April 24, 2009
Earth Day was a couple days ago, so I bet you were asking yourself, "How green is my shop?". From product design to packaging, making eco-friendly decisions not only makes you feel good about your shop's carbon footprint, but it can also entice eco-conscious customers.
Choosing Green Supplies
How eco-friendly are the supplies you use in your products? For instance, do you use acrylic felt? Do you know about
eco-fi felt? (a felt that comes in dozens of colors and is made from post-consumer recycled bottles!)
Are you a jeweler? Ask your metal supplier if they offer metal from a green refinery.
Modern Jeweler has a great article called
Refine & Recycle that can help source eco-friendly options.
Printing art work or promotional materials? Check out
greenerprinter, an online printing site that offers recyled paper, environmentally friendly inks and vows to keep their operations as non-toxic as possible.
Odds are a portion of your supplies could be swapped out for greener options. With a little research, you may find the extra cost of these materials will be worth the piece of mind for you and your customers.
Click Your Way to a Greener Craft
* Crafting a Green World features do-it-yourself projects that incorporate reused, recycled, and natural materials.
* SewGreen covers eco-fashion and green fashion and craft resources.
* RecycledCrafts at CraftGossip posts great DIY projects including this kitchen pot hanger (possibly the coolest upcycling I've seen in a long time!)
* CraftLeftovers is a resourceful crafting blog with reviews, interviews and ideas-a-plenty!
* Check out The Upcycle Exhange, a pilot program aimed at initiating a cradle-to-cradle inspired production concept for the indie craft community.
All Wrapped Up in Green
Need some help creating creative, green packaging? Check out these tutorials:
* Fusing Plastic Bags with the Etsy Labs
* Recycled Inner Envelopes by Team EcoEtsy
* Recycle Grocery Bags Into Eco Packaging by CraftingAGreenWorld
* Packaging Series: Bubble Mailers by SuperCute!
* Eco-friendly Products & Upcycling Tutorial by The TransCanada Team
If you offer eco-friendly packaging, make sure to let your customers know! Include a photo in your listing or add a blurb in the item description.
Don't Be Shy! Promote Your Green Business
Mention your eco efforts in your shop announcement, item listings and profile. If you are working with organic, recycled, upcycled or eco-friendly materials, make sure to use those keywords as tags during the listing process.
If you are going through the process of greening your business, make sure you Twitter and blog about it. In fact, once you have implemented eco-friendly products or packaging, create a press release and let the world know!
Join one of the eco-focused Etsy Teams and promote together! Check out EcoEtsy, EcoNest, EtsyOrganic, EtsyForAnimals, MotherNatureTeam, Natural Kids, Vegan Etsy & Recyclers Guild.
Is your clicking finger tired yet? If not, check out all the Eco-centric Storque posts for more inspiration. And if you have any feedback or tips, as always, let me know!
xo,
Danielle
No comments:
Post a Comment