Zach Hamilton
Western New England University
Stacie Chappell
Keep this story going! Share below!
1908 Brands is a company that works to make food and cleaning supplies as organic and environmentally friendly as possible. The company looks at all steps of the supply chain and works with other companies to make sure all parts of the process are green and sustainable.
1908 Brands is a company based in Boulder, CO that encompasses several other brands. These brands include five food companies, one for in-home composting, and one for cleaning supplies. These brands are all eco-friendly and are organic from start to finish. 1908 Brands works with the companies to make sure that all ingredients are natural and processed properly. 1908 Brands' business model is their innovation. They take into account everything that they do from recycling, to shipping costs to making sure that the waste that is created is minimal. They have biodegradable packaging, recycle everything, use sustainable methods everywhere on the supply chain for each and every product. 1908 Brands' business model is the basis of their firm and everything that they do is based around supporting that model.
The inspiration for the business model came from the company's founder and CEO Steve Savage. He worked for a company producing eco-friendly cleaning supplies and he sold that particular company to Boulder Clean and began working for Boulder Clean. Once he started to create 1908 Brands, he has since expanded to include 8 brands under the 1908 Brands umbrella. The idea for creating a business model came about when realizing what we do to the planet as consumers. Savage wanted to create a company where, from top to bottom, employees and organizations working with the brands were all environmentally conscious. He wanted them to be sustainable companies working hard to keep our planet surviving.
1908 Brands' impact has been tremendous. They have measured themselves against the best environmental practices every year and continually try to improve. All of their food products are all natural and come from sustainable processes that reuse as much as possible, produce the least amount of waste and limit their environmental footprint. The cleaning products are also made with environmentally safe ingredients and are as good, if not better than, the traditional products. 1908 Brands has set a precedent for how businesses operate for a sustainable future. The model has paid off and enables them to work with others to spread awareness of these ideas.
The firm has a huge business benefit. It is paving the way for businesses of the future. It is showing the world that you can have a very successful business that is environmentally conscious. The current business paradigm is to streamline everything to make it as quick, efficient, and as cheap as possible with no regard for what happens to the environment. 1908 Brands has made a conscious effort to change that mentality starting from the bottom up on every product that they sell. The firm makes money every year and is still profitable even when it supports this business model which many claim to be unprofitable. For example, one of their brands, Appleooz, only works with farmers who would throw out bad apples. They go to the source and make sure that the process from picking to dehydrating to packaging to selling is all environmentally friendly, and is in some way recyclable and not making anything worse than it already is.
The societal and environmental benefit of the 1908 Brands' business model is that more companies will be moving in this direction. They are leading the way and showing that the sustainability market is profitable. 1908 Brands starts at the root of every product and works their way along the supply chain making sure that every step of the way is environmentally friendly and sustainable. They make sure the costs are always taken into consideration. According to Jess Saba, "the firm even looks into the fuel costs associated with shipping, even from their headquarters office!" The company is producing high quality products that are just as good, if not better than the cheaper, more harmful products that are out there now. The business is providing society with a model which future businesses can look into for an example with great success. 1908 Brands donates 1% of its yearly sales to 1% For the Planet, a non-profit that focuses on saving the planet. By donating to this organization, 1908 Brands is giving back to the planet from which it was able to be successful.
Get stories of positive business innovations from around the world delivered right to your inbox.
Jess Saba, Community Marketing Manager
