SUSTAINABILITY
Taking responsibility. From start to finish.
Our stance on sustainability wasn't a conscious decision - it was never even a question. If we were to launch a brand inspired by the natural world, how could protecting those landscapes at every opportunity not be a given?
None of the processes or actions detailed here were implemented for good PR or to be seen as 'on-trend' - they are inherent in what we do and are fundamentally what Barnabjörn is all about. We are not 'going green', we've always been green!
So, how do we do it?
Supply Chain & Sourcing
My founding ethos was to be 'all-natural' which is, naturally, a more environmentally friendly approach from the outset, with natural components being both renewable and biodegradable. You won’t find any acrylic felts or polyester fillings here!
Every single material we use is made from 100% natural materials, from pure wool felts, to cotton threads and labels, hemp twines, and lambswool fillings. All our wool components are sourced from sustainable European farms and are always mulesing free, meaning the animals are treated ethically and without cruelty.
Manufacture & Production
My ‘stitched not stuck’ policy goes hand-in-hand with my all-natural ethos, and simply means there are no adhesives used in any of our products. Sure, glue would be quicker and easier but we’re not into taking shortcuts at the expense of our planet. So every element of every product is stitched, either by hand or machine, with absolutely no whiff of glue!
Our products are handmade in every sense of the word, from hand drawn templates to hand dyed fabrics; from hand embroidered details to hand sewn seams. Not only is each and every one of our products truly made with love, pride and care, but they are also crafted with quality and durability at their heart. We aim for our products to have an unending lifecycle; our vision is that our pieces will grow with your little ones, and become cherished heirlooms to be passed on to their own families in years to come.
Packaging & Branding
So far, so good. Well, we’re not about to spoil things with plastic mailing bags are we?! As you should expect, all our packaging is 100% recyclable with zero plastic content and always from FSC certified sources. We only use brown kraft postal boxes or mailing bags, paper tapes and acid-free pH neutral tissue paper.
But wherever we can we’ll go one better! Many of our mailing boxes and all of our tissue paper contain up to 99% recycled material. Our branded collateral is always printed with eco-friendly inks on recycled uncoated paper stocks and even our mailing labels are printed on recycled paper.
Reducing Waste & Offsetting Our Impact
From start to finish, we are focussed on reducing our waste. We don’t sit on piles of stock and we keep our colour palette narrow, meaning our overheads remain low and our waste is minimal.
Similarly, our largely made-to-order approach may mean a slightly longer wait compared to the commercial giants out there, but it does mean we only order in the materials we really need, and we do so in batches to reduce the number of shipments.
During production we maximise each piece of fabric through effective lay-planning, and we always keep our off-cuts which we revisit for one-off ready-made designs. Even our trimmed threads are put to good use for hand-sewing the final seams or, where the lengths are too short, blending with our non-toy stuffing.
Last but not least, we make sure that we’re offsetting our carbon footprint through our Carbon Positive plan provided by Ecologi. By supporting Ecologi’s climate projects we remove almost 1 tonne of CO2 from the atmosphere each month, as well as planting almost 150 trees in our very own company forest every year. That’s on top of the trees we plant with each and every one of your lovely orders!
So, rest assured - shopping with Barnabjörn really doesn’t cost the Earth.