Other environmental practices

Our environmental responsibility goes beyond farming and manufacturing.  Some practices may seem insignificant, but we believe that everything we do is important. Since we are a European company, we do all our photography in Europe to minimize travel-related carbon emissions. All the paper that we use is 100% recycled. Our catalogues are made from 100% recycled paper, printed with non-toxic inks. Our packages are sent in 100% recycled cardboard boxes. The bins in our warehouse are re-used cardboard boxes.

Our headquarters and 2 retail stores were designed and built to reduce environmental impact and save energy. We have only one elevator at our headquarters (none in our stores) and that’s for moving heavy packages.  We take the stairs. Good for our hearts and for the planet. Our electricity is supplied by alternative energy companies. We have comprehensive waste separation and recycling.  And no air conditioning. If you don’t think that’s a sacrifice to our comfort, come visit us in August.

We try to minimize the use of transportation as much as possible. What we do is have the whole garment produced in the region where the fiber is grown, whenever possible, so that transporting a garment through various stages of production is kept to a minimum. We also choose the least environmentally harmful type of transport. While ships are preferable to airplanes, transporting this way is not always possible. One example is that several Asian countries require shipped goods to be chemically treated with pesticides due to the tropical climate. Since hessnatur will not permit chemical pesticides, we can’t transport from those countries by ship.

By no means are our practices perfect. But, we believe in the old saying that practice makes perfect.  And, gradually, that’s what we hope to be.