A wise man once said: “That’s one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind”. We believe it had something to do with the moon… but let’s focus on what’s important here; we want to take our small step towards a better sustainable lifestyle, and we are asking you to join the movement. How? Well, we will not ask you to quit your job, hop on the next boat to the Amazon rainforest, join a local tribe, marry an indigenous and start an epic battle against the machines to prove your love (listening from time to time does the job) and save the trees.
Please don’t stop showering, that will not help either, and although it might save some water, loneliness is as dangerous and lethal as heavy smoking or obesity.
Don’t boycott the A/C or heater, this might result in extreme dehydration or losing a finger to frostbite, instead consult experts’ recommendations on how to save energy while maintaining body temperature.
At this point you might be asking yourself; what are these guys even talking about? Glad you asked; we are asking you to take some steps with us to have a less harmful impact on the environment and help the ones who can fight on our behalf.
Below are some of our initiatives that you can be directly or indirectly part of:
- We are reducing our paper usage by not printing invoices; remember the rainforest? No panic as we will send those to you by email. The information will be cozy and warm there.
- We are not printing internally either, unless it is necessary for work; we can’t only live off air and the universe’s energy, we still need to make a living.
- Although we don’t have the needed machinery to recycle ourselves, we do sort our waste and send it off to recycling professionals (plastic, paper, glass, metal, cartons, you name it!).
- We are cutting our usage of single use plastic by bringing our own reusable cutlery, water bottles and mugs to work.
- We have highlighted our most sustainable product offering on our website as a separate category. There you will find the more sustainable products and closest we could find to kale-based clothing and matcha made shoes. We call this category: The Better Concepts (how about that for smart naming).
- Shopping bags, although recyclable, are not a must. We will start charging 5 AED for those. Customers can choose not to take a bag; even better. Rest assured, we will not use this money to buy flashy sports cars and private jets, we will choose normal colors for the cars… on a more serious note, we will donate the proceeds of these sales to local organizations (UAE), who will use this money towards green projects such as recycling, cleaning oceans or any other project that can help reduce our negative footprint. The monthly organization we pick will be announced every month, on our platforms, along with the amount donated.
Once a month, you can come drop your used shoes or clothes in a bin we will make available in the store, and we will make sure they find, through IACAD*, a new home where they will have a second life. We call this one: The Second Concepts (another smart name, we are on a roll).
*IACAD : Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities Department
Let’s all be part of the positive change!