06 Apr Can Your Business Be Ethical and Sustainable?

How easy is it to be ethical and sustainable in business?

Definition of Ethical: business ethics are the standards for morally right and wrong conduct

Definition of Sustainable: doing business without negatively impacting the environment, community or society as a whole

Most of us have a strong moral compass when it comes to ethical and sustainable in our personal lives but sometimes that can be lost in the organisation we work for.  Even if you are a small cog in a large organisation or the owner of your own business it has never been more vital to operate in an ethical and sustainable manner.  On the day of writing this,

• we are ‘living with Covid’ in the UK and more or less functioning as before the epidemic
• the world looks on in horror as Russia invades Ukraine, Israel is at war with its neighbours and the sense of humanity seems abandoned.
• fuel prices and inflation are heading down
• The UK is heading into recession in 2025
• wheat, sunflower oil, gas and oil are predicted to be in short supply
• businesses are pressured by rises in minimum wage and NI contributions
• we can no longer rely on cheap Asian imports – this model is bound to be ravaged by new US president Trump.
• it is difficult to import and export to Europe because of poorly negotiated Brexit deals and GSPR regulations

All of these things add pressure to business decisions be they financial, supply chain issues, or market penetration.

But all this costs money, doesn’t it?

There is a cost to everything in business, and some decisions are more ‘expensive’ than others. When we decided that we would only use supply chains that were certified to operate ethically and sustainably, we decided to swallow the 5% extra these products cost us.  But in fact, we have found the decision paid us back as many of our customers appreciated our culture and were keen to improve their own credentials.

How to be sure you are using your business ethically?

Some companies are more transparent than others about their ethical and sustainable policies.  If you have regular suppliers, it is easier to have that conversation with them than, say, with a supplier like Amazon.  Look out for endorsing organisations such as WRAP if you are purchasing workwear clothing. WRAP ensures that the factories we purchase from, whether they are in Nicaragua, Haiti or Pakistan, have been certified to be operating in a safe, responsible and ethical way. WRAP operate a social compliance programme through visits and training to enable textile production to promote lawful, ethical and humane manufacturing throughout the supply chain. Only by purchasing through WRAP compliant factories can we stamp out the misery of labour exploitation in those areas of the world whose chief employment is in the textile industry.

At Griffin Designs, we print and manufacture most of our products in-house, and we welcome customers to share a cuppa with our happy team and see the process.  On demand printing means that there is little or no waste.  You tell us what sizes/designs you need, and we print.  Even if it is just one unit.

But what about sustainability?

What happens when you work with a raw material that is perceived as an environmental baddy?  Read about the sustainability of vinyl here.  We re-use all our own suppliers’ packaging when dispatching to our customers.  Most of our offcuts go to charities or smaller businesses.

Clothing wise, many of the products we offer are sustainable.  The Anthem hoodies we made for Sizu Minds are partly made from recycled polyester and are the softest, nicest hoodies we have ever worn. This lovely technical t-shirt is made from nine 550ml bottles so is a totally sustainable product.  It is made in a WRAP endorsed factory in Bangladesh, where all the staff are paid the local minimum wage and are treated with respect. Makes that t-shirt extra lovely, doesn’t it?  And at just £14.50 per single unit, including branding, your business can wear Ethical and Sustainable with pride.

What we do at Griffin Designs:

• we stay loyal to our small supplier base where possible. We get to know the staff as individuals and negotiate bulk discounts
• In so much as possible we use UK based suppliers
• When we cannot, for example, for work wear clothing – we ensure the manufacturer is certified by WRAP or Sedex
• Most of our staff live locally – some lift share or use bicycles – and we are one big family.  Small enough to care.
• we don’t always heat our large workshop – some milder days the staff use heated gilets supplied to them
• we now offer a lot of in-house print services, allowing us to manufacture end to end products for our customers.
• Logistics and despatch remain a big drain on the world’s resources, so on quieter days we use parcel lockers, and encourage our customers to do the same
• We re-purpose much of our packaging

We love to hear about the innovative ways you are pushing the ethical and sustainable boundaries.  Why not drop us a line?