Since the early 2000s, Amit Sharma has worked with commerce giants like Walmart and Apple to build supply chain infrastructure. In 2012, he founded Narvar. If you've bought anything online in the past few years, you've no doubt interacted with Narvar. Brands like Sephora, Patagonia, Gap and Sonos, ship millions of products per year using Narvar's c…

Climate anxiety is real. Expounding environmental factors and consumer guilt can make it hard to want to click on the latest climate change headline. But, climate reporter Kendra Pierre-Louis has a track record for making climate change coverage go viral. For example, she wrote a story in The New York Times about evil purple urchins. Whenever clima…

For Emmett Shine, being in the right place at the right time was never a matter of luck — it was a matter of hustle. It was a practice in leveling up a bit before you're ready, but not overstretching. After designing, building, and strategizing some of the most iconic modern brands — from Sweetgreen and Whole Foods to Warby Parker and Everlane — hi…

Being ingrained in the tech startup world has taken Amit Gupta down a different path than most. After selling his first company Photojojo in 2014, he started traveling, writing sci-fi, and more recently, building Sudowrite. Sudowrite is an app for creative writers that uses AI to beat writer's block. You're probably familiar with predictive text mo…

An online identity is a cyclical existence that feeds on the past. Reggie James calls the pre-Facebook internet "proto-identity." From there, we quickly excelled from profile pages to performative identity, slicing up our full self into concise slivers. Reggie James is the CEO and founder of Eternal, a new kind of identity platform. He's rejecting …

As more product categories are getting "smarter," are they actually getting better? Wires, buttons and ports are disappearing from tech devices, meanwhile microchips and apps are being introduced to products that, for decades, have worked just fine without them. Tyler Mincey is always thinking about the long view of new products. He's brought his d…

Accelerated by dire circumstance, ecommerce had record growth over the past year. But behind all those order confirmations and tracking numbers, supply chains and logistics were stretched further than ever. Returning guest Laura Behrens Wu is the CEO and founder of the shipping platform, Shippo and she had a front row seat to watch the rapid growth…

In his blog post titled My Life Countdown, Kevin Kelly cites a friend's philosophy of approaching your life's projects in 5-year chunks. His newest project, Vanishing Asia has broken this 5-year rule, clocking in at 5 decades. Every one of his trips to Asia in the past fifty years has led to this 1000-page, three-volume book, capturing 9,000 photos…

For the past few decades, Jeremiah McElwee has not only had a front row seat to some of the most significant growth in the natural products industry, he's been one of the people in the driver's seat. As part of the Thrive Market team since its origin, Jeremiah has led everything from category growth and farm partnerships to product packaging and th…

There are a number of ways that the wellness industry can feel exclusionary. Sometimes, a product's information is overly complex and other times it's pitched as a total lifestyle overhaul. But sustainable growth is often slow and healthy changes are gradual. In the three years since launching Golde, Trinity Mouzon Wofford is perfecting her knack f…

After 27 years as the iconic mind behind J.Crew creative, Jenna Lyons is a few months into the launch of a brand new startup – Loveseen. Of course, her decades of creative and marketing success are invaluable to her new pursuit, but she admits that she still has a lot she has to learn. Visit the Lumi blog for links and images.…

When you order a Take Back bag from For Days, you fill it with old clothes (in any condition, from any brand), ship it back to them, and they give you store credit. But behind that very simple exchange is a complex supply chain that's built on circularity. When founder Kristy Caylor learned that on average, each person in the US sends 70 pounds of …

In the summer of 2018, we talked to Hilary Milnes about how retail isn't dead but it's changing, the struggle of shuttering department stores, and innovative ways that online and offline shopping can intersect. Over two years later, it's a case of same same but different. Hilary is still covering retail and fashion, but as the Americas Editor for V…

When consumers see a brand that claims to be "sustainable," reporter Alden Wicker encourages them to investigate. Every product's supply chain has different sustainability opportunities, so sustainability strategies will look different for every brand. First, she says brands have to acknowledge that sustainability is not binary. One product can be …

When you're researching a sustainability topic, it can feel like a Russian nesting doll of rabbit holes — you often end up with more questions than when you started. The good news is, if you find yourself deliberating the gray areas of sustainability, then you're in the right place. Ian Montgomery says that designing for sustainability is all about…

The first step to making Cyclon, On's recyclable shoe, was to use a single family of materials — polyamide (made from castor beans!). But that's just one piece of the cradle-to-cradle puzzle. To capture the shoes for recycling, they've developed a subscription model and a dedicated recycling stream. Staying true to the mission, these shoes aren't r…

After four years as Slack's Head of Global Design and before taking her new role at Facebook, Kristy Tillman brought her side projects to the forefront. Kristy has a list of impressive side projects in her creative think tank, Tomorrow Looks Bright. It's a place where she does more than invite herself to the table — she creates the table and sits a…

Before Rumpl, sleeping-bag-style puffy blankets were predominantly marketed to Alpine athletes. Rumpl didn't invent the category, but founder and CEO, Wylie Robinson is doing everything he can to expand it. Wylie likes to ask people a simple question, "How many blankets do you have at home?" Then he asks, "How many of the brands can you name?" Outs…

By his own account, Boll & Branch founder, Scott Tannen knows that his bedding brand may not be the first that comes to mind when you think of "cool" DTCs. The branding is classic and the style feels universal, but dig into the Boll & Branch supply chain and you'll find that they're totally changing the game for how textiles can (and should) be man…

If you bought a Bellroy wallet when the company launched a decade ago, you're probably still using it. For the past ten years, while they've worked to slim down your every day carry, they've slimmed down their environmental impact behind the scenes. CEO and co-founder Andy Fallshaw has a unique brand of optimism that's a constant ebb and flow betwe…

By definition, an heirloom has proved that it's resilient, timeless, and special enough to have been passed down for generations. That's how Schoolhouse started, with the discovery of a collection of cast-iron molds that stood the test of time. For the past 18 years, Schoolhouse has designed and manufactured high quality home goods with "heirloom q…

In April, Shopify launched Shop, the consumer-facing counterpart to Shopify. In the app, buyers have direct access to thousands of companies selling through Shopify. The Shop app not only connects shoppers to brands of all sizes, but it makes the checkout flows we're used to feel incredibly arduous and clunky. Even with its intuitive UI, simple pay…

Emily Singer is the creator of the newsletter Chips + Dips. A couple times a month, she shares news about consumer brands and marketing trends, but her insights get deeper than data. She draws perceptive connections amidst brands, but she also gets personal, making the newsletter feel like a DTC diary. In the newsletter's 26th issue, Emily is four …

The slow pace of the pandemic has given many of us the opportunity to take a step back and reexamine our impact on people and the planet. This slower pace may seem counterintuitive in the face of urgent crises like climate change and systemic racism, but Céline Semaan and her team at Slow Factory have decided that it's the right pace for real, last…

At the beginning of the pandemic, we all discovered that toilet paper is a product that we've taken for granted. But since 2012, Danny Alexander, Co-founder and CPO of Who Gives A Crap has unraveled the true potential of the stuff. From launch, Who Gives a Crap has had purpose built into their business. They donate half of all their profits to non-…

In the US, more people are shopping online than ever. This stark jump in ecommerce has left a lot of industry experts asking how new ecommerce businesses can successfully launch in the midst of a pandemic, where does the ecommerce experience still falls short, and if the pandemic has permanently changed how we shop. To answer all these questions, w…

Most of the spices you buy at the grocery store are several years old, but that's only part of the problem. When Diaspora Co. founder Sana Javeri Kadri discovered how disconnected US spice pantries are from their origins, she started a company to change how we think about our spice supply chains. Diaspora Co. is one of only a few direct trade spice…

Five months into a pandemic, going to the grocery store requires much more than a reusable tote. You're probably suiting up with a mask, hand sanitizer, and a grocery list to make sure that you're in and out as quickly as possible. Ithaca Hummus can only be found in grocery stores but the founder, Chris Kirby, built the brand to be flexible so they…

"Intersectional environmentalist." You may have heard those two words separately, but Leah Thomas was the first person to put them together. "Intersectional" is a powerful framework that, when combined with the environmentalist movement, illuminates issues of inequity in climate change. As Leah Thomas talks about in this episode, Eric Garner's last…

One of the biggest obstacles for True Botanicals was the preconceived notion that natural products don't work as well as those riddled with toxins. To prove the potency of natural ingredients, True Botanicals invested in top notch suppliers promoting biodiversity and clinical trials to prove that these ingredients outperformed leading skincare prod…

Every time you order an item from a seller on Etsy, the company offsets the emissions created from shipping that order. Since the start of this initiative in February of last year, Etsy has invested in offsetting 173,000 metric tons of CO2. While offsetting these emissions accomplishes a big goal for the Etsy Sustainability team, Director of Sustai…

On our podcast, we talk about changing patterns of consumption to mitigate the risk of climate change, but we've overlooked a huge blindspot — how climate change disproportionally and profoundly harms communities of color. Full episode transcript available.By Stephan Ango

A fridge that's full of Methodology meals isn't stacked with disposable trays. A Methodology fridge is stocked with columns of colorful foods, visible through glass jars. Founder Julie Nguyen knows that the Methodology audience is niche — busy people who value high quality, sustainable ingredients — but since they launched five years ago, she's see…

The tile industry moves slowly, but when Eric Edelson joined the Fireclay Tile team, he was set on speeding things up. They were making a phenomenal product and it felt like they’d hit their limit in wholesale. In a sort of eureka moment, Eric penned a new manifesto/business model for a going direct to consumer. That was in 2008. With new flexibili…

If you already know that kombucha is fermented tea, you're in the minority. If you drink it, you're in an even smaller minority. In the US, only 17% of US households drink kombucha. The idea of a fermented tea made from a hunk of slimy-looking culture is not immediately appetizing, but the taste and health benefits have appealed to people for thous…

The very nature of an emergency is that you don't know when it's coming. It's this vast unknown that paralyzes most people from making plans for worst-case scenarios. Simon Huck, CEO and co-founder of Judy says that people who are unprepared often fall victim to thinking that emergencies could never happen to them or being overwhelmed by all the pr…

Another Tomorrow launched in January, and already they've built an impressive criteria of sustainability standards to keep their supply chain ethical for human, animals, and the planet. Those are the three pillars of their business. Vanessa Barboni Hallik didn't start in fashion. She started in finance, but as she was researching more sustainable f…

Davis Smith is the founder of Cotopaxi and to grow his team, he's built an environment where people can create. One of the most physical manifestations of those creations is the Del Dia Collection of bags. They're repurposed from remnants of fabric and each bag is a one-of-a-kind colorway, designed by the craftspeople sewing them. As they've grown …

In the midst of a pandemic, businesses and consumers are prompted to hurry up and wait. Meanwhile, the definition of essentials is governed, retail locations are ordered to close, and more and more people are out of work. While a period of in-between can feel stagnant, Rhone founder Nate Checketts decided to take action. He recruited 20 brands to j…

With fewer cars on the road, COVID-19 could lead to the biggest drop in emissions since WWII, but this stat doesn't paint a full picture of the pandemic's environmental impact. Sustainability is complicated, and journalist Alden Wicker is an expert in navigating the nuances. Alden worries that the strain on businesses could set back environmental p…

In many ways, the cannabis industry still feels like a grey area. That's why Recess founder Benjamin Witte didn't set out to build a brand on top of an ingredient — he wanted to build a brand on top of a feeling. The creative community has adopted the fruit-infused CBD drink with open arms, which is very much by design. The pastel gradients, neon s…

Barkbox hasn't followed the conventional direct-to-consumer-brand growth plan. Since launching Barkbox in 2012, Henrik Werdelin and his co-founders have launched several companion brands including Super Chewer and Bark Bright — dog dental hygiene products. These products may seem obvious, but the strategy behind them is not. Rather than expanding f…

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