ECO-FRIENDLY SHIFT
Array of products aimed at consumers intent on reducing their environmental impact
Every season, there’s a new trend in home decor and accessories, and this summer it’s a good one.
The keen awareness about the damage we’re doing to our planet with our throwaway consumer habits is resulting in a move away from single-use plastics, notes Jason Templeton, merchandising manager for Simons Maison, the homes section of the Quebec-based fashion retail chain.
“The interest in articles that replace throwaway plastics has exploded and the demand is huge,” he says.
He says sales are especially hot for items like silicone and stainless steel straws, beeswax wraps, and reusable, eco- friendly versions of plastic food storage bags, plastic wrap, plastic coffee cups and plastic water bottles.
“A set of six stainless steel straws with a little cleaner brush are $10 for a set of six and we’re selling hundreds a week, which tells me people are willing to wash their straws with a little brush and reuse them,” he says.
Templeton says that, in September, Simons Maison will be carrying the Californian-based brand Nomadix, which makes beach towels, hand towels and beach blankets from 100 per cent recycled bottles, but you would never know it by touching them.
“They feel soft, not like recycled plastic at all,” he says.
Simons is also carrying Goldilocks Wraps, which are reusable beeswax wraps (used for wrapping sandwiches, baking, and anything where you previously used cling film) and made by hand in Victoria by a small team of people.
Company founder Amy Hall says the motivation for founding her company came from time spent volunteering for a shark conservation program in the South Pacific, and being deeply upset by the amount of plastics found in the ocean.
“The average person uses over 2,000 square feet of plastic every year,” she says.
Templeton says Simons has also just picked up a line from Toronto-based company Fluf, which makes organic cotton lunch bags and sandwich bags sold across North America.
“I can really say that, after 30 years in this business, there’s a paradigm change happening, where people want to know where their stuff is coming from and what effect it’s going to have on the environment, and want to buy things that’ll have less negative impact on the environment,” he says.
The shift toward being more conscious of our natural environment is also seen in some of the patterns and colours we’re seeing in homewares for fall, Templeton says.
I can really say that, after 30 years in this business, there’s a paradigm change happening, where people want to ... buy things that’ll have less negative impact on the environment.
These include organic shapes, abstract florals and foggy scenes.
Feel-good messaging is also really popular in homewares, he says.
“People want to feel like they’re living in a softer, nicer world that cares,” he says.
New York-based company Material Kitchen has just released the reBoard, a cutting board made from recycled plastic and sugarcane.
They come in ultra-mod colours, including sand, coral, tide and deep.
Plastic has been a popular material in products for the kitchen, says company co-founder and CEO Eunice Byun, because, for things like cutting boards, it’s been seen as a hard-wearing material that can be throw in the dishwasher. But the company wanted to produce a product that isn’t bad for the planet.
It took them a year to develop a synthetic cutting board that doesn’t rely on ‘virgin’ plastic, she says.
“We also wanted this board to be beautiful. One where you didn’t have to trade style for substance. We were finally able to identify a process where we could take scraps collected from the production of other kitchenware items, and in lieu of them being discarded, pulverize it down to a pulp and reincorporate that plastic as the base for our cutting boards.”