How we 'GO GREEN' at Studio Y

‘Go Green’ is the most discussed term in recent times. Every global citizen needs to do her/his bit to save our environment for generations to come. No doubt, there is an increasing awareness regarding its significance but the question is: Are we making conscious efforts to change our living, take environmental friendly decisions and be ecologically responsible?

We as a team in Studio Y try do our bit to support this initiative and here is a list of how and what we do:

Paperless billing                                                        

Not only is this a great 'Go Green' initiative it can change your office budget too! Guess how much paper a small business like ours uses daily - just for invoicing: 

Let’s say an average of 25 invoices per day. That is 25 * 2 = 50 sheets of paper per day (don't forget the seller retains a carbon copy). Considering the bill book has 100 pages and costs you Rs 200 per book. Guess how much you spend on books every month = 200*15 = Rs 3,000 per month.

A total of Rs 36,000 per year!

Now guess what? You can save the entire Rs 36,000 by switching to digital invoicing. We at Studio Y use Loyverse software for billing purpose. The software is free of cost and easy to use, it enables us to send e-bills to our customers. We save our pockets as well as the trees! Encourage your local and small business to switch to paperless billing, this could be your bit to save our trees!

Fabric Management

The textile industry is one of the biggest contributors to chemical waste and pollution. What do we do to curb this trend?

We use as much dead stock as possible to build our collections and produce based on demand. We sell most of our scraps to businesses that we are sure will use the same to make recycled products. To reduce waste we use our leftover fabrics to make patchwork throws, bags, scrunchies and most recently face masks. 

Packaging

We are so proud to say that Studio Y has not used or ordered plastic bags for packaging in the last 3 years. We use simple brown paper bags and manufacture shopping bags with leftover fabrics.

However, this was simple as long as we retailed offline. Our business has grown since and so has our need to ship online orders without damaging or soiling our garments in transit. 

We are now considering bio-plastics which are a great alternative. It helps us manage costs as well as serve the purpose of protective packaging.

Eco-friendly Décor

Being a lifestyle store, we understand that decor matters. The challenge was to do it in a cost-effective and environmentally friendly way. 

Using renewable resources like wood, glass and metal is one way of doing it. We designed our display stands using scrap metal and leftover wood from other projects for photo frames and wooden boxes. 

Our idea of making removable and movable furniture made it easy for us while relocating stores and also saved us a big chunk of money while achieving good design and interiors.

 

Retailing sustainable products

At Studio Y we encourage our customers to use sustainable products. We retail toothbrushes which are made out of bamboo and corn starch. There are other products such as bamboo earbuds, coconut fibre loofas, copper and steel straws, coconut fibre vessel scrubs, wooden combs, seed pencils and, any other many other basic essentials.

These products are manufactured and distributed by the brand - ‘Almitra Sustainables’. 

Note

While discarding eco-friendly clothes, please ensure you separate all the trims from the clothing.

It is very important to start practising and developing healthy environment-friendly duties. Big or small, all of us have to make a conscious decision to help build a healthier world together.

Today we are contributing to this cause in our small ways. As our venture grows we may have bigger challenges to face. To keep this movement going we look forward to learning and adopting new sustainable strategies. If there is more we can do to keep the balance between economy and sustainability please share your thoughts below.