Evidence that there’s a global movement underway by the promotional products industry to operate more sustainably is mounting.

Two recent examples highlighting the trend come from Europe-based suppliers – Kingly Ltd., which has operations in the United Kingdom, Bulgaria and New York City, and Netherlands-headquartered Clipper Interall.

Kingly Launches Upcycling Project

Kingly, which makes apparel and accessories, just announced its new Upcycling Project. The initiative centers on the company retrieving and reusing textile waste to make new products.

It works like this: Small, offcut fibers that fall to the factory floor during the manufacture of socks are gathered up and given a new life by being turned into stuffing for printed pillowcases and furniture.

“The mission is to inspire and educate people on upcycling and repurposed design and how to do it on a larger scale,” said Rob Armour, CEO of Kingly.

Beyond the Upcycling Project, Kingly operates what it describes as a zero-waste facility in Sofia, Bulgaria. The supplier offers products that include upcycled cotton socks in compostable bags and GOTS organic socks, which have been shortlisted for the 2022-23 Product Awards from the British Promotional Merchandise Association, a trade organization serving the promo industry in the United Kingdom.

According to the supplier: By buying Kingly’s upcycled socks in compostable bags compared to more traditional alternatives, Kingly clients have, through the end of October, saved 25,075,314 liters of water and 93,592 kW/h of energy. Carbon footprint has been minimized by 38,397 kg.

“One of Earth’s biggest polluters is the textile and apparel industry,” said Armour. “Recognizing that we are at an important crossroad, my team and I are dedicated to providing the best sustainable earth-friendly products.”

At UK's biggest #promoproducts trade show this past week, @MerchWorld_UK, sustainability & in-person relationship-building took center stage. First major show for the market since before pandemic. Full report here: https://t.co/vbI2OvkdnI @ASI_MBell @asicentral

— Chris Ruvo (@ChrisR_ASI) April 16, 2022

Clipper Interall Partners With Global Sustainable Enterprise System

Rotterdam-based Clipper Interall has linked up with the Global Sustainable Enterprise System (GSES), a platform based on third-party verified data that uses what’s described as accepted standards that holistically measure the sustainability performance of organizations, supply chains, projects and products.

As a result of the collaboration between Clipper Interall and GSES, the supplier’s business customers will be able to see at a glance how sustainable a particular promotional product from the supplier is, as evaluated on various key pillars, executives said.

“Clipper Interall is committed to provide promotional products with a minimal environmental impact,” said Ruben van ’t Loo, director at Clipper Interall. “Those products are produced according to strict ethical standards, and meet the highest European safety standards. The partnership with GSES allows us to have our collection independently assessed for sustainability against the pillars that are important to us.”

GSES translates more than 500 existing certificates and labels into a universal standard and allows organizations and products without certificates to be measured on sustainability. To ensure the integrity of the data used (“anti-greenwashing”), GSES works with a network of officially qualified certification institutions that audit the data supplied by companies to support their organizations’ or products’ sustainability claims.

GSES is excited about the partnership with Clipper Interall.

“This is a great addition in the promotional gift market,” said CEO/founder Kelly Ruigrok. “Clipper Interall noticed the trend that sustainably produced promotional products are more important to customers, so I am happy that we can support this.”

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