Sustainable local brands in the spotlight at Shop the Change event as part of Go Green SG

Jun 15, 2023

SINGAPORE – Shop the Change – a month-long shopping event featuring local eco-friendly brands – will be part of Go Green SG in July.

Previously known as Climate Action Week, Go Green SG is a month-long event that will be launched by Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on June 30.

The islandwide movement is led by the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment.

Shoppers can support local brands during Shop the Change at Design Orchard from July 3 to Aug 10.

Design Orchard, managed by the Singapore Fashion Council, is a multi-agency project by the Singapore Tourism Board, Enterprise Singapore and JTC Corporation. It integrates retail and incubation spaces for new and emerging designers in the lifestyle and fashion sector to groom and prepare them for a broader overseas market.

Go Green SG aims to raise stronger awareness among Singaporeans about environmental sustainability and rally collective action towards a green, liveable and climate-resilient Singapore.

Three of the 17 local brands participating in Shop the Change spoke to The Straits Times on their sustainability efforts.

ChopValue, started in Vancouver in 2016, transforms discarded single-use chopsticks into a wood replacement for furniture and home decor.

ChopValue Singapore is the brand's first international franchise, and all its products are made and distributed locally.

It collects used disposable bamboo chopsticks from places such as Telok Ayer, Lau Pa Sat and Yuhua Village Food Centre in Jurong, and repurposes them into a new material which is then made into furniture and accessories for the home and office.

Some 10,854 chopsticks go into an office desk, while 150 are needed for a mobile phone stand.

As a distributor of botanical hair care products, Ms Lynn Tan was struck by the amount of carbon emissions produced by the transportation of conventional shampoos from production plant to consumer.

She saw the removal of the water component in shampoos to make the products lighter and much easier to transport as a way to reduce their carbon footprint, and The Powder Shampoo was born in 2021.

All the brand's shampoos are made in a factory in Pasir Panjang.

The company packages its products in recycled or recyclable aluminium bottles and recyclable and compostable paper pouches.

For every product sold, one tree is planted by the firm in partnership with Tree Nation, offsetting the brand's carbon footprint.

Ms Claudia Yong co-founded Re-store with her mother and aunt in 2020 when she discovered that single mothers were among those retrenched when the Covid-19 pandemic impacted jobs.

The brand is a social enterprise that employs women who Ms Yong feels do not get equal work opportunities.

Apart from single mothers, she employs women with disabilities and athletes who do not have stable incomes, and they repurpose textile scraps into tote bags, handbags, bucket hats and hair ties.

At least 80 per cent of each product is made from remnant textiles from upholstery businesses and cotton, linen and denim clothes donated by consumers.

Singapore generated about 189,000 tonnes of textile waste in 2022.

It can cost more to be a sustainable shopper as the brands’ products are more costly than mass-produced goods.

ChopValue's mobile phone stands sell for $16 each, compared with$5 for a plastic one. The Powder Shampoo's namesake product sells for $39.90 for 100g, which gives around 100 washes.

However, there is no shortage of business, the companies say, citing the changing mindset of Singapore consumers towards practising sustainability.

"I don't think customers are put off by the higher price," said Ms Sherrlyn Sim, business development manager of ChopValue.

"Some shoppers do have concerns because they will say that they can get it at a much lower price," she added.

Ultimately, the benefit of circulating used material for manufacturing without the need to tap virgin resources outweighs the higher price point, said Ms Sim.

Mr Tom Hudson, marketing communications manager of The Powder Shampoo, cited the higher cost of eco-friendly ingredients as one of the reasons behind the shampoo's price tag.

"But when you work it out per wash, it's not expensive at all. Once you explain all that, people love the product and keep coming back," he said.

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