69b’s New Year's Resolutions
Instead of unachievable and joyless resolutions, this year we’re focusing on 5 ways in which we as a business can help reduce our impact on the planet.
1. Reduce our energy consumption
As the store is open 7 days a week we do use a fair amount of energy. We use Ecotricity (who use 100% renewables) as our energy supplier, and timer switches for our lights to conserve energy in store. We’ll be careful to unplug everything overnight, every night. This year for the first time we’ll be closing the door when the store is open and it’s cold outside to conserve heat – don’t worry we’re still open!
We’re also looking at installing an awning at the front of the shop to provide shade and reduce the need for fans in the store in the summer.
2. Reuse bits and bobs
Most of the garments we receive from our brands are delivered in plastic, and we reuse these bags to protect against moths. We’re going to collect and reuse the tags, twine and safety pins we use for swing tags in store.
Our stock is delivered in cardboard boxes, and we reuse these where we can. If you ever need any please ask, we usually have a few big boxes in the stock room.
3. Reduce our carbon footprint
As a team we’re all lucky to live close enough to the store to walk, cycle or take public transport to work. This year we’re aiming to identify other areas in which our carbon footprint can be improved, like carbon offsetting for travel to buying meetings. We are working with our suppliers to ensure they send products in as few shipments as possible, and buying from local suppliers where we can.
We’re also looking at ways to reduce our digital carbon footprint, like deleting emails and files to reduce the emissions produced by the storage of files in data centres.
4. Improve and reduce our packaging
We’re continuing to look at the best solutions for website packaging, and (after a DOH! moment on the way to the post office this week) we’re going to stop sending shoes in a box inside another box.
If you’re coming to the store, please try to remember to bring a bag. We do sell reusable bags, and we’re looking at alternatives to the paper bags we currently use.
5. Prolong the life of our clothes
We’re lucky enough to have several talented team members who can mend clothes. If your 69b purchases need some attention, bring them in and we’ll see what we can do.
We’re also working on a scheme for reselling pre-loved 69b purchases, so you can bring back clothes you’ve bought in the past for credit against new (or second hand) items. We’re ironing out the details, watch this space…
If you have any ideas for things we could be doing better, drop us an email to hello@69bboutique.com