John Winsor

Howie's Hand-Me-Downs

I just saw this cool line of products from Howie's. The Hand Me Down line is guaranteed for 10 years and is made to be handed down to the next generation. Here's what Howie's co-founder, David Hieatt says:

We live in times of limited resources but unlimited desire to consume them. The answer though is real simple: to consume less as a consumer; to make a better designed product as a manufacturer.

Going forward we will have to take more responsibility for our consumption. The manufacturer and the consumer will both have to share that responsibility.

We live in interesting times.

From where we stand as a manufacturer, a product that keeps working for longer uses less-resources in the end. The key ingredients to this are quality and good design.

To make something well, you know, the best you can do, means going that extra mile. Every stitch, every zip, every little feature considered. The weakest points made strong. Then, and only then, can we say that we have fully understood the responsibility of making something.

This product is guaranteed for a minimum of 10 years from the date of original purchase. The chances are it will last a good deal longer than that. So now you have to decide whom you’d like to hand this product down to? Err??

The Real 100

I've been chatting with Duke Stump of Northstar over the last few days and am impressed with his Real 100. It's a list of the 100 most sustainable brands. It's worth checking out.

What Does Green Mean?

Eric Wilson pens a wonderful article in today’s New York Times exploring what it means for a product to be truly green.

"No matter how sincere fashion designers may be in their efforts to embrace the green movement this season, consumers may find themselves perplexed by how to gauge the environmental impact of the many products that claim to be eco-friendly."



As Chris Van Dyke, from NAU points out, it’s a hard anyone to control all the parts of a product. “When you only look at the raw materials to ask if something is really green, you are like the blind person holding the tail of the elephant. There’s a whole lot of other factors you need to assess.”

It’s only a matter of time before the tools exist for complete transparency. Just think you’ll be able to point the web cam inside a jeans factory to not only watch your jeans being made but also be able to check the factories hiring practices and raw material sources. Customers will eventually demand this type of transparency, which will not only bring continuity to what green means but also apply social pressure for companies to employ not only the best environmental practices but also have the best worker conditions.

The Power of 5%

Nau show's how much giving away 5% of revenue could really mean if everyone joined them.

Advertising, Wasted

Over the past few months I’ve been hearing the buzz, as I’m sure you had, about GM’s re-entry into the electric car market with the Chevrolet Volt. I guess I didn’t realize that the Volt is at least three years off. You see, the battery technology that Gm’s planning to use is still not ready. Once that’s dialed they’ve got to build a plant to make the batteries, then construction on the Volt can commence two years later, if then.

So, why advertise the Volt? You’d think after all of the bad press GM received over the recall of their first electric car, the EV1, and the movie “Who Killed the Electric Car?” GM would be focused on getting the Volt to market without much fanfare.

The Greening of Best Buy

I just caught this on Core 77. It's wonderful to see a big organization like Best Buy be so innovative.

Best Buy will be the first major retailer of its kind and size to commit to mandatory green building for all its new stores beginning in mid-2008. The gadgets/gizmos giant is one in a group of companies, including Starbucks, Target, and Lowe's, participating in a pilot program for bulk LEED certification in association with the U.S. Green Building Council. There's no word on what level of certification Best Buy's shooting for (hopefully not the bare minimum dealie) but plans for eco-friendliness include, sustainable building materials, energy efficient lights, HVAC, and electronics, gray water recycling, and other implementations of renewable energy. Best Buy also plans to retrofit 20% of its existing stores with more efficient lighting while increasing recycling activity for cardboard, plastic, and consumer electronics.

Home Depot Joins In

News from the front:

Home Depot today will introduce a label for nearly 3,000 products, like fluorescent light bulbs that conserve electricity and natural insect killers, that promote energy conservation, sustainable forestry and clean water.

The initiative — which is expected to include 6,000 products by 2009, representing 12 percent of the chain’s sales — would become the largest green labeling program in American retailing and could persuade competitors to speed up their own plans.

And it signals that Home Depot, the country’s second-largest retailer, is joining the largest, Wal-Mart, in pursuing issues of public concern like climate change that stores have left to governments and environmental groups.

Enough said.

It's all About the Green

Not long ago the expression "It's all about the green" meant something very different than it does today. With green being the cover story this week for both The New York Times Magazine and Vanity Fair, sustainability has reached a cultural tipping point.

What's this mean to you and your brand? Well, that's a good question. To provide a bit more context check out Thomas Friedman's article in the New York Times Magazine, entitled The Power of Green. I really like Friedman's notion of Geo-Green.

Here's more :

In the world of ideas, to name something is to own it. If you can name an issue, you can own the issue. One thing that always struck me about the term “green” was the degree to which, for so many years, it was defined by its opponents — by the people who wanted to disparage it. And they defined it as “liberal,” “tree-hugging,” “sissy,” “girlie-man,” “unpatriotic,” “vaguely French.”

Well, I want to rename “green.” I want to rename it geostrategic, geoeconomic, capitalistic and patriotic. I want to do that because I think that living, working, designing, manufacturing and projecting America in a green way can be the basis of a new unifying political movement for the 21st century. A redefined, broader and more muscular green ideology is not meant to trump the traditional Republican and Democratic agendas but rather to bridge them when it comes to addressing the three major issues facing every American today: jobs, temperature and terrorism.

Are you ready?

Here, Nau!

Nau opened their first store in Boulder on Tuesday. It's one thing to see clothes on a web site and quite another thing to get to touch and feel them. Nau's not only shifting the retail paradigm but also the outdoor clothing design paradigm. It's cool stuff.

It's Open, Nau

Nau's e-commerce site is now open for business.