100% Recycled Laptop Sleeve

Shoreline has been making bags since 1995. In 2007, Tom and Debbie, the company Founders and Principals (and husband and wife), committed to converting all items they make to green material composition. The pair committed to completing this transition by the end of 2008. An incredibly aggressive deadline. As a result, these new efforts have taken on a new identity act2, the second act for Shoreline.

Tom's education in Conservation of Natural Resources at U.C. Berkeley combined with Debbie's green leaning history have moved the company significantly from its roots and has most certainly given them a firm appreciation for the work ahead. As Tom put it, “any company can make a few products green, we will commit to making them all green—and we'll tell people what that greenness is and what positive result it has.

GreenSmart is a journey, not a destination. The more GreenSmart decisions anyone makes, the easier it is for the planet to cope, be it waste, air, water or power.

Here's an exclusive evo.com interview with Tom from January 2008:

1) What was your "green moment"? (What triggered your desire to transition your business to fully sustainable practices?)

I have a degree in Conservation of Natural Resources with an emphasis in Impact Analysis from the University of California, Berkeley. I spent 6 years in energy management straight out of school, including two years with my own business. The receptivity to even saving money in the 80s was almost non-existent and it drove me to consumer products, so I've always had a deep "green" streak. Our moment was two fold, a new availability of alternative industrial fabrics combined with the awareness of how much petroleum goes into nylon based industrial fabrics. From this, we could rethink our product development and our product sourcing in Asia.

2) What has been the most interesting discovery you've made on this path to sustainability?

There have been a couple already. One is in the question you pose - sustainability. I had never heard it until last year. By definition, any businesses aim is to be sustainable in a financial sense, so I didn't get it. But, now, for certain people, it has a new "global" meaning. For some, it's carbon footprint, for others fair trade, for others something else. It can be a very charged concept, or a totally innocuous one, depending on the leanings of the speaker or listener. Almost certainly, it has a different meaning for everyone. Is being green, in and of itself, sustainable? At what level are the tradeoffs made acceptable? It can get pretty messy.

3) What have been some of the most significant challenges?

Without a doubt, the most difficult aspect is "rethinking" be it employees, vendors or Customers. As much as everyone wants New, New, New, they all want it with the least amount of change. Of course, those ideals are mutually exclusive, so we try to wrestle with them in a way that creates the smallest waves of panic, or non-acceptance. Getting acceptance in Asia is a challenge, without a doubt. They are very set in their ways of making it cheaper, cheaper, cheaper.

4) What resources have you found most helpful in guiding your journey?

Open communication. The best resources are discussion with vendors, Customers etc. Until the dialogue is opened, you won't typically find out that the choices already exist, the other party just didn't consider that "you" might be one to want the alternative. In many ways, being an existing company works against us in ways that being brand spanking new would not. We have assumptions in place with our value chain already. Those need to be broken and reconsidered.

5) What additional resources do you wish existed to guide you?

This one is difficult. To be honest, I'm still a very competitive individual. We've recognized that there is a market opportunity in our proposition in addition to "doing the right thing". Since we had to find our own path, I'm not sure I'd want the other businesses to have it any easier. On the other hand, I recognize that the planet does not benefit from the laggards doing nothing, so I am internally torn. I've heard the analogy to the Gold Rush, and I can say that this is exactly how it feels. Do you tell people, or even help them with their gold prospecting or processing when you're pretty busy taking care of your own gold - especially knowing how short the Gold Rush was?

That being said, I am providing a seminar at CAMEX (the College Bookstore Expo) next month and discussing Green. I'm not beyond sharing insights, but, I believe every business needs to learn first hand the process. We are in many ways all adolescents at this. The best way for adolescents to learn fastest is to take action and trip sometimes.

6) What advice would you share with others just getting started?

The first step is to determine whether you plan to be a green/sustainable Company, or a green/sustainable product vendor or both. They are very different. There will be lots of companies that make a few products greener. They will market them like crazy and try to ride a GreenWave. Others, like Levi Strauss for example, will continue to purchase more and more organic cotton (2% of ALL cotton purchased by Levi is organic), quietly making a greater difference through its sheer global reach than hundreds of micro green t-shirt suppliers combined. Dupont, 3M and others continue to reconsider their "input" making massive changes in entire value chains that will be unknown to the general consumer but create a significantly greener/sustainable business for themselves and their value chains.

My biggest advice, know your stuff, be authentic and communicate the appropriate story about what you're trying to accomplish. Most of all, do not make claims that can not be substantiated because there will always be someone out there to challenge the assumption. In the end, there really is NO full sustainability. By existing, we humans consume resources. We all want clean water, processed water treatment, easy access to lots of foods, etc., so the focus is on improvement, not perfection. There is no "end" to this journey. Do the best you can. Be better than others and set the pace for change. Move forward with integrity.