inspiration from art, literature, and historical costumes, the brand offers re-worked tailoring and eccentric Ready-To-Wear, interwoven with a hint of the magical. The brand has been featured in Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, L’officiel, and Forbes, among other independent publications.

Jennifer has seen the fashion industry from the vantage point of both established brands and her own startup. She spent 10 years at the start of her career working in brands like Viktor&Rolf and House of Holland. However, she took the plunge and started her own brand, after growing frustrated with the way big fashion works. She shares her views on the importance of partnerships and the ability of small producers to drive positive change by experimenting and taking risks.

A discussion with Jennifer droguett

“After four years I started feeling: wow, you don’t have a lot of influence,” she explained when she sat down with Springwise. Often, Jennifer highlights, you’re just a “small piece” of a much bigger machine. “I think what they don’t teach you at uni, it’s just this system – how fashion operates – is very out of necessity sometimes, it’s not really thinking about ‘how can this work for everyone?’”

“I did think: we need to do better. That really bothered me. Even if you have very little resources, or if you’re a massive giant – why aren’t we doing more? Why are we wasting things? It didn’t feel like everyone was on the same wavelength of: reduce, reuse, recycle. And sometimes with the choice of materials, people didn’t think, hang on a minute, this is super plastic, super oil-based, or polluting.” 

Materials matter

By contrast, Jennifer founded Anciela with sustainability as a core principle, and the brand works with low-impact natural materials such as Tencel, Hemp, Linen, wool, silk, and organic or recycled cotton.  

“The first principle when you have no resources is to work with what is already there, the famous deadstock that we all know. So then it’s just going to the warehouses and seeing what’s there,” Jennifer explained when asked about material choice.  

Offcuts were how Jennifer started, but as Anciela developed she was drawn to new experiments, and she ageed to collaborate with freelance textile designer Alice Timms. “At the beginning, we all wanted to try recycled yarns – recycled plastic was all the rage,” she explains. “Everyone was using NewLife yarns [made from recycled plastic bottles] for very nylon-y, outerwear, sporty things. But I was like, could we use it for something else?” That ‘something else’ was a jacquard weave (a complex woven fabric) made from NewLife yarns instead of silk. 

The next step was embracing more natural fibres like wool, hemp, and linen, while maintaining the focus on circularity. Jennifer added a compost bin to her studio that mixed food and textile waste – a move that proved to be extremely successful: “I was shocked, the worms loved the hemp and linen, it was gone in 12 or 15 days,” she explained. This was followed up with a weave made from recycled wool yarns, again in collaboration with Alice Timms.

Material choice is important for Anciela, but it is not the full story. Developing patterns that make the best use of material plays an important role, as does careful, low-volume ordering from local mills for the small portion of the collection that uses new fabrics. “We’ve been really strict on my collection plan, understanding exactly what I need,” Jennifer explains. You can’t be ordering extra ‘just in case’.

“That’s why I was transitioning to naturals, because that’s already so thin and small that [any offcuts are] perfect for the compost. So, all of that production waste can just go directly to the compost and that’s really beautiful as well.”

Collaborative efforts

With all these developments, Jennifer emphasises the freedom enjoyed by smaller producers: “As a small player you can do that… I can have my experiments.” This touches on an important question: how can small players like Anciela – which does everything made-to-order and most things in-house – have an impact in a market dominated by large, high-volume companies? 

“As a small player, you make all the decisions so there’s no excuse not to try anything. We have that advantage as a small business that you can pivot… When you keep things small, there is no risk, you’re not making thousands of garments,” she explains. And that’s something big companies can tap into through partnerships.  

Jennifer highlights her collaboration with Tencel Luxe – a luxury fabric made by multinational chemical company Lenzing. Normally, the company works with big brands that buy in large volumes. But Jennifer discovered that they too had an appetite for experimentation: “They wanted to help small designers make more experimental things.”  

To Jennifer that is the value to big companies of partnerships, which she believes are the way the world is going: “We’re all people, we all want to do something, whether you work for a big or a small company.”  

What can big brands do differently?

Beyond taking a risk and working with smaller, more agile companies, Jennifer highlights that the bigger fashion labels need a culture shift if they really want to commit to sustainable change.

“Don’t overproduce, there’s no need for that. It’s better to really put out there what needs to be out there,” says Jennifer. “Of course, it’s not as simple as it sounds – I understand because I’ve worked for bigger brands. I understand the machine – those companies are machines. But I feel there needs to be a shift at a business model level.”

“We have to be more mindful of what we’re putting out there and prioritise the quality of our supply chain, the quality of the life of the people in that supply chain and tracing all the way back.”

True sustainability goes beyond environmental concerns. Jennifer stresses: “We talk about climate change but it is about people, it is about looking after each other as people, from the farmers onward. You hear so many horror stories from every single step of the supply chain…When we can relate personally to a cause, the changes can happen very quickly. That’s the shift. Climate change is about people and it’s going to affect us all, whether we like it or not.”

Are you looking for more good news on individuals making positive change across industry? Take a look at the Springwise database for more inspiration, and make sure you’re subscribed to our monthly newsletter so you don’t miss the first look at our next Planet Champion.

Words: Matthew Hempstead and Matilda Cox

Reference

Planet Champions: Emily Stochl – Springwise
CategoriesSustainable News

Planet Champions: Emily Stochl – Springwise

By Zarkon Group,

September is traditionally the month when the fashion industry puts its best foot forward, with fashion weeks taking place in New York, London, Milan and Paris. Social feeds, magazines, and style sections scrutinise the latest collections and ‘what we’ll be wearing’, while fast fashion retailers race to get high street interpretations online and into bricks and mortar stores.

Of course, September isn’t the only landmark month for fashion and the fast fashion juggernaut is relentless, with Chinese firm Shein reportedly releasing on average 6,000 new products a day. Unwanted clothes often end up in landfill, or shipped to the global south where they are either sold in low-value markets or simply burnt.

Fortunately, there are countless innovators around the world looking to shake up the way things are done in the world of textiles, from the creation of new sustainable materials to the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to make manufacturing less wasteful, as well as inspiring activist groups wanting to shed light on the unsustainable reality of our modern wardrobes and encourage change.

We sat down with Emily Stochl, presenter of the Pre-Loved podcast and Director of Education for the non-profit, global advocacy organisation Remake, which is fighting for fair pay and climate justice within the clothing industry.

A discussion with emily stochl

Remake is on a mission to disrupt our current destructive model of consumption and make ‘fashion a force for good’. “We take an ‘and, and, and’ approach,” says Emily. “Education for individuals, brand accountability and policy change. Those are the three pillars of our work because we believe that those three things work in tandem. It takes people to influence politicians and it takes policy to influence brands.” 

As Remake’s director of education, Emily ensures that the 1,700-strong global network of advocates have the materials they need to spread the word about more conscious consumption and fair treatment of garment workers. “I support those communities with ready-to-go materials, whether it’s for lectures, workshops, resources or curriculums – things they can use to communicate the Remake message in whatever space they are in. We believe in this grassroots model, we want to put the information in as many hands as possible.”

Building connection

As is the case for many now working in similar industries, the 2013 Plaza Factory collapse really opened Emily’s eyes to the dark realities of fashion production – and the individuals who are so central to a garment’s creation, but often left forgotten by the big brands they work for.

“Once that major disaster had happened, I wanted to make a difference, but this is a common story – people want to make a difference but we don’t know how to do it on our own. We need community around us. So I went out looking for that community in other sustainability spaces. I found that in the second hand community, I found Remake and the fashion advocacy community and so I got involved both in making the podcast and Remake about the same time around 2017 or 18. For me it was about finding other people who care about these issues so that we can do better together.”

And empathy is core to the Remake mission. “Pre-Covid, one of the things that we would do is take US college students in fashion programmes to meet garment workers similar in age to them in other countries to build a connection. It’s the idea that ‘women just like me‘ in the global south are producing our clothes.”

This insight that change can come through connecting the cheap top you’ve just bought to the person in a factory working up to 14 hours a day to produce hundreds of them is simple, but powerful.

#NoNewClothes

Emily also leads Remake’s #NoNewClothes campaign, which is just drawing to a close. Although as Emily says, “You can do it any time of year! #NoNewClothes is built off the ideology that it takes three months to build a habit that’s going to last. If we can get you to pledge not to buy anything new, to reset that mindset – which is automatically to buy something new – and you can commit for 90 days, it’s going to have an effect on you that we believe will last you for a long time.  

“So much about how we interact with fashion is about fast fashion and marketing messages that tell us to consume. We’re saying press pause for a moment to think about over consumption and see how you can make an impact through water saved and carbon emissions saved.” 

At the current tally, over 1,800 people have taken the pledge, saving around 17.6 million litres of water, and preventing 375,000 kilogrammes of carbon from entering the atmosphere. The ‘ticker’ is constantly updating on the Remake site. Each person commits to reusing clothes, buying second-hand or not buying anything new at all. The last point is the one that often gets missed but is crucial. According to a Time story earlier this year, TikTok influencer Drew Afualo, who has more than 6 million followers, defended a partnership with Shein by saying that “Sustainable fashion is a privilege,” and “Not everyone can afford to shop sustainably.” 

“What I’d put back to someone who is questioning whether this is something you could do, is to ask, ‘Do you think you have what you need to get by for three months?’ And I think for the vast majority of people in the global north they absolutely do. We have enough clothing, we have enough in our closet. The first question I get asked is ‘Where do I shop instead?’ And I get that impulse because we have been trained to think about sustainable swaps but really it’s about more than that. It’s about realising you have enough or that you could be fine with less.”

Looking forward

Reflecting on the enormous impact that fashion production has both on people and our planet is disheartening, and it can feel like the individual is fighting an uphill battle against mega-corporations that are resistant to change. Luckily, Emily is keeping the faith: “I’m an eternally optimistic person, but I stay optimistic because I see change happening every day. Because I get to be a part of campaigns and see people take action and see results. I’m constantly getting that affirmation that people deciding to make change has an effect.”

For instance, at the start of the pandemic, Remake was involved in the coalition working on the #PayUp campaign. When Covid put normal life on pause, big brands started cancelling orders that garment workers had already began production on – without payment. The campaign successfully put $22 billion worth of wages back in the pockets of those workers.

“I think when challenges come your way – like covid – you can think of those as challenges,” Emily says. “But you can also think about them as moments that make people care.”

Are you looking for more positive news on ways fashion is becoming more sustainable? Take a look at our Library for some inspiring fashion innovations, and make sure you’re subscribed to our monthly newsletter so you don’t miss the first look at our next Planet Champion.

Words: Angela Everitt and Matilda Cox

Reference

Making a difference to people and planet with an innovative recycling scheme
CategoriesSustainable News

Making a difference to people and planet with an innovative recycling scheme

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: Most people are eager to engage in recycling and want to make more sustainable choices, but logistical obstacles get in the way. In fact, a lack of recycling services was cited as the biggest barrier to recycling worldwide, according to a World Economic Forum study.  

To make recycling more accessible for everyone, South-Africa-based Regenize collects separated rubbish directly from users on specified days – including recyclables and compostable organic waste – taking collections to local Decentralised Recycling Hubs (DRHs). Collection is free for lower-income areas and middle-upper communities pay a monthly fee. Once households sign up to the scheme, they receive a starter kit that includes information on how to recycle. 

In exchange for their recycling, participants receive Remali – a virtual currency that can be spent with Regenize partners, including Vodacom and Telkon Mobile in return for data and minutes. Users track their recycling and Remali rewards on an easy-to-use app. But for those who don’t have access to a smartphone, Regenize also offers ‘Simplified Remali’ that can be redeemed in participating shops instead of online, which further helps to boost the local economy. 

Impactful social change is at the heart of Regenize’s model, and the company chooses existing waste pickers and unemployed community members to become collectors. Collectors are given free uniforms, fossil-fuel-free bikes, equipment, mobile phones, and instead of sorting through dirty landfill sites, they have access to clean and safe rubbish. As well as providing them with a stable income, Regenize also helps the collectors get bank cards and access micro-loans. 

Though currently only available in certain parts of South Africa, Regenize has plans to go national within five years, and then expand across the whole of Africa. The company recently launched more of its services at Khanyolwethu Secondary School, Lwandle in June this year.

Social change doesn’t have to come at the expense of sustainability. In fact, in the archive Springwise has spotted many innovators combining the two, including an Indian startup that employs local women and youth to create artisanal products from upcycled plastic and a Kenyan recycling company that ensures fair wages for waste pickers.

Written By: Matilda Cox

Reference

From 4 to 1 Planet showcases climate-friendly homes of the future
CategoriesSustainable News

From 4 to 1 Planet showcases climate-friendly homes of the future

By Zarkon Group,

A trio of pavilions have been installed on Copenhagen’s waterfront, showing how radical materials and new ways of living might reduce the carbon footprint of housing construction.

From 4 to 1 Planet offers three visions for the home of the future, each created by a different team of architects, engineers and researchers, in the form of a full-scale built prototype.

From 4 to 1 Planet pavilions in Copenhagen
From 4 to 1 Planet features three proposals for the future of housing. Photo is by Itchy

One demonstrates the potential of rammed earth, a second combines a thatched exterior with a clay-block interior, and a third suggests how homes could be more space-efficient.

They were among 15 SDG Pavilions created as part of the programme for the UIA World Congress of Architects earlier this month, to explore themes relating to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Thatched Brick Pavilion by Leth & Gori, Rønnow and CINARK
Thatched Brick Pavilion was designed by Leth & Gori and Rønnow, in collaboration with CINARK. Photo is by Kim Høltermand

They are located in Søren Kierkegaard’s Plads, next door to the Danish Architecture Center.

The three design teams were the winners of the Next Generation Architecture competition, which called for ideas into how affordable housing construction could become more eco-friendly.

Thatched Brick Pavilion by Leth & Gori, Rønnow and CINARK
The design combined a thatched exterior with a clay-block interior. Photo is by Kim Høltermand

The architecture studios behind the three designs are ReVærk, Tegnestuen Lokal, and Leth & Gori and Rønnow.

Leth & Gori and Rønnow worked with the Center for Industrialised Architecture (CINARK), a research group at the Royal Danish Academy, on the design titled Thatched Brick Pavilion.

Thatched Brick Pavilion by Leth & Gori, Rønnow and CINARK
The design aims to show how combining these two materials can offer high levels of insulation and fire safety. Photo is by Kim Høltermand

The structure aims to show how thatch, made from straw, can be combined with porous clay blocks to create buildings with surprisingly high levels of insulation and fire safety.

“We discovered both aesthetic and technical potentials in the combination of these materials,” said Uffe Leth, a founding partner at Leth & Gori.

“If we build tall buildings with these brick blocks, the thatched facades help us with extra insulation,” he told Dezeen.

“That means we don’t need to invest energy and resources on using deeper blocks or two layers of blocks to live up to the building regulations.”

Quarter Pie Pavilion by Tegnestuen LOKAL
Quarter Pie Pavilion is designed by Tegnestuen Lokal. Photo is by Hampus Berndtson

Tegnestuen Lokal’s design, the Quarter Pie Pavilion, proposes how mass housing can facilitate new approaches to living, as well as new building techniques, to create homes that prioritise quality rather than quantity.

“In order for us to approach a more planetarily responsible building culture we cannot only rely on how we build, but also need to be critical about how much,” said studio founder Christopher Ketil Dehn Carlsen.

“In our opinion even the greenest building materials in the world cannot counteract our current overconsumption of space, which is why we need to make our housing market respond to both demographic changes as well as new and radical co-living alternatives,” he told Dezeen.

Quarter Pie Pavilion by Tegnestuen LOKAL
The design is accompanied by a list of 10 housing design principles. Photo is by Hampus Berndtson

The prototype was accompanied by a list of 10 key principles, offering a strategy that could potentially be adopted by the entire housing construction industry. Carlsen describes it as “a set of easy-to-apply rules for planetary responsible housing”.

This list advocates for homes that incorporate co-living and other forms of sharing, as well as flexibility.

Quarter Pie Pavilion by Tegnestuen LOKAL
The concept explores how massing housing can allow for sharing and flexibility. Photo is by Itchy

“Rather than showing one answer to our current challenges, we wanted to pose questions that could generate unforeseen and radical answers,” Carlsen said.

“Our pavilion and its overarching housing concept is just one example, in which we’ve focused on the tectonics of disassembly. But in our opinion, the ruleset itself is the real product of the initiative.”

Natural Pavilion by ReVærk
Natural Pavilion is designed by ReVærk. Photo is by Itchy

ReVærk named its project Natural Pavilion, as it focuses on biomaterials.

One of the aims was to show how these types of materials are not just climate-friendly, but can also improve the sensory quality of a home’s interior.

Natural Pavilion by ReVærk
The structure combines rammed earth walls with a timber structure and wood fibre insulation cassettes. Photo is by Itchy

The structure features rammed earth walls, made using locally sourced clay soil, combined with a timber structure and biogenic insulation cassettes made from wood fibre.

“Construction materials account for about 70 per cent of a building’s carbon footprint,” said Simeon Østerlund Bamford, founding partner of ReVærk.

Natural Pavilion by ReVærk
The design looks at how these materials can improve the sensory quality of a home. Photo is by Itchy

“The answer to that has inevitably always been to look back in order to look forward,” he told Dezeen.

“We wanted to demonstrate how natural low-emission materials and old building techniques can create a new architectural experience, where the materials both provide natural indoor climate advantages as well as great aesthetic qualities.”

Natural Pavilion by ReVærk
From 4 to 1 Planet is on show in Søren Kierkegaard’s Plads. Photo is by Itchy

From 4 to 1 Planet is the result of an initiative spearheaded by Smith Innovation, a Danish research and development consultancy, supported by Realdania and Villum Fonden.

Once the exhibition is over, the pavilions will be relocated to new locations and repurposed.

From 4 to 1 Planet is on show at Søren Kierkegaard’s Plads from 10 June to 11 August 2023. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

Reference

A startup using open banking to create a loyalty programme for the planet
CategoriesSustainable News

A startup using open banking to create a loyalty programme for the planet

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: Swedish fintech startup Gokind has set out to transform consumer awareness of brand sustainability. The company aims to encourage ethical, and environmentally conscious decisions by reaching customers through something they use every single day – their bank account.

The Stockholm-based startup has developed what they claim to be the world’s first loyalty programme for the planet. Leveraging expertise in behavioural science, software development, sustainability reporting, and business law, Gokind is making it easier for consumers to become eco-conscious. The startup encourages consumers to buy from more ethical and eco-friendly companies through rewards and loyalty incentives – using open banking to help customers understand which brands have sustainable practices.

To use the app, customers simply connect Gokind to their existing bank or credit accounts. With every purchase from an ethical or sustainable brand, customers will earn ‘impact credits’. The more ethical the brand, the more credits they get. The credits can then be exchanged for products and services, or put towards donations.

Thanks to the financial data they can access through open banking, Gokind can give consumers personalised advice and nudge them to make changes in their consumption habits – such as switching to a greener electricity provider or building credit with companies that support more diverse leadership.

Next steps in the company’s development include expanding beyond Sweden to provide sustainability insights to consumers across the world. 

Gokind is just the latest example of a fintech innovation that encourages sustainability. Others spotted by Springwise include a fintech app that powers the circular economy, and a credit card that tracks the carbon emissions associated with purchases.

Written By: Katrina Lane

15th March 2022

Email: hi@gokind.co

Website: gokind.co

Reference

Formoral is a skincare store that resembles a “desert planet”
CategoriesInterior Design

Formoral is a skincare store that resembles a “desert planet”

By Zarkon Group,

A spherical gateway and otherworldly light reflected through glass prisms feature in this skincare store in Hangzhou, China, which local interiors studio Lialawlab has designed around the theme of retro-futurism.


Created for independent skincare brand Formoral, the concept store is laid out across a 120-square-metre retail unit in the city’s GDA Plaza shopping mall.

Formoral store by Lialawlab
The store is themed around the concept of retro-futurism

The store is made up of a “series of spatial scenes” based on the theme of retro-futurism – meaning the future as envisioned in the past.

“The space was decorated using no colour; only different textures in similar colours were used to highlight the space level,” Lialawlab‘s chief designer Liya Xing told Dezeen.

“It was envisioned as a contrasting yet unified whole, which breaks the homogeneity of physical retail spaces in modern cities and explores the deep relationship between nature and the artificial.”

Colourful lights on grey display units in skincare store
Light reflected through glass prisms creates patches of rainbow-coloured light

The studio created the Formoral store as a desaturated space with large structures, columns and counters finished in highly textured, grey paint.

“The austere finishes echo the brand’s affinity with nature while highlighting the image of a primitive desert planet,” explained Lialawlab, which was founded by Liya Xing alongside Haifeng Luo.

Lialawlab painted the space grey
Textured grey paint defines the space

The studio organised the layout to accommodate the store’s various functional areas and make a clear distinction between its public and private spaces.

In the foyer, a sculptural service desk welcomes customers in from the shopping mall while opposite, a large spherical structure that Lialawlab refers to as a “rising planet” serves as a gateway into the private spaces of the store.

The inside of the structure is lined with bench seating and connects to a tunnel clad with matte silver foil and aluminium plates.

Spherical structure in Formoral store in Hangzhou
A spherical volume forms an entrance to the store’s more private spaces

“To trigger people’s desire to explore the space, we carved out a 200-millimetre-wide gap at the height of 1.25 meters of the massive sphere and the tunnel,” said the studio.

“The gap is complemented with mirrored material, allowing customers to stay, wonder, stare and rest.”

Two cabin doors along the tunnel lead to Formoral’s eight functional zones including product displays, spaces for skin testing, events and demonstration as well as an office and break room for employees.

Tunnel in Lilawlab-designed store
A tunnel leads customers through the store

To contrast with the grey interior, the designers reflected and refracted light through prisms and gradient-index neon glass that throw patches of rainbow-coloured light onto the walls.

The studio also included coloured lamps and lanterns and a round window in the spherical structure, which is covered with a colour gradient film.

Although the store’s ceilings are 4.6 metres high, only 2.8 metres of this space is actually useable due to the mechanical, electrical and plumbing services installed on the ceiling structure.

The designers skillfully overcame this problem by creating a sloped dropped ceiling, which is 2.75 metres tall at its highest point and skims the top of the spherical structure in the foyer.

At its lowest point of 1.25 metres, it meets the wall to create a smooth, seamless transition.

Formoral is a skincare store in China
The store’s sloped ceiling gives it an otherworldly feel

To avoid costly repositioning of the services, Lialawlab created an arc-shaped opening with a six-metre radius above the reception desk.

“The ceiling effectively extends the reception to the public realm, achieving a balance between functionality and form,” the studio explained.

Lialawlab was informed by the idea of a
Lialawlab designed the space to feel like another planet

Elsewhere, Irish studio Kingston Lafferty Design recently created “otherworldly” interiors within a skin clinic in Dublin, using a palette of plaster, marble, terrazzo and stainless steel.

Photography is by Feng Shao.

Reference