‘We want shoppers to buy less and buy better’

Liz Warner had a high-flying TV career when she started Different Kind, an ethical online store encouraging a kinder way of shopping.

The idea behind Different Kind began in August 2019 with a delicious croissant from Luminary Bakery, a hidden gem in north London. It creates jobs for disadvantaged women, whom they train, and I thought, ‘Why does no one know about this?’

Shops like this deserved our support. There needed to be a one-stop online shop to bring together brilliant, stylish people and their quality products all in one place.

I’ve always loved shopping, but I didn’t ask the right questions. Over time, I became more aware of supply chains and everybody involved in manufacture, so

I began shopping for more meaningful, lasting items.

At the time, I was CEO of

Comic Relief, prior to which I’d founded TV production company Betty, where I’d always tried to drive social change with a mainstream approach.

I parked my idea for a kinder shopping site while leading

Comic Relief through a transformation, but when Covid forced home working, I decided it was time to put it into action. Lockdown had made me reassess how I was shopping. I wanted to buy better and with purpose. And if I was feeling this way, I knew others would be, too.

I phoned my friend and former colleague Vic Anderson, a specialist in ethical supply chain and social enterprise. She thought it was a great idea and jumped on board. In the spring of 2020, we began researching ethical products, social producers and different models of kindness. It became obvious that people were looking for a different retail experience, yet they found that ethical shops were hard to locate, or they weren’t sure they liked the taste or style.

We gradually began approaching suppliers, interviewing 40 founders and researching their brands, before building a website and having a soft launch in January 2021, when 350 family and friends could access the site, buy items and provide feedback – which was invaluable.

Over the next 10 months, we finessed our site and built a small team with two other women, Charlotte Hillenbrand and Gail Sulkes. We stocked a range of items from Vent for Change, which makes notebooks out of coffee beans and waste from the lavender harvest, and Fat Macy’s, a brand that employs people working their way out of homelessness and trains them in catering, thus supplying us with jam and shortbread.

When we officially launched last October, we immediately sold out of Lux Luz candles, the profits from which support survivors of domestic abuse. Now we’re trading with more than 300 products, and we use a social enterprise called Mailout for shipping. It hires and provides training for adults with learning difficulties and autism.

It’s ironic to be a retailer that tells people to shop less, but I hope Different Kind will influence a kinder, slower retail landscape.

 thedifferentkind.com

I reassessed how I was shopping