Seven Planet

As you know we love our seven planet mindful suppliers and the amazing product lines and services that they have brought to market for you and I to make mindful commerce more viable in our lives. This fall seven planet began on an ongoing educational project called mindful media where we are utilizing, reviewing and educating on the best products and services we provide in our stores and on our site to you.

These mindful media videos are then provided to you and to our suppliers as they are a candid 3rd party review of how their products are a better, more eco-friendly solution for the necessity-based products we all purchase and use. In these videos you will learn about their company, their brand message, their product or service purpose and of course the unique applications of those products.

The initial mindful media video is on one of our favorite suppliers, the amazing Alchemy Goods, out of Washington state. Eli Reich and his team have built a company on upcycling used bike and car parts waste and have created an amazing line that looks like gold from lead. To see the mindful media review click here.

My wife  let me know the other day that for being a seven planet House (a house that loyally works to purchase as many of its necessity-based products and services from seven planet in return for deep discounts) we use way too many paper towels.  She was right, we were using them to wipe the counters, dry our hands, to clean the kids’ faces and we were going through a roll every few days.  But they are so convenient and so effective…how could we not use them as much?

Well, the answer was and is SKOY Cloths.  This brand new product that two stay at home moms in Encinitas, California discovered that helps replace the highly non-renewable paper towels we all use and are much more absorbent and effective than traditional washcloths.  We kid you not when we say they are amazing.

SKOY Cloths are 100% biodegradable because they are made from a natural cotton and wood-based cellulose pulp.  They are also a chlorine-free product that uses water-based colors and inks for its cool shades and they break down completely in the environment within 5 weeks.  Each one is equal to about 15 rolls of traditional paper towels in regards to the life you will get from it (which is months by the way).  We even heard that for some people the SKOY Cloths will last upwards to 6 months or longer.

Some people even use a technique of cutting of the corners of the cloths to identify if they are for the kitchen (1 corner), garage (2 corners), bathroom (3 corners), etc. so that they don’t get them mixed up and so that they last longer as they downgrade them from the kitchen to the garage for example.

For us it was all about finding a more mindful way in which to clean up our kitchen and our kids and this product has done it.  We aren’t cutting the corners of them yet, but do feel like we are finally not cutting as many corners when comes to the planet.  Thank you SKOY Cloth for making that easier to do.

Well yes if you want help alleviate even more plastic from entering into our landfills and waterways. It is simple though I promise. Most of us have been carrying canvas, or some other type of reusable bag, into the supermarket for years now. You know the drill, you keep them in the trunk or easily accessible in the kitchen and then you take them into the store with you. In turn, you never have to bring out paper bags with weak handles or plastic bags with limited carrying capabilities and reuses.

So, this has been the status quo for some time, but if we think about our collective movement towards more healthful, local, vegetable and fruit rich diets, then we see that we are back in the game of collecting plastic bags.

Essentially every grocer and supermarket (even organically focused stores) utilize plastic bags for taking home our fruits and vegetables. In turn we naturally utilize them for carrying our greens out of the store.

Not any more… Flip & Tumble has a wonderful Product Bag Set product that includes 5 bags that when not full can easily be put into one bag and thrown in your laptop bag or purse or existing canvas grocery shopping bag. It is estimated that with regular use each set of 5 produce bags will save 1000 plastic bags from entering landfills. This is a massive positive impact for sure.

My wife starting utilizing the Flip & Tumble Product Bag Set after we received them in the seven planet Oregon store and found that not only did they help us avoid bringing home any paper or plastic bags from the grocery store, but that we were able to keep our vegetables in them in the fridge as well. So, now every time we take out the celery or the carrots they are in the Flip & Tumble bags, which gives us another reason to talk to people about how amazing they are and how well they work…which is a great way to spread the message of mindful commerce.

This past week we had a bride to be call seven planet with interest in planning a unique and eco-friendly gift for her bridesmaids.  She specifically loved the Naturally Knotty Bamboo Pashmina Wraps and wanted them for everyone on the bride’s side of the wedding party.  These soft and comfy wraps have been a best seller in the stores for some time and it is clear why as they are warm, softer than you can believe and super sustainable.  Bamboo is easily one of the most scalable plant-based materials in the world and is being leverage to build water-bottles, paper products, clothing and housing materials.

This was a great moment for the company and for our mindful supplier Naturally Knotty as this is the future of mindful commerce.  Working to provide alternatives for products, a wrap for bridesmaids for a potentially chilly outdoor wedding, that are a more earth friendly options and that are crafted to last a life time.  

For us at seven planet, quality and sustainability go hand in hand.  We work to carry products that are precycled, upcycled, recycled and closed looped, but we also work to carry products that are built like how our grandparents built products…to outlast any of us.  This is the ultimate product form factor, 1) made from a sustainable materials in a eco-friendly fashion, 2) sells at a comparable price to past solutions, 3) lasts a life time or more and 4) naturally degrades should it ever need to be or 5) is upcycled into another product going forward.

If every company in the world built products with mindful commerce as their base, we would rapidly decrease consumption of what we all purchase and pass off into the wasteland.  We are glad that one bride and one wedding party is putting a wrap on it.

This is the question that our parents have been asking us for years.  We now ask our kids the same question essentially every day.  Up until recently the “YES” answer to that question usually required that some chemically-based soap, detergent or cleaner to be in the equation.  Not anymore.  It is often difficult to find products that even purists would say are as eco and human-friendly as possible, but CleanWell and their team have created some.

We initially were introduced to their products by my wife’s best friend down in the Bay Area when we were driving to dinner and our son was covered in a food mask.  She passed us the CleanWell Sanitizing Wipes and my wife was hooked.  She read about them on the package and then went to their site that night and read the back story on why the products were created.  It is an inspirational story of a father working to provide his immuno-depressed son with effective cleaning options that would not add burden to his health.

The story made us loyal users and seven planet ordered the CleanWell line for the stores and for the site.  We are working daily to introduce eco moms to these simple and effective alternatives to some of the “leading” sanitizers, soaps and cleansers that are dominating their purses, car consoles and junk drawers.  So, we hope you try CleanWell’s full line of products and help change the question to, “Is It CleanWell?”…as that is all you need to know.

It is pretty clear…the simplest products are the best products.  Think of the value you get and the simplicity of using a pencil or a Frisbee or a pair of sunglasses.  Each provides a critical utility (i.e. pencil = communication; Frisbee = activity; sunglasses = visibility), but each is a highly simplistic product that can last for decades and essentially anyone can find value in them.  Welcome the newest great simple product…the Lunchskins, the permanent sandwich bag replacement.

We have been talking a lot about this product and the company that invented it, 3 green moms, ever since we were their initial distributor in Oregon.  The product is available in the three primary sizes of sandwich and snack bags, are dishwasher safe and are made of certified food-safe fabric.  They are lead-free, bpa-free and phthalate-free and are hand-sewn in the USA.  Finally, they are beyond affordable, especially since you will eventually break even on them.

seven planet patrons starting buying the Lunchskins at a pretty good pace in 2009, but this year it has been insane.  Every mom that walks into a seven planet store or that visits the site seems to get them.  They then love them so much they tell their friends and they walk in and get a set or two.  In turn, this simple little product has become our bestseller both in the stores and on the site.  Last month alone we sold over 30 sets on our site to moms all over the country and even internationally.  We ran out of stock just once…we won’t let that happen again.

It is truly the next great simple product.  So, just like the Frisbee, the name of the product that launched a new product category, we think Lunchskins will be name by which all permanent sandwich bags will be called.  We think they can do it…we are just here to help.

Over the last year and a half my wife and I became regular coffee drinkers.  For those of you who drink coffee on a daily basis know what this means.  We have never been the 3 to 6 cups a day type people, but rather are one single cup a day.  However those individual cups are nearly always a sizable specialty coffee (e.g. 16oz. half-caff vanilla latte).  So it is pretty much the quantity, cost, and caffeine impact of a couple of traditional cups.  So, we really started seeing the impact both to the pocketbook as well as to the planet.

We found ourselves having to recycle, and even throw away, paper coffee cups and sleeves on a daily basis.  We found ourselves spending up to $7 a day (that is $210 a month and about $2500 a year) on the beverages and we found ourselves in line for many minutes a day (that is hours a week and about two days a year).  What would we do with $2500 and two days back at the end of a year if we stopped drinking coffee?  Well the answer is that we would simply find another way to spend those dollars and would fill the time with more things already neglected in our lives.  Besides, we were not ready to give up coffee as it is one of our beverage treats that keep the day and life more enjoyable.

However, it got us thinking about bringing our coffee making “in house”.  To start with we got a simple and inexpensive coffee machine, which we probably broke even on within two weeks.  Then we had find an amazing coffee that was equal to, or better than, anything we have received at our regular spots.  We wanted a coffee that would have a positive impact on the planet and that had the earth and the people that farm it as its primary priority.  Fortunately, Panagea Organica was at seven planet and they are local, organic and fair trade.  They have an amazing founding team, supports local community events and their coffee is superb.

So, we started going to seven planet and getting our custom blend of half caffeinated (roasted utilizing a hot air bed) and half de-caffeinated (de-caffeinated through a water process that is 100% chemical free) Panagea Organica blend for around $11 and it lasts for about two weeks.  We have one very large and very delicious cup a day and all we add is organic creamer and some organic pure cane sugar.  It sincerely tastes as good as any specialty cup we have had and we can sip it on our back porch in a ceramic mug passed down from a friend.  We are now saving a ton of coin, a lot of time and a little bit of the planet all in parallel.

Are you ever slightly baffled at how many plastic bags pop up in the nooks and crannies of your house? Between all the different types of plastic bags we use, the number really adds up fast, even if you’re diligent about taking your reusable grocery bags shopping. One type of bag that I’ve never been able to think of many alternative uses for is the laundry garment bag—they rip when they get stuck on hangers, usually don’t accommodate more than a few garments, and when was the last time you properly recycled one of these bags?

Our friends at Eco Drycleaner have an eco-minded philosophy that extends beyond the non-toxic methods they use to get your stains out. Besides utilizing wind power and recycling all their materials (including hangers!), to name a couple, Eco Drycleaner shows their dedication to sustainable practices by providing customers with a reusable, sturdy laundry bag to use for all future orders.

As this article mentions, who really knows who can truly be credited with the idea. What we do know is good environmentally-friendly ideas should be shared amongst all of us on the planet and utilized in a joint effort to help reduce the amount of plastic entering our landfills. At seven planet, we partner with businesses in the area that share our idea mindful commerce, which is why we serve as a neighborhood drop-off and pick-up location for Eco Drycleaner. Have an office or home near Chinatown? Swing in with your first round of dry cleaning and we’ll get you set up with a discount on your first order.

In 34 years on planet earth I think I have probably owned approximately 15 or so backpacks in my life.  They started as a way to get all of our school materials to class in grade school, then they became fashion items in junior high, and then they moved to definitive statement of who we thought we were in high school.  Once in the working world they often lose their place and make way to laptop bags, messenger bags and briefcases.  Not for me though, I have been utilizing hybrid backpack/laptop bags for about a decade now.

Then about three weeks ago, I purchased an Alchemy Goods (Ag) backpack from seven planet.  It was the 1st of the shipment that Ag had sent to Portland.  We opened the box and we were stunned at how amazing they really were.  We had seen the founder, Eli Reich, carrying a prototype many months earlier and we knew they were the future of backpacks.  Let me just give a simple overview.  It is made primarily of upcycled bicycle inner tubes, upcycled car seat belts and billboard materials.  It is actually made of 82% upcycled/recycled materials.  It is a deep bag with multiple storage compartments and is completely water proof.  It is lined with a new standard backpack material that helps complete its look.

Because each of them is a one of kind and because no one has ever seen a bag like it I have been asked more times about this backpack than any I have ever own.  It inherently leads to a discussion about Alchemy Goods, their work, their products and the difference they are making to save the planet.  It is a walking billboard for change.  It is amazing.  This bag is one that I will keep for life…literally.  I can tell it will outlast me…though I too am willing to be upcycled as well (I am an organ donor).

In 14 years of dating and 9 years of marriage I have never consistently gotten my wife flowers…until now.  botanica: floral design, a local and organic flower shop, moved into seven planet Oregon in April of 2010 and since then my wife finally has flowers in her life.  This is due to a couple of reasons including the convenience of getting the flowers right at the store, knowing that the flowers are truly local and grown by organic farmers and it is Josef, the proprietor of botanica:.  He has a great solution for busy men wanting to provide their spouses with flowers regularly.

Let me focus on this last feature of botanica: as they have a series of “Executive Flower Package” that you can buy in advance that provide you 5 to 7 floral arrangements over the course of a year synched with major holidays (Valentine’s Day, Easter, Mother’s Day, etc.).  It is amazing as you define the holidays that matter to you and your spouse and then the level of floral arrangements you want (“Apprentice” to “Chairman of the Board), and if you want custom cards and local vegan chocolates with them.

Your arrangements are custom designed by botanica: and packaged with your cards and you can either pick up them at seven planet Oregon or that will be delivered to your offices if you are in the greater downtown Portland, Oregon.  It is amazing because even if you tell your spouse that you are utilizing the program they still love the fact that these beautiful bouquets show up on the holidays and that you have some yummy treats and a card that you wrote yourself.  It honestly puts the process around providing flowers.  That may not seem too romantic, but then again never getting flowers anymore is often the alternative.