While sustainability is often associated with environmental factors, it’s not the only one. Sustainable practices will also help to save money, especially in the long run. In today’s environment, we have too many choices, so how do we make the right ones?
Here are 11 small but very useful tips that will help you achieve the best and most sustainable solution.
do I need this project?
It all starts with the question, what benefits will this project bring to my company? If it’s known that a rebranding is on the way, it would not be a great idea to order shirts with the old logo. Often, the order of different stages in a project is also very important. Our client had already bought a large amount of shampoo bottles when we started designing them. We found that designing the bottles was a great challenge. Also, the range of products originally planned changed and it was difficult to match the colors of the shampoo bottle. As a result, we had to match the design with the bottle and not the other way around. At Kind, we always clarify the necessity of your project first, and we are not afraid to postpone the project, if doing so would bring benefits to your company.
invest in smart project management
An experienced project manager will help you avoid unnecessary costs and save time. A project manager will help you to think about important details that would otherwise fall through the cracks. This realization happens usually after the project fails due to lack of a project manager. Beauty salon Savannah ordered polyester capes and printed the logo on the capes using a durable silk-screen printing technique. The problem was that the cape was washed very often, and despite the durable print, it still wore off. The customer turned to Kind and we came up with a smart solution: we took the customer’s used capes and attached a waterproof material with the logo on the printed area. This material almost does not wear out because it is not printed – wash it even a 1000 fold!
don’t over design
In a project, it is always good to think about whether every detail is necessary. If I order a gift box, is there a need for a thank you card or could the message be designed as part of the box instead? The card will probably be read and thrown in the trash. A beautiful and minimalistic approach would be to design the contents of the card on the inside of the box cover instead.
With over designing, there is also a risk that the product loses its main focus, always start by finding out what the purpose of the product is.
use quality products
No matter how great a design you have, it does not matter much if the designed product wears off the shirt after a few washes or becomes dull. Choosing a high-quality product is a crucial step towards a more environmentally friendly design. With today’s production technologies, the cost of a high-quality product is the same or only slightly higher than that of cheap junk. Low-quality printable clothing wears out in less than a year (even with the first wash!), are uncomfortable to wear, and seams come loose (sewing quality is low). Higher quality products last for years and thereby help reduce our environmental footprint. Quality products are characterized by thicker fabric, straight seams, comfortable cuts (that fit well on all body types) and are ethically produced where farmers get fair pay.
choose recycled materials
Do you know how many trees it takes to produce a ton of paper? 24. In 2021, the United States recycled 68% of paper produced and 91.4% of OCC (recycled paperboard). By using recycled paper, you save:
100% of trees,
31% of energy,
53% water,
39% produce less solid waste.
In addition to being environmentally friendly, recycled paper has a unique appearance that demonstrates your brand’s commitment to having a sustainable mindset. Such materials always have a unique appearance and help your brand stand out from others. It may be argued that recycling materials requires more energy than producing new ones, but we at Kind believe that in any case it is better to recycle the existing material than to produce new mass into an already polluted world. Like electric cars, material recycling is still in its infancy. Come and invest in the development of recycling and together we can make the world more distinctive and better!
prefer natural materials
Starting off we should define what a natural material is. Natural materials are those that can be found in nature and can be used immediately or with little processing. That said, a distinction should also be made with natural materials: wood can be used with very little processing, but aluminum (which is also found in nature) requires a lot of processing before it can be used. The best recyclable material is glass. By ordering glass drinking cups for your team, you don’t have to buy plastic cups for them every time at the company’s expense. The glass is 100% recyclable, which means it does not lose its quality. In addition, glass helps to best preserve the aroma of the product and the texture of the food.
prefer products made with renewable energy
Using natural and environmentally friendly materials is only half of the battle, attention must also be paid to production. Is production sustainable, using e.g. solar or wind energy. The best example is one of Kind’s main brands – Neutral. The cotton used in the production of the Danish brand is 100% organic, and Neutral’s production facilities run on renewable energy. Our other core brand, Pure Waste, has also taken a step towards more sustainable production and will complete the installation of a solar panel park this year and switch to 100% renewable energy. We only have one world, and if we continue as we are, we will soon have none. Everything is fine at the moment, but we also have to think about the future generations. Renewable energy is the only solution for the future, choose it today!
choose a “greener” print
In addition to choosing a sustainable product to print on, it is equally important to choose more environmentally friendly print production. In print production, there are two important aspects that should be taken into account: the energy consumption of the printer and the printing technique.
A very good example of printers with low energy consumption are Epson inkjet printers – such printers save up to 85% of the energy consumed and produce up to 85% less carbon dioxide compared to laser printers.
The advantage of digital printing is that printing does not require the production of printing plates, but there are also very big differences between types of digital printing. Solvent-based inks cause allergies and are toxic. Production workers who work with such inks breathe in toxic fumes every day and harm their health. Choose cleaner and safer inks! Water-based inks do not harm the skin and allow the fabric to breathe. Such inks also leave a more beautiful result.
don’t pollute
There is often a tendency to overproduce prints for “just in case”. You order 3,000 business cards, but you are offered 5,000 for the same price. At this point, you should think twice about whether these extra 2,000 cards are still needed in reality, or whether they will remain gathering dust in the office closet. During football matches, the arena has printed 5,000 flyers, these flyers are placed on the windscreen wipers of the cars. Most of the flyers are blown away by the wind, and those that remain are simply thrown on the ground. Don’t pollute! At this point, it would be better to print 1000 flyers and hand them to the people that show interest in the information.
don’t overpack
Similar to overproducing, it is also very easy to start over packing the product. It often happens that the product is packaged fivefold, at this point think about whether this product needs such heavy packaging. Manufacturers are afraid that the product may break during transportation. When the product arrives at the office, the product is opened, checked and packaged again. At Kind, we use recycled paper bags, natural kraft paper and pack the products between reusable folders. Nothing happens to these products during transport, because they move from the production unit to the courier truck and then to the customer. Our society tends to have a common misconception when it comes to aesthetics – overpackaging is luxurious. For example, poetry cards wrapped in silk fabric are placed on a pillow and packed in a multi-layer package, which is one color on the inside and another color on the outside. The cardboard is laminated and packed in a bag, and the bag is sometimes placed in the transport package. Whew, that was a mouthful! Maybe otherwise you wouldn’t notice it, but written out like that, it sounds absurd!
Simple packaging can be very beautiful – e.g. the brown cardboard packaging is minimalistic and aesthetic. There are many options for beautiful and minimalistic packaging, contact us and we will find the most beautiful packaging just for you.
design things that can be reused/recycled
When the product is consumed, what happens to the packaging. It will probably be thrown away, in the best case scenario the packaging material will be recycled. What if you design a packaging so awesome that you don’t want to throw it away, instead the packaging finds a new use. The gift card pocket, which is made of metal, could be used perfectly as a credit card holder. The milk package could be designed to be resealable and made of glass, easily removable stickers could be placed there, so the milk package can later be used as a water bottle. If you order bags for your employees, choose a dark, shapely backpack. It can be used as a laptop bag, a sports bag and is also suitable for taking on a plane. A good example is the Midocean travel bag – https://kind.ee/et/pood/tehnikasobra-seljakott/?cat=kotid
Here were some thoughts that could guide you as an entrepreneur towards a more sustainable way of thinking. It must be recognized that it is not always possible to use the most environmentally friendly option, but these thoughts could spark a discussion in your company to come up with how to find the most profitable solution, but also the most sustainable one. Come for coffee and let’s put together your sustainable project for this year or write to us at kind@kind.ee.
