Consumers today are clamoring for products that are sustainable. This has led more retailers to expand their product lines to include them. But what does sustainability mean exactly? To determine if a product is sustainable, one must look at these three aspects: materials, methods, and maturity.

Materials:

This is the easiest way to analyze a product for sustainability. What is it made of? Obviously, plastics are not sustainable. Natural products--wood, leather, even glass--biodegrade so in that way they are "green." However, we should ask how the materials were culled and how these raw materials will be replenished. For example, our leather journal covers are made from leather culled from cattle that have died of natural causes, so no animal is harmed in the process. Our wood products are made from trees that have fallen naturally and are rationed by the government to ensure sustainable supply.

Methods:

To determine if production methods are sustainable, we can look first at the manufacturing process. What chemicals were used and what harmful byproducts were formed? Handmade products fair much better in this arena; however, not all handmade products are developed sustainably. One example of a sustainable method of production is the use of vegetable dyes in all our wood-block printed products. This prevents harmful runoff from chemical dyes from polluting the water. Another example is the use of recycled materials in place of raw materials (e.g. sari fabric being recycled into bags in our Color Splash line). The  most overlooked aspect of production methods involves analyzing the human cost of production. This is where Fair Trade makes the biggest impact, with its tenets opposing child and slave labor, degradation of women and minorities, and unfair wage practices.

Maturity:

Product maturity looks at what happens once the initial usefulness of a product has been exhausted. Can the product be recycled? (Most of our products are made of 100% cotton or other natural materials.) Can the product be reused (or is it disposable)? We extended the life of our leather journals by designing them to be refillable. Consumers will not throw out these journal covers once the paper inside has been used. This alleviates landfill problems while also serving to mitigate demand for the leather and therefore further protects the supply chain, and the sacred cows too!