Sustainable Marketplace ☆
Here in Melbourne, we’ve been grounded for another three weeks. I don’t know about you, but at this point I’ve been sent that many tracking numbers I’m not even sure what I’ve purchased anymore — it’s like a lucky dip… every day. A friend’s mum said she felt like she works at Australia post now with the amount of parcels she’s had to accept, I don’t think I could come up with a more accurate depiction of our current situation. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you must be one of the smart ones who decided against draining your bank account and started up a business with your spare time instead.
For those of you who do know what I mean, have you ever stopped to think about where the items you’re buying come from? Are they still not here yet, because you ordered them from outside Australia? Have you seen the name of the brand on your new outfit ‘cancelled’ recently online for being guilty of fast fashion? Or maybe it’s you who feels guilty when your parcel rocks up wrapped in plastic for no good reason. Sometimes we check out our carts without even registering any of the above, it’s a rush of adrenaline. As consumers, we need to do better, we need to be conscious about where we put our money. Trying to find sustainable, ethical and local businesses is easier than you think — to get you started, here’s a list of some amazing ones to begin with. Sorry in advance if you finish this article with less money than you started it with.
Rosa Rosa is a PETA approved clothing label that was founded by Christina Hewawissa. Christina stumbled upon the idea of her clothing label after working in retail and experiencing the reality of fast fashion. Rosa Rosa is her way of “doing good” while looking “funky” at the same time. The label’s clothes are handmade, in limited quantities to reduce wastage. Christina focuses a lot on educating her consumers about ethical clothing, which lead to her struggling early on with setting a price point for her products that were initially “too low to function off”.
Christina’s favourite garment is the Acland Jumpsuit. It has a “unique shape”, “large eyelet hardware” and are currently available in lilac and navy with a brand new colour coming soon!
GARLIC CLOTHING
South Australia
Made by Claire Lynn, Garlic Clothes is a clothing brand made of recycled fabrics. Having always been very aware of the environment and her personal impact, Claire made sure to keep it in mind when starting her own business. With the hand crafting of “unique designs” from recycled fabrics, Claire is “breaking the fast fashion cycle” while simultaneously giving a different experience to every customer.
Claire’s favourite piece she’s created are her Sesame Street flare jeans made with vintage Sesame Street Fabric and corduroy jeans - believing they show her personality and are ultimately “unique”.
MIRE’S LINES
Victoria
Mire’s Lines Is an apparel business established by Jayme Ingmire which began when Jayme was shopping for a simple shirt, and with an interest in graphic design he challenged himself to create his own. After compliments and demand from his friends, he fell in love with creating clothing and Mire’s Lines was born. Jayme currently does small runs of his clothing based on demand, and uses compostable packaging made from plants. As a business owner, Jayme’s goal is to remain “mindful” of his impact on the world while Mire’s Lines continues to grow.
Jayme’s favourite product is the Coal Embroidery Jumper and he can’t wait for his future designs with fun colours to be released.
7 POINT SWIM
Victoria
7 Point Swim is a soon to launch swimwear brand designed by fashion lover Eden Scaife with the environment in mind. Eden came up with the idea of 7 Point Swimwear after some experience in designing custom made festival wear at her other brand, Eden Scaife Designs, and deciding to take on the challenge of producing swimwear that was “simple, wearable and most importantly not harming the planet”. Eden sources all the materials herself and constructs the swimwear in her Melbourne-based studio. 7 Point’s packaging bears the environment in mind, with recycled and hemp string tags, reusable garment bags, recyclable stickers and compostable satchels. Eden has been vigorous in ensuring every aspect of her business takes the environment into consideration. In the future, Eden hopes to partner with charities and continue making an impact by “slowing fashion down”.
Eden’s favourite product is her ‘Los Bikini’ — a black triangle bikini with a “cheeky drawstring bottom”. The bikini comes with an instruction booklet detailing the ELEVEN different ways the bikini can be styled.
BUON CLOTHING
Victoria
Buon Clothing is a sweatshirt apparel brand created by Natalie and Gavin Robson when Natalie found she was disappointing herself and consumers with a lack of larger sizes when she ran a streetwear label in her younger days. BUON was born with a vision of inclusivity, stocking from 3XS to 8XL as well as a kids range. BUON manufactures their products locally, so they can walk through their partner factories at any time and give their customers an exclusive look behind the scenes. While eco friendly packaging can be tricky to commit to for many reasons including price and availability, BUON carries their sustainability mission to this area of their business and use compostable packaging, paper tape and soy-based ink on their stickers. They believe that “continual learning is key” and preach that even minuscule changes can have a “significant impact” on the big picture. They aspire to find a way to utilise the scrap fabric from previous products to minimise their contribution to landfill.
Their favourite product is the classic ‘90s Block’ which they love paired with white sneakers.
Fig & Stone Handcrafts was launched by Alannah Vella, when she decided to teach herself how to make macrame accessories. Not long after, Alannah opened herself up to the spiritual world, learning about crystals and continuing to perfect her crafts before deciding to sell them to the public. Alannah has since branched out from her macrame roots and now sells an abundance of products including crystals, sterling jewellery, accessories, henna, smudge and candles. At Fig & Stone, Alannah encourages the repurposing or recycling of items like her candle jars, uses local suppliers and requires pre-orders on several products to minimise wastage. Fig & Stone’s products are delivered in cardboard boxes, wrapped in card paper, twine and contain biodegradable packing filler to keep items “secure” in an environmentally friendly way. The biodegradable peanuts simply dilute down with water. In the future, Alannah hopes to continue implementing ways for her business to be more considerate of the environment, such as switching from waxed chord macrame over to hemp.
Her favourite product at the moment are her personalised self care boxes and her boho soy candles.
MISS & HOUND
Victoria
Miss & Hound is a brand new eco-friendly candle business run by Felicity Manley and Sam Cudlipp, named after Felicity and her dog, Zoe. Initially, the two spent time creating candles for fun and soon realised that candle companies often market ‘soy wax’ as the main component of their candles which isn’t always true. Felicity and Sam wanted to create something different; luxuriously eco-friendly candles that considered more than just the wax. Crafted with natural soy wax, cruelty free fragrances, cotton paper braided zinc and lead-free wicks, alongside recycled paper labels. They encourage customers to repurpose their glass candle jars as plant pots or send it back for a discounted re-fill. It doesn’t stop there at Miss & Hound — their candles are sent out in biodegradable packaging, down to the bubble wrap. Felicity and Sam understand that not many people research where their products come from, so they’ve done the work for their customers and have discovered how despite the obstacles, an eco friendly alternative is always available and that is what they strive to be. In the future, Miss & Hound hope to release cruelty free, natural essential oils for their customers.
Their favourite scents are:
Vanilla Bean: Classic and creamy, with notes of butter, milk and sugar cane.
Amber Teak and Moss: Basically like walking through a forest — filled with fresh air, sunlit pine trees with notes of grapefruit and sandalwood.
CLUTCHES FOR A CAUSE
New South Wales
Clutches For A Cause is a handmade clutch business by Judy Bell who donates $5 from every purchase to a different charity every month. Living on a farm in Central West NSW and experiencing severe dust storms, Judy felt a need to get creative so she pulled out her sewing machine and settled on making clutches. Her local town was fundraising for breast cancer at the time and she decided to donate $5 from each clutch she sold at the time, leading to the idea of donating to a different charity every month. Judy uses Australian designed and made fabrics for her clutches as much as possible and uses minimalistic packaging, using off cuts to tie up parcels to reduce as much wastage as she can. In the future, Judy would love to learn screen printing so she can use her own designs with eco-friendly dyes.
Her favourite clutches so far have been made with a recent range of fabrics designed by Indigenous artists and she’d love to see it used and purchased more in a fashion and home decor setting.
THE LUNAR ETERNITY
Victoria
Due to medical reasons, Mia Racine was unable to leave the house often and with a lot of spare time on her hands she began to craft crystal key rings and hangings for loved ones, which soon turned into a passion and The Lunar Eternity was “brought to life”. The Lunar Eternity supports community driven programs and charities that aim to make a difference by having their social media followers choose an organisation to donate a percentage of profits to each month. Mia now packages her products for customers in recyclable boxes filled with biodegradable packing pallets and recyclable bubble wrap, and mails them in Hero Parcels which are 100% compostable. She aims to reduce and reuse all packaging where possible and hopes to continue sourcing from sustainable and ethical suppliers, believing there are always ways to improve.
Mia’s favourite product are her crystal key rings, she loves seeing the beautiful cord and crystal combinations her customers come up with!
We Are Sacred is an organic, plant-based, whole-food Cacao business that was founded by Dan Koch when he turned to Cacao as a substitute during a major detox from coffee, sugar, alcohol and other toxins. While on this journey, Dan discovered that Cacao has more antioxidants than green tea, wine and blueberries combined and contains magnesium, iron, calcium and zinc. Dissimilar to coffee, Dan told us Cacao contains Theobromine alongside other natural chemicals to give you a “sustainable energy boost” that produces “feelings of love, bliss and happiness”. We Are Sacred sources their Cacao from local Indigenous tribes in the Amazon jungle, who cultivate Cacao to “preserve their land” and “protect their way of life.” The Cacao is packed into recycled paper, printed with plant-based inks and posted via a carbon neutral courier, the packaging is even compostable, perishing within 90 days. We Are Sacred pride themselves on their ‘3P principle: People, Planet & Profit’, strictly believing in leaving the place and people better than it was found. As always, they seek to continue improving their sustainable and ethical mission by further preserving the Indigenous Land wherever possible and working towards 100% carbon neutral logistics for export and import.
Dan’s favourite product is all four flavours of their Organic Drinking Cacao:
Earth: Original Cacao
Fire: Chilli Cacao
Love: Rose Cacao
Vitality: Matcha Mint Cacao
EMPRESS AROMATHERAPY
Victoria
Empress Aromatherapy was initiated by Clare Kandybko with kindness to the earth at its core. Clare lives a vegan, low waste lifestyle and it was important to her that her personal values were in line with the practices of her business.
Empress Aromatherapy stemmed from Clare’s “deep passion” for alternative natural therapies and it wasn’t until she created her very first roller blend that she discovered the benefits and thought to share it with others via her very own small business. Her first essential oil roller was created to assist her insomnia and restlessness, which is now called the ‘Sleep Well Blend’ blew her away and every product since she has tested herself before selling to customers. All products are made from pure plant-based ingredients, are free from harsh chemicals, animal products and artificial perfumes, and come in glass bottles that can be “recycled or upcycled.” The products are shipped in biodegradable mailers that can be composted and recycled bubble wrap that can be popped in your local soft plastics bin for future recycling. Clare takes pride in choosing the most eco-friendly options available, despite the cost that may come with them and aims to be completely zero waste in the future.
Clare’s favourite product is currently the Bloom & Grow roller, A.K.A her ‘liquid courage blend’. She recommends it for boosting self-confidence, deep focus + concentration and increasing creativity. As a bonus, it smells good enough for an every day perfume!
She also loves the Sacred Sage Spray: a smokeless alternative to burning white sage or palo Santo when cleansing the body or a room.
KÁDO
Queensland
KÁDO is an “unbottled self-care product” business created by Alisson Asouje who grew up in the mountains of Southern Brazil surrounded by nature and fresh air. Alisson had a desire to do something different that brought her more joy than the “regular 9-5” and wasn’t just about selling something, she wanted to give back to nature and the community. KÁDO aims to help individuals change small habits and remove the bottles from our bathrooms. To KÁDO, sustainability is a philosophy and process. Saying no to plastic, they make sure everything is as eco-friendly as possible, using local suppliers and fair trade sources. Many of their ingredients come from the Amazon, bringing about a “great sense of responsibility” to ensure they aren’t contributing to damaging the rainforest. Their plastic free shampoo and body soap bars are packaged in tissue paper printed with soy ink and acid-free material plus water activated paper tape from corn starch glue and are sent in your choice of 100% compostable, zero-waste bag or non-toxic cardboard. It is an expensive choice for a boutique business like KÁDO to prioritise sustainability, but that won’t hold them back and they hope to become involved in some conservation initiatives for the Amazon rainforest.
Their favourite items so far are their hair products, formulated with extensive research. They’re soon releasing gift sets, sample options and a different range of products with a special tropical colour and scent.
A LITTLE SELF CARE
Victoria
A Little Self Care, by Emily Moriarty began with a little inspiration from her friends chasing their passions. Emily was reminded that work could be more than just work — it could be something you love, and along came A Little Self Care. Sustainability is at the forefront of the business, with plastic free packaging — using glass, cardboard and as much biodegradable packaging as possible. Even the package filling is made of compostable shredding. The products are made with minimal, organic and cruelty free ingredients, majority of them being vegan with the exclusion of sustainably sourced honey and beeswax in some items. The sustainable and ethical mission doesn’t stop there, Emily always researches all the brands and companies she aligns herself with to ensure their values match. She’s also researching how to make the business carbon neutral; reducing the environmental impact they have by planting trees for every order.
Emily’s favourite product are the botanical bath soaks, the first product that she developed which are “divine” and a perfect addition to your bathing ritual to unwind with.
BATHE AND BREW
South Australia
After enduring some hard times and feeling rather lost, Sherelyn Norcliffe noticed how healing bath time could be for many individuals including herself — time alone to reconnect with ourselves, free of distractions. She began to experiment with herbs and the way they could therapeutically effect us physically, spiritually and mentally and decided to take her realisation and put it into an ethical business which she called Bathe and Brew.
At Bathe and Brew, Sherelyn uses glass cork bottles and organic cotton biodegradable bags with refills for the glass cork bottles — allowing customers to save money and the environment at the same time. Orders are also packed with biodegradable foam peanuts when sent out. While choosing the eco-friendly alternatives when running a business may be more expensive, Sherelyn finds that many customers are happy to pay a little extra if it means reducing their impact on the environment. In the future, Bathe and Brew would love to collaborate with a charity that holds the environment close to their heart just as the business does.
Sherelyn’s favourite product is the Herbal Hug, it was the first brew she created after experiencing stress and anxiety ridden times and to her, it truly felt like a hug.
LOVE TAY XO
Victoria
Love Tay XO is a handmade bath product business created by Tayla Walker, a young lover of bathing who wanted to create her own products with affordability in mind. Love Tay XO’s bath salt bags are eco friendly, Tayla also uses biodegradable shrink wrap for her bath bombs and shower steamers. She even uses recycled paper when packaging her orders in place of other package filler nasties like styrofoam and bubble wrap. Tayla prioritises sustainability with all her products, using organic ingredients for many items like her hand made bath bombs and is always looking for new ways to implement eco-friendliness into her business.
Tayla’s favourite product at the moment are her body sugar scrubs which come in a range of scents including pink rose, vanilla coconut, vanilla latte and sweet mint.
CHILDREN
PLYFUL TOYS
Victoria
Plyful Toys was created in Mount Macedon by Daniel Garcia when he was inspired by making toys based on his son Raff’s dreams, Raff thoroughly enjoyed playing with the toys and learning about the topics he dreamt about, like space, and so did his friends. All the items are designed as a ‘flatpack’, providing a creative challenge while minimising transport and material waste. They are wrapped in recycled brown paper that Raff draws all over and the smaller bits and pieces are packaged with handmade cotton bags. Daniel sources almost all of his materials from Australia with the exception of screws — he is working on finding an Australian made alternative and is even using Australian made glue while beginning to experiment with his own homemade glue that is waiting to pass the “play proof” test by Raff.
Daniel’s favourite products are the Moon Puzzle, not only was it the product that started it all but it is also an accurate depiction of the moon in Australia. He also loves the Butterfly Set, as it showcases that flatpack designs in toys don’t need to be flat, simple touches can be “engaging and interactive”.
PETS
COOPER’S KINGDOM
Perth
After working for a freight forwarding company, Terri Willis became well aware of how many pet treats were treated with chemicals before entering Australia. Terri’s own pup, Cooper having allergies meant she felt strongly about knowing what ingredients he was being fed. With supermarket brands containing fillers and being chemically treated, Terri decided to make her own treats and Cooper’s Kingdom was born. Majority of pet treat companies don’t use eco-friendly packaging and this was something Terri wanted to make a difference with, not wanting to excessively contribute to landfill. Instead of having personalised boxes and using brand new bubble wrap, Cooper’s Kingdom packs most of their products in reused boxes and bubble wrap to reduce waste. The quality of meat and eco-friendly packaging hasn’t been a cheap choice for Cooper’s Kingdom but a good one nonetheless, with the “pros outweigh(ing) the cons”.
Picking a favourite product isn’t easy, but Terri would narrow her favourites down to the furry range of treats due to them being so healthy and all customer pups just loving them. Terri also recommends the meal boosters due to the overwhelming amount of positive feedback.
NATIVE COLLARS
Perth
Julka Lazic and Linda Wiegmann share a passion for dogs and love taking their own to enjoy the Australian outdoors. While browsing the market, they found there was one too many average leather collars available and wanted to create something free of animal products but nonetheless stylish, durable and easy to clean, which started their journey at Native Collars. Julka and Linda use minimal packaging and try to ensure the materials they use are as environmentally friendly as possible.
All Native Collars products are handmade by Julka and Linda, and are completely vegan. While they have found materials that are completely eco friendly are quite difficult and expensive to source in Australia, they are continuing on their journey quite happily as a sustainable and ethical business while constantly looking for ways to switch current materials to recycled ones. Their current mission is to source fabric made with recycled PET plastic.
Their favourite product is their customisable Native Collar where customers can pick and combine up to 5 colours. They love seeing what unique combos their customers come up with and are filled with happiness to see the final products on their customers pups.
While the majority of us continue to spend what seems like forever at home, adding items to our carts and using our fingerprints to check out with ApplePay, let’s do it with a little more thought.
By shopping with the environment in mind and supporting small businesses whom jump up and down at the notification of our purchases — we might feel a little less guilty when the next fifteen parcels arrive.