Coca-Cola tell the past and future story of their plastic bottles, as ‘Plants’ become the main packaging story with today’s UK launch. By 2015, PlantBottle packaging will be made from plant waste and recycled PET. Still can’t beat a glass bottle though.
For its spring line, Levi’s has produced almost 1.5 million pairs of jeans from its “Water<Less” range while saving 16 million liters of water in the process.
The range, introduced last year, uses denim finished in a way that uses up to 96 percent less water than some other Levi’s products, the company says.
Since the Water<Less collection was introduced, the company says it has saved 156 million liters of water globally. That equates to 60 million days of drinking water for communities in need, says Levi’s.
In March, Levi’s and a host of other clothing retailers, including Walmart, Target, Gap and JC Penney, launched an industry-wide index to evaluate apparel products’ environmental impact.
The Sustainable Apparel Coalition also includes non-profits, academics and the Environmental Protection Agency. It aims to reduce the environmental and social impacts of apparel and footwear products sold around the world.
In February, the company was ranked highest among jeans brands for environmental and social performance by GoodGuide, according to SustainableBusiness.com.
Levi’s achieved a score of 7.4 out of 10. Prana, the next highest ranked jeans brand, scored 6.3.
Nice assessment of the things that make Gen Y tick and what that means for the products we make. Definite parallels with our recent campus work. Good thing!
Interesting analysis comparing the Times paywall to other online media subscriptions
Here are the annual prices of a variety of services, all of which allow users to access the service from the web and across multiple devices with a single unified subscription. See if you can pick out which one is the outlier:
As Frédéric Filloux and others…
(via matthurst)
We recently completed a study on the new ideals governing college campuses across the US. In this month’s Contagious I’ve written an article based on the research findings. You can read it here.
Major props to brother Yarak from the extended iris family. His new establishment, the Black Star Co-op in Austin, is the world’s first co-operatively owned brewpub. I know where I’ll be drinking at SXSW.
Here’s the history:
Just about five years ago, my brother Steven was sitting at one of his favorite bars in Austin, Texas doing what he loves (drinking fine craft beers) and suddenly was struck by inspiration: “Why shouldn’t you own the pub you drink at?” Now, I’m sure countless people have had the idea to own their own bar, but my brother had a slight twist on it. In proper Austin style, he’d been reading some leftist literature on alternative approaches to the typical capitalist business model, and decided to do something a little different. And thus the Black Star Co-op was born.
Named for the national symbol of Ghana, where my family lived for nearly a year in ‘93-‘94, the Black Star Co-op incorporates “the principles of co-operative ownership, worker self-management, education, and community action through the responsible enjoyment of great beer and food.” Basically they’ve got awesome food, awesome beer, and everyone owns the pub at which they eat, drink, and/or work.
Originally envisioned as just a pub, the vibrant home-brew community in Austin quickly joined in to help develop the co-op idea, and the Black Star Co-op became the world’s first co-operatively owned brewpub. They’ve got a professionally trained master brewer, and his beers have been well reviewed in all the local papers, as has the co-op itself.
So, after over four and a half years of massive membership growth (currently over 2000 members and counting!), exhaustive location scouting, heavy fundraising through member investing, and some clever legal maneuvering, the Black Star Co-op had a soft opening back in September while waiting for their brewery equipment to arrive. Now that it has, and the first batches are brewing as we speak, it’s time for a Grand Opening! Taking place this Friday and throughout most of the weekend, it promises to be an epic event of food, music, partying, and of course beer.
Or go visit
http://www.blackstar.coop/
http://www.facebook.com/blackstarcoop
PSFK bring their Good Ideas Salon to Miami, focused on Community and Creativity
