Why Should Your Business be Sustainable?

Why should your business be sustainable? Here are 5 important ways to become more aware of environmental sustainability in business.

We all know the importance of looking after our planet. We know about its fragility and how it’s important to do everything we can to keep the planet sustainable for future generations. As a business owner, you should ask yourself: 'Why does my business need to be sustainable?' Work out a strategy to implement sustainability practices in your company’s culture.

It's a fact – the more your business can reduce carbon emissions and recycle, the more sustainable it will be in years to come. So use your leadership role to make this happen.

Think About your Business's Competitive Advantage 

There’s a reason many people compare committing to sustainability to investing in your business’s competitive advantage. This does not only mean being sustainable by reducing plastic and recycling in the workplace. 

You also need to take your employees into account. You must make employees' working conditions better and safer and care more about their welfare. An added plus of doing this is employee retention. 

What is sustainability? Now, this includes the products and services you offer. You must make sure that these are all sustainable, too.

We call this the triple bottom line. That is business jargon for how a business cares about the environment and the welfare of its employees. It's not just about the company’s economic ‘bottom line’ (how much profit you make). It’s about having a sustainability strategy, how you care about the planet, and how you retain employees. This can help your business save money in several ways, too.

As designers, it’s important to be aware of the importance of sustainability in business, especially in the fashion industry. We have compiled an invaluable guide on fashion sustainability for you, so check it out!

Why use Sustainable Business Practices?

The fashion/textiles industry is the second most polluting industry in the world. 

But we can change this and create more sustainability through positive action and attitude. This is why it’s vital to manufacture using more sustainable methods. We need to take energy conservation seriously and cut down on pollution.

Now is the time to make your business’s strategy and all business practices more sustainable overall. We all have to consider the future of our planet. You’ll also find that being sustainable will reduce costs and increase profits.

If you are already doing this, it's time to discuss how you can focus on manufacturing long-lasting, eco-friendly products and have a happy workforce. It’s time to say no to fast fashion.

Read more about sustainable innovation and the way forward in sustainable business practices in our informative guide on the subject. Check out how fast fashion is damaging our planet by reading this sustainable fashion guide.

What are Sustainable Businesses?

All sustainable businesses should embrace this key focus: 'Repair and protect our planet'. 

This involves considering every action your business undertakes and its consequential impact. Importantly, this sustainability strategy includes manufacturing, HR, shipping, product development, and everything in between. 

Every business can improve its sustainability in some facet. Let's begin with sustainability. 

How to Improve the Sustainability of Your Business

It's a matter of fact: a business involved in manufacturing needs to focus on reducing its environmental impact in several ways. These include waste minimisation policies, reducing carbon emissions, and continuous improvement systems. These are all examples of how to improve business sustainability strategies.

A services business focuses mainly on using resources to provide its customer services. One way to achieve that strategy is by holding virtual meetings instead of travelling to meet one another. And use local suppliers, too. Another way is to collaborate with companies with a similar mindset about sustainability. 

You can choose from several ways to make your business more sustainable for the future. Let’s take a look at how humans are harming our planet. And let's think about how we can make our companies more sustainable to alleviate this.

Companies Consider These Important 'Green' Practices:

Make sure to take all of these sustainability points into consideration:

Climate Change & Pollution

The main cause of climate change and pollution is fossil fuels (coal, gas and oil). 

We use these resources to create energy to manufacture goods. This has created a shift in weather patterns. For this reason, many companies use renewable resources (wind and solar panels) instead of electricity to reduce these emissions. 

To increase your sustainability, you can find an energy supplier that uses only renewable energy. The more companies and individuals that demand this, the more the energy companies will change their business model and investment. 

maake is an avid user of only 100% renewable energy in our factory and data centres that host our web services. 

We do this because we believe in the importance of manufacturing items sustainably. Pollution can result from every aspect of your business, directly and indirectly. It’s a perennial issue that we all need to tackle. 

Sustainability examples include air pollution from the courier’s van or plane and burning oils and natural gases to heat buildings. Let's not forget about water pollution. This is a by-product of your business and involves production waste going to landfill. 

Conserving Natural Resources     

A sustainable business uses every strategy possible to reduce waste and to minimise the use of unsustainable materials. If we follow this example, we're well on the way to being green ourselves. We’re guaranteeing a better future. 

Natural resources don’t just include the raw materials used in our products and packaging. They include other business processes, too. We're talking about computers, office supplies, and shop fittings. Similarly, companies can use natural light instead of electricity to save natural resources. 

Cut down on office printing, too – don’t print emails and other items. There are many ways your businesses can embrace sustainability and become more energy-efficient. For instance, why not choose more sustainable printing methods for fabric, like we do at maake. 

Being Socially Responsible

Social responsibility involves the people you work with, those who work for you, and your suppliers. Remember: your staff is an important resource. Do everything you can to create a fair, safe workplace that promotes equality and well-being for all. And make sure to foster an environment that embraces your mission. 

maake focuses on building a diverse, inclusive team and culture where all voices are welcomed and heard. This culture of belonging reflects the diversity of the creatives we work with, the people who print our products, and the companies we serve.

We are proud to be London Living Wage and are committed to paying staff fairly and being an open and responsible employer. Our founders believe strongly in equal pay and opportunity between gender, race, religion, and otherwise.

maake Knows About Business Sustainability

Our team are passionate about sustainability, and are constantly searching for insights to reduce our environmental impact. We make sure all our suppliers are REACH-accredited. They need to conform to our stringent social responsibility standards. 

These include not using child labour in any part of your company, applying fair wages, and offering decent working conditions. 

Use only socially responsible suppliers. This way, you can change whole communities for the better.

Simple Sustainability Regulations to Follow in Your Business

• Follow these simple sustainability practices and regulations:
• Use materials and technology that are less harmful to the planet
• Use recycled or organic fabrics
• Print textiles digitally. Don't use traditional printing methods
• Insist on Oeke-tex-approved inks

• 
• • • Reduce the footprint in the supply chain
    • Buy local
    • If you can’t buy an item locally, get it from overseas. But before you do this, think about its footprint
    • Upcycle.

    Read our excellent guide on fabric certification to find out how you can be more sustainable in your fabric choices.

    Follow maake's Lead: Save Energy & Water

    • Our textile printing machines use very little energy. 
    • Our textile printing processes use zero water. They don't create any dirty water effluent, a common pollutant in the textile industry.
    • We have automatic off-switches to avoid using excess energy.
    • Take your customers into account; they are becoming increasingly aware of being more sustainable. Customers consider several points before they buy something. 
    • Educate your employees and the community about sustainability.
    • People need to be aware of the problems that the planet is facing. This way, they can help to make a positive long-term impact.

    Interested? Here are 5 Ways for Companies to Embrace Business Sustainability

    Here’s some advice on how to improve sustainability initiatives if you’re interested:

    1. Use Environmentally Friendly Products

    Sustainability is an important consideration for companies that manufacture and package products. 

    New and innovative technological methods are used constantly to help global consumers become more sustainable in their manufacturing process. 

    You need to consider the whole value chain of the products you use to make products. 

    This includes raw materials, finishing items, packaging and marketing materials. 

    You can dream big and start small. Let's face it, any positive change towards sustainability is a step in the right direction.

    This is why maake uses sustainable and eco-friendly printing methods to print on our fabrics. 

    Actually, we do much more to be a sustainable business.

    Our mission is to reduce our impact on the environment and the world. You will see that many of the textiles in our wide selection of fabrics are sustainably manufactured.

    Our development team is constantly looking for innovative new fabrics to add to our range or replace existing ones. 

    These fabrics include recycled polyester material made from recycled plastic bottles. maake also uses organic GOTS-certified cotton fabrics produced at sustainable farms.

    We will only source from REACH–accredited mills and Oeko-tex®–approved inks. And we are constantly trying to reduce the footprint of our fabrics, by working with local mills to develop these fabrics.

    Remember, you can use sustainability in every aspect of your businesses. 

    2. Collaborate With Local & Eco-aware Partners

    maake is a UK-based business. We do everything to ensure that our manufacturing process focuses on sustainability. 

    Note: many of our base fabrics are woven, knitted, or dyed in the UK. This provides customers with a fully circular UK product. We collaborate with sustainable companies as partners in every aspect of our business. 

    We also collaborate with like-minded companies who believe in furthering education and social responsibility. With our services, you order only what you need. That way we keep over-production, stock, and wastage to practically zero.

    Some of the ways you can work to find sustainable business partners : 

    • Manufacturing: Visit the factory yourself and verify their credentials. Ask about their sustainability goals. And watch how they recycle.
    • Packaging: Insist on local suppliers who use recycled materials and have sustainability practices in place.
    • Shipping: Choose low-carbon couriers like Royal Mail. They have the lowest reported footprint per parcel delivery in the UK. 

    3.  Reduce, Reuse, Recycle  

Reduce

Cut out the amount of harmful chemicals and other materials used for manufacturing your products. 

Try to reduce unsustainable products in the office. These include single-use, disposable cups, plastic crockery and cutlery. Use more sustainable glass or ceramic items.

Reuse

Reuse items, don't discard them. Every action makes a difference.  One example is: re-use discarded cardboard boxes for storage. You are sure to find several delivered to your business.

Additionally, when you print, use both sides of the paper. 

Recycle

This involves placing used items in recycling bins. That way, they can be recycled by others. Bins exist for every type of recyclable material including paper, plastic, batteries, cans, you name it. 

Why not consider using recycled paper? It requires less emissions, energy, and water to manufacture. 

Were you aware that computers cause huge amounts of toxic waste? This is why it's important to recycle them through the correct channels. Ensure that none of the materials you use end up as waste.

Upcycle

maake offers an upcycling service for customers. This diverts unwanted products from ending up in landfill. 

You can now order FREE 1,2.5 and 1,5kg upcycling bags filled with assorted plain fabric offcuts.

Order Your FREE fabric Upcycling Bag online

These are available for collection or shipping.

P.S. Your fabric offcuts come with our maake certificate to show the world you are taking action! You can also join our maakeLess Fabric Waste Charity and use your force for good on a bigger scale. Explore the link to find out more.

4. Renewable Energy for Increased Profits

Here are some tips on decreasing your energy use and enjoying increased profits.

Smart  Meters

Let's face it, it's important to know how much energy your business is using before you can start reducing energy.

Some UK energy suppliers provide their customers with smart meters to help them create sustainable business practices. These measure how much energy a company is using.

This will help you work out how to reduce energy. Make sure you have an up-to-date Energy Performance Certificate (EPC). It lists how much energy you save and gives support and ideas on improving your score. 

We are all aware that electrical appliances consume the most energy. These include computers, printers, factory equipment, lights, and temperature heating/cooling machines. 

Timers

Try to conserve energy on all your appliances. Support this initiative by installing a timer on cooling or heating systems. This is very important if your employees work from home. Or use strategy and plan your production to reduce energy consumption. 

Small changes can help save energy, decrease your company’s financial problems, and increase your sustainability. These include switching to timed light switches and using LED bulbs. 

A few More Ideas

So, we know that laptops are more energy-efficient than desktop computers. Remind your employees to unplug their laptops after charging. This way they can support efforts to be more energy efficient. 

maake uses using 100% renewable energy in our London mill. We ensure our textile printing is only powered by wind and waves. 

Read more about the positive impacts that we make and our commitment to sustainable innovation and social responsibility here.

5.  Measure Your Carbon Footprint 

The UK wants to reduce its footprint to zero by 2050.  Local companies are doing their utmost to be more sustainable. Perhaps the 2050 target is a possibility. Work out how you can help achieve this sustainability goal.

Use this calculator to measure your footprint. Think about all the ways your company can reduce its emissions. Aside from what you do in the office; there are many other ways to reduce your footprint. 

If your staff works from home, this saves on petrol for travel. Use renewable energy, buy local, and become one of the world’s carbon-neutral companies. 

Read how to do this below:

Make Your Business Carbon-Neutral

Did you know? There's one important way you can make a small business more sustainable. Yes, you need to ensure it produces less carbon dioxide than it uses. 

Here’s how to do this:

1. Calculate your footprint (view above).
2. Do everything to reduce your company's footprint.
3. Find out how to support going green and reduce global emissions.
4. Get your business certification.
5. Be vocal about your company’s business model and its aim to reduce its footprint.