Sustainable shopping has a new first stop in Sweden and it’s called Green Little Heart, an online shopping mall with every single imaginable eco-friendly item from beauty to fashion, from shoes to bed sheets, from jewellery to bathroom furniture, reusable coffee mugs to relaxing teas… They have it all!
Green Little Heart shares knowledge and tips to help us live a more sustainable life, but they also take to the task of researching and carefully selecting companies to open an online store with them. All the companies that sell their products with Green Little Heart use only natural ingredients, with ecological and zero waste production processes. Some of their vendors use recycled materials and even offer the possibility to return the items you buy from them, like shoes or bags or clothes, for them to then repurpose the materials. Talk about a full life circle for a product! The companies selected to be a part of Green Little Heart also take great responsibility when it comes to inclusion and diversity, they are all ethical.
We had the chance to interview Therese Lundquist, founder and CEO of Green Little Heart to learn more about this sustainable universe.
Why did you feel the need to start Green Little Heart?
Green Little Heart was born from the need to enable more green, sustainable and conscious choices. With increased knowledge, you create space for conscious choices in your everyday life, which in turn will bring prosperity for our animals, our planet and for us as humans. To live more sustainably means taking great responsibility and it requires willpower. Green Little Heart is a marketplace where knowledge and inspiration are gathered and shared. This will make it easier to live a more sustainable life. We connect that willpower with amazing ethical brands and products.
Why should anyone go to and/or shop at Green Little Heart?
Because we, together with our team of sustainability experts, have gathered ethical, sustainable and natural products made by brands that do good for people, animals and our planet. In our online marketplace you will find clothes, beautiful things for your home, jewellery, articles, beauty products and much more – all made by reputable brands that pay fair wages, work with inclusion and take great responsibility for their production. We also plant a tree for every purchase a customer makes with us. We are the first company in the Nordics of this kind. We will not work with reducing the price as a driver.
Sustainability is a very broad term, what does it mean for Green Little Heart?
The concept of sustainability, here in the world of Green Little Hearts, also includes human rights, social justice – where women and children are particularly vulnerable – as well as structural factors and humanity, in addition to the economic and production-related factors such as using sustainable materials or ingredients. We think that everything is connected in an ecosystem where we all have a responsibility. You can make a difference. We lift and inspire dialogue and understanding. There are too many polarising forces today and we would rather see them working towards understanding each other, developing and taking action towards a sustainable world – for all its inhabitants.
One of the things we love the most about Green Little Heart is that apart from giving you ideas and tips to live more sustainably, if you want to become a more conscious consumer, you don’t have to go anywhere else and browse the web for sustainable products. You can find pretty much everything in one single place, and when we say everything, we really mean it.
What’s your favourite product that Green Little Heart is selling?
Choosing one is really impossible, each one of our brands is amazing at being eco-friendly and they all have fabulous stories to tell. But we can mention a few of the incredible brands that we have that are very popular among our customers, such as Melvita, a brand that is known as one of the pioneering organic beauty brands in France. Melvita works with selected growers to guarantee nature’s own capacity to be able to regrow and they have developed their own policy for sustainable harvesting. From the mountain ranges of Vercors to the Chilean slopes, the quality of the ingredients and their imprint on nature are ensured. Melvita also uses recycled and recyclable plastic as far as possible and prefers screen printing instead of affixed labels.
Another brand to highlight is The ACE bag, a Circular Fashion brand designing sustainable, fashionable & functional bags from recycled fishing nets rescued from the bottom of the ocean and other nylon waste. Their bags are so cool and they can be used for so many purposes, besides once your bag is a little bit old, instead of throwing it away, you can return it to the company and they will recycle and repurpose 100%.
Last but not least I’d like to mention 1People, a sustainable luxury brand that designs effortlessly timeless looks for conscious-minded women so that they can stay stylish in an ethical, high-quality fashion. They produce the coolest handbags, clothes, scarfs, sunglasses, shoes, swim wear, etc. All meticulously handcrafted by their artisans, offering simplicity and versatility, whilst providing a sustainable solution for women wanting more from their wardrobe.
Some of YLC’s favourite products from this unique sustainable shopping mall are the toilets and sinks made out of wood composite material, which is much kinder to our environment than ceramic ones. There is also a company producing long-lasting linen bed sheets. Another favourite is a company producing shampoo and hand wash in powder form, delivered in envelopes, so you just add water at home and the products are ready to use. We are also particularly taken at the moment by a brand called Me Anima and its organic skin care oils made from natural and fine raw materials that calm the cells’ ageing process, carefully caring for both body and soul in a way that is completely unique. And these are just a few worth mentioning. If you visit Green Little Heart’s blog you will be able to read the stories of each one of their vendors, they are all taking amazing strides to save our planet.
What has been the best thing with starting Green Little Heart?
To know that we are acting upon being the change we want to see in the world. After this pandemic that we are now going through, it is even more clear how important it is to act together – we are all part of this world. We as humans need to change how we consume and it is not always easy. We at Green Little Heart want to make it easier. You should not have to spend too much time looking for certified sustainable products. We’ll do that. Everything in our green universe has a Green Little Heart stamp. Not only do these companies or inspirers take responsibility for the production chain, which must be sustainable, but they also work actively to ensure that fair conditions prevail for those who work with production.
So hesitate no more, if you want to become a more conscious consumer, head over to Green Little Heart and shop with your mind at ease that you are taking home a well-thought out product that will not harm you, nor our planet. If this isn’t enough remember that a tree will be planted after each purchase, so it doesn’t get greener than that.
