How to choose eco-friendly branded merchandise for maximum impact

How you approach your next branded merchandising project could make or break your company’s image. 

It might sound dramatic but, as we covered in this blog, branded merchandise is a physical representation of your brand’s story, values and ethics. Get it wrong and it could have disastrous unintended consequences.

In this second instalment of our series on promotional products and how to boost their impact, we’ll help you understand the inherent challenges of identifying what makes a product genuinely sustainable and ethical. We’ll dive deeper into applying the rule of “quality above everything” to help you navigate these choppy waters with ease. 

Plus, you’ll gain access to our free digital checklist detailing the exact steps you need to take to apply the rule to your next branded merchandise project, so you can make the right decision, every time.

Why choosing eco-friendly branded merch matters

Choosing eco-friendly, ethically made branded merchandise is all about staying true to your sustainable values and maintaining a credible reputation. That’s essential for getting customers to trust and invest in you. 

Any supply chain choices that clash with your public-facing values reflect badly. Just look at how Patagonia, widely considered the world’s most sustainable company, has come under fire for their lack of commitment to ensure fair wages for garment workers. 

Ethical footwear brand Allbirds also narrowly dodged a class action lawsuit after animal welfare violations were discovered in their supply chain, alongside misleading claims about their carbon footprint. An Innocent Smoothies TV commercial was ruled as false advertising by the ASA after it called itself ‘environmentally friendly,’ despite using single-use plastic packaging.

On the flipside, putting in the effort to keep your supply chains ethical and picking the right kind of branded merchandise adds immense value. 

How do you check if promotional products are eco-friendly?

Outright greenwashing aside, why is it so hard to identify, measure and communicate the ethical and sustainable elements of products accurately?

Let’s take a look at plastic, as an example.

Despite a plastic bag being made with harmful fossil fuels, taking centuries to break down, and being used on average for just 12 minutes, it still has a lower environmental toll than paper or cotton.

Reusable bags may eliminate the need for plastic, can biodegrade and be upcycled, but they can be resource-intensive, depending on how and where they’re made. Cotton uses a lot of water, pesticides and toxic chemicals if it isn’t made to organic GOTS standards. According to the UNEP report, tote bags need to be used a minimum of 50 – 150 times to negate their impact. Paper too can only compete if it is made with recycled fibres within a facility that prioritises circular waste management and is powered by renewable resources, and if the bag is composted vs sent to landfill.

The impact of these three materials are driven down by use. Meaning that creating something that people will use and educating recipients to ensure they do use the product, is of paramount importance.

So, which would you choose for your next project – paper, plastic or cotton?

In another example, sourcing products locally might mean a lower footprint and higher welfare standards, but could leave thousands of vulnerable people without work – with terrible consequences. Some of which we witnessed during the pandemic when fast fashion companies refused to pay their manufacturers.

Where will you choose to source your items from?

Getting past the greenwash

Greenwashing further complicates this issue as manufacturers claim to offer ‘low cost’ and ‘high quality’ products, yet fail to offer transparency in their supply chain or any form of impact measurement. Words like ‘sustainable’, ‘green’, and ‘eco-friendly’ are not currently regulated. 

At the present time of writing there is no unified standard that can tell you whether sustainability claims are true. Despite the introduction of legislation like the Green Claims Code and companies being penalised for deliberately misleading customers, the practice continues.

This is why we use a rigorous third party assessment with all of our brand partners, to ensure we only offer products we can prove are as good as they claim to be – for your peace of mind.

Making the swap to eco-friendly suppliers

The practicalities of an ethical procurement process can also create barriers. Social enterprises, despite ticking all the boxes, can struggle to meet the demands of tight deadlines, large orders or last-minute changes. Making switching to new suppliers more risky than leaning on existing relationships.

The nuances within sourcing high-quality, environmentally sound and socially responsible products can prove a real challenge for anyone short on time or cash. Which leads us full circle to why the ‘grab and go’ strategy of traditional merchandising prevails.

But help is at hand.

Applying the rule of quality to branded merchandise

We know that branded merchandise is at its most effective when purpose-driven and quality-focused. We also know it is hard to define what quality means in a landscape peppered with environmental and social potholes ready to trip you up.

The good news is there is a shortcut.

With services like the one we offer here at Social Supermarket, you can easily discover beautiful merchandise that comes from independent brands with a social mission.

We have created a unique quality control process that ensures all the brand partners we work with meet our high standards – and yours. Once verified, all our brands fit into one or more of our three pillars to deliver a net positive outcome every time:

1. Eco-conscious → actively reducing their footprint
2. Economic empowerment → employing communities furthest from the workforce
3. Charitable contributions → donating profits from every sale to good causes

We’ve spent five years curating the largest collection of verified purpose-driven brands and social enterprises and put them together under one roof. Helping to ensure that for every £1 you spend your positive impact is both magnified and measurable, creating a real ripple of change.

By working with these brands we’re able to fund incredible projects worldwide, contribute to charitable causes and support groundbreaking climate initiatives. Find out more about the impact brands like yours have already had through our Impact Report.

Helping you choose eco-friendly, ethical branded merchandise

Investing in traditional merchandise is an incredible brand-building strategy you cannot afford to overlook. But the historical approach of ‘more is better’ or ‘bottom-line only’ decision-making is no longer fit for purpose. Nor is it what your audience wants.

Your buying decisions do matter, and will come under increasing scrutiny from your customers and employees in the years to come. The good news is that the knowledge and support exists today to help you make an informed choice, whatever that may be, so you can stand by your decision with confidence and pride.

We invite you to use your next branded merchandising project as an opportunity to fuel the change both within the industry itself and beyond. Experience firsthand the benefits of using high-quality products that create a positive global impact, to keep your brand front and centre for all the right reasons.

So, where to start with choosing eco-friendly branded merchandise? Our 10-step impact merchandising checklist (scroll to the bottom to download this) guides you through the process, from figuring out what you want to achieve to ticking off your due diligence. 

Of course, we’re always here to help you quickly source and personalise the very best branded merchandise from ethical and sustainable brands too. Just send us a message. 

Love for our ethical branded merchandise service

Don’t just take our word for it – here’s what our clients Slalom and Compass Group said about partnering with us for their merchandise.