The Green Room Initiative: Promoting Sustainability Practices for Interiors Brands with Jules Haines and Mirry Christie (episode 523)
Mirry Christie is founder of sustainability consultancy B·ABLE and Jules Haines is the founder at award winning luxury interiors resale platform Haines. They both have STACKS of brand-side experience helping eCommerce businesses grow and become more sustainable especially in the home and gardens space. Which is what their new venture The Green Room is all about – helping the home and garden industry become greener.
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[04:59] Helping SMEs simplify and implement sustainability strategies.
[06:47] Green Room fosters sustainable innovation and collaboration.
[11:29] Small group collaboration expanded to over 35 brands.
[14:22] Quarterly webinars share solutions across departments.
[19:55] Reduced packaging costs lead to overall savings.
[20:53] Listen to Top Tips from Jules and Mirry!
Tackle Industry-Specific Waste with Awareness and Action
Almost half of textile waste in UK landfills comes from our homes, not fashion. This statistic, shared by Jules, shows the often-overlooked environmental impact of the home interiors industry. And unlike fashion, the interiors sector still lags in public awareness around sustainability. This calls for increased awareness and consumer education on waste reduction in homeware.
Create Collaborative Spaces for Change
The Green Room shows the power of collaboration across competitors to drive sustainability. By creating a community space where different brands can discuss challenges and share resources, they foster a cooperative atmosphere for problem-solving. Sustainability benefits from shared knowledge rather than competition. It enables businesses to develop solutions together.
Leverage the Power of Sustainable Packaging Innovations
Sustainable packaging emerged as a major focus for Green Room members. Many shared challenges and successes around packaging for fragile products like lighting. They exchanged tips on reducing costs by optimising packaging designs to cut down on shipping and warehouse expenses. This proves that while sustainable packaging might appear costly at first, smart design can lead to big savings. And both the planet and the bottom line gain from this.
Empower Teams with Education and Practical Tools
Through webinars and downloadable resources, the Green Room provides tools to help members disseminate sustainability knowledge within their organizations. Jules and Mirry say that sustainability efforts shouldn’t rest solely with an environmental officer. Equipping various departments with guidance, companies can better integrate eco-friendly practices across functions. Give teams the necessary education to make informed, sustainable decisions at every level of a business.
Start Small and Grow—Incremental Steps Matter
While achieving 100% sustainability may be impossible, any improvement makes a difference. Jules and Mirry encourage brands to start with manageable steps and build gradually. This can be through simple waste-reduction practices or sourcing eco-friendly materials. Reduce the intimidation often associated with sustainability and show that incremental, consistent changes lead to long-term impact.
eCommerce Book Top Tip
- Wilding: The Return of Nature to a British Farm by Isabella Tree
- Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life by Arnold Schwarzenegger
eCommerce Traffic Top Tip
- It’s networking for Mirry and TikTok for Jules.
Tool Top Tip
Carbon Top Tip
- Mirry highlights Klyk, a business tackling e-waste through sustainable tech solutions. They help eCommerce businesses reduce their carbon footprint while saving costs.
- Jules emphasizes integrating sustainability into team habits. Brainstorm and make impactful changes. At Haines, they use sustainable packaging from suppliers like Priory Direct.
- Listen to Josh Pitman of Priory Direct talk about planet-friendly packaging
Interview links
- Check out The Green Room on Instagram
- Visit the Haines Collection
- Find out more about B·Able
- Jules on LinkedIn
- Mirry on LinkedIn
- Listen to Mirry’s previous episode where she talks about OKA
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- How Vivobarefoot Achieved Astronomical Growth and Scaled to 8 Figures (episode 480)
- How to Build Trust in a Crowded Marketplace with Chilly’s Bryony Tagg (episode 501)
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