Sustainability is now a mainstream movement.

A recent consumer report by the National Retail Federation noted that nearly 8 in 10 respondents said that sustainability is important in their consumption habits, citing that over 70% would pay a premium, on average, for brands that are sustainable and environmentally responsible. This differs from years past where sustainability was a fringe subject, relegated to a small margin of consumers, but in 2020, sustainability reached a tipping point. 

The study separated buyers into two segments, value-driven consumers (where price + convenience were the primary drivers) and purpose-driven consumers, proving that we’ve reached a point in purchasing where purpose-driven consumption is on equal footing with value-driven consumption, noting: “Values are important as value.” 

Last week, we hosted our first-ever Product Summit: Sustainability, inviting distributor leaders and supplier leaders and their teams to join us for a concentrated 3-hour event that would elevate how we think about sustainability as an industry, as well as equip distributors with cutting-edge product ideas in the eco-space. The event kicked off with three in-depth panel discussions lead by leaders in eco promotions and the breakouts featured sustainable products presented by over 23 different suppliers. It was an epic learning experience with tons of takeaways, but if you didn’t make it, here is a round-up of highlights from our panel conversations, seven simple ways you can start (or improve!) a sustainability initiative with your organization. 

Thanks to the TwelveNYC team (Brandon Conovitz, COO; Sara Miltenberger, Sustainability Director; and Anna Lepry, Director of Marketing), Denise Taschereau with Fairware, John Borg with Eco Imprints, Emily Gigot with Sanmar, Michelle Sheldon with Eco Promotional Products, and Kathy Cheng with Redwood Classics Apparel for their insights shared through our interviews! 

#1 SIMPLY: START WHERE YOU ARE

Net-zero. Carbon offsets. Blockchain. Circularity. Ethical sourcing. Sustainability is a broad and deep topic with many subtopics. Because it is so deep, we asked Sara Miltenberger, TwelveNYC’s Sustainability Director, how to even begin, and she had excellent advice for everyone, whether you and your company are a power team of two or a team of twenty! Sara encouraged everyone to simply start where you are: “You have people on your team who want to get involved and make an impact, most people want to do something but don’t know how to start. Start where you are, with the sustainable champions that you already have and also, with a simple goal that will help orient your team toward one key initiative” (more on that below). 

Beginning with your internal champs who are passionate about sustainability will help at least formulate a team inside your org who can begin to analyze your efforts, evaluate your supply chain, and inspire the company. Also, Sara advised that sustainability efforts are built upon data, and many of us already have data that we’re sitting on (for example, carbon offsetting initiatives that you can start with your shipping providers and suppliers). “You have data that no one’s capturing and that tells a story about where you are and where you can go … that starting point will help drive your goals and help show you that you are already making a difference, the data and the people already exist for you to start.”   

The only wrong answer to starting or improving your sustainable efforts is to wait: start now, start small, but just start.

#2 SIMPLY: ONE REACHABLE GOAL

Often when it comes to sustainability, we think too big, we think we must save the planet in one fell swoop. But sustainability is about taking many small steps in the same direction. Brandon Conovitz, TwelveNYC’s CCO, advised those who want to start to “find one area where you can have an almost immediate impact and then grow through it.” Brandon’s advice is ideal because focusing on a smaller goal helps you see your progress and, once you attain that goal, pick a new goal and keep moving. Sustainability is all about forward momentum! 

#3 SIMPLY: SELF-ASSESS

One of the major initiatives that TwelveNYC created was their own Sustainability & Responsibility report, a report often created by manufacturers but rarely created by agencies. Kathy Cheng from Redwood Classics Apparel also shared their Made in Canada 10 Year Impact Report. These reports become a lodestar for the organization as it tracks the areas they could improve upon, citing their carbon footprint (as one initiative by TwelveNYC) as well as their social impact, employee engagement, diversity and inclusion, supply chain management, and more. 

It’s an ambitious undertaking but what the report for TwelveNYC did was establish a baseline from which to grow. Sara Miltenberger said that a report becomes “a living breathing document that takes you on a journey, it documents what we’ve been through in the past year and highlights every single department, how we’ve all poured our heart and souls into creating a culture at Twelve that values sustainability, diversity, equity, and inclusion while highlighting the work of our supply chain impact team.” When we asked Sara about the impact on clients with such a report, she replied, “Many of them either get inspired to create their own initiative or they want to know how they can partner better with us to help further the cause.”

Reporting on yourself and the key initiatives you undertake reveals just how committed you are to being a better company because transparency is key and you can’t fake authenticity. Kathy Cheng with Redwood Classics Apparel stressed this transparency, urging the industry to be more open about our supply chain and more open about our progress or even lack of progress. 

Self-assessing is being self-aware, a dictum not just for the individual, but for a business as well, and being self-aware is knowing where you are at and where you want to grow.

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Bobby Lehew is the chief content officer at commonsku, this article is courtesy of commonsku, the work-from-anywhere platform that powers your connected workflow enabling you to process more orders and dramatically grow your sales. To learn more visit commonsku.com.