Philanthropy and Ethical Fashion with Nordgreen Copenhagen*
*this is sponsored content
Should philanthropy be part of an ethical brand’s strategy? Nordgreen, purveyors of iconic Scandinavian watches, certainly think so.
Designed by renowned Danish designer Jakob Wagner, Nordgreen’s watches are ethically made in Danish-owned factories and delivered in recycled and FSC-certified packaging. Their proudest achievement, though, is an extensive ‘giving back’ program. The brand has long term partnerships with three global NGOs - Pratham, Water for Good and Cool Earth - in addition to several smaller local charities around the world, such as ThanksGive in South Korea, Second Harvest in Japan and Social Bite here in the UK. So far, through portioning off their profits with help from customers and collaborators, they have funded 6,500 months of school education, provided nearly 10,000 meals and over 23,000 months worth of drinking water, and protected 742,000m² of rainforest. According to Nordgreen, this is just the start of the positive impact they plan to make, and it all begins with a simple, minimalist timepiece.
Scroll to the bottom of this post to enter my giveaway to win a free Nordgreen watch!
What makes a brand ethical? This is probably my most frequently asked question, and it’s always a difficult one to answer. While I could shout out buzzwords like ‘organic materials’, ‘living wage’, ‘slow fashion’ or ‘zero waste’, what really makes a brand ethical is much more all-encompassing. Ethics mean doing what’s right, so to be ethical in my eyes, brands need to have a solid moral compass stitched into their DNA. Doing the right thing - for people, animals and the planet - needs to be the raison d'être of everything they create and consume.
With that in mind, philanthropy is just part of the picture. Take Nordgreen as an example - in addition to ethical manufacturing and community initiatives, their products are designed to last with quality and durability at the heart of their sustainability strategy, helping minimise waste. They also aim to make every aspect of their business carbon neutral by planting trees to offset their emissions and using wind power for their electricity.
“Our commitment to our global community and planet doesn’t end with our current initiatives and partnerships. We realize that to create working solutions, we must do more to offset the impact of our carbon footprint.”
Again, it’s important to remember here that offsetting carbon impact is not the same as reducing carbon impact altogether, and can be a dangerous area for greenwashing and distraction from the real challenge of cutting out fossil fuels from fashion. We can’t take environmental and social efforts in isolation when considering a brand’s ethics - we need to step back and look at the bigger picture, beyond the buzzwords.
Here, I sat down with Nordgreen’s co-founder and CEO Pascar Sivam to discover more about their brand values and why the industry needs a more holistic view of sustainability and minimalism.
Why is giving back an important part of a sustainable brand strategy?
Almost everything we do is a consumption to the planet. And if there’s a consumption, there should be a process of restoring and giving back as well. That’s how we keep the planet and also the community sustainable.
How does a brand like yours decide on which projects to support?
For our giving back programme, we chose three causes on the ground of what we believe are the most important and basic rights for the planet and the society. We preserve rainforests, and we provide clean drinking water to those in need, and free education to children as we believe they are all musts.
On the top of that, we carefully monitor and select global issues that must receive more attention - for example, we planted trees to restore the damaged areas in Australia due to fire, and supported nutritious meals to the front-end health workers after the COVID-19 crisis broke out.
During COVID-19, have you noticed a renewed interest in ethical consumption?
We did notice that. As we had a local campaign to support health workers in the US, we also experienced significantly more detailed questions about our campaign results as well as our general giving back programmes. These interests encourage us to strive even more in finding right partners to support important issues.
How do you feel about the environmental impact of synthetic materials vs. animal sources?
We respect everyone’s choice. And especially, we completely appreciate the idea of veganism around using synthetic fibres to leave less trace on the planet. At the moment, we have both authentic and vegan leathers since there are customers who prefer the texture of authentic leather products. But in the future, we hope to make vegan leather products feel as similar as possible to the authentic leather so everyone can have more choices, and potentially, try and enjoy vegan leather as much as they did with authentic leather.
What could the fashion industry learn from the minimalist Scandinavian sensibility?
Scandinavian minimalism is not only about having simple and minimal designs, but also about owning less, and only owning what you absolutely love. This also means that the product you own must last so you can enjoy the possession of the thing you love as long as possible, without having to purchase a new one. And this is why Scandinavian minimalism focuses so much on the quality of the products, as well as timeless and genderless designs that are not interfered by trends.
This week, I’m running a giveaway on my Instagram so you can win your own Nordgreen watch. This one I’m wearing in the photos is the ‘Native’ style in black leather with a white and silver dial, worth £144. I picked this design to give away because it’s so minimalist and will basically go with any outfit. I actually own the ‘Infinity’ watch in rose gold and wrote about it last year, so I can personally vouch for the quality and versatility too.
To enter you simply need to like, follow and tag a friend. Check it out, or use my discount code RUTH for 15% off any other watch on the site.