What is in the making?
A lot of things! But to give an overview, here are a few examples:
Minimize the use of materials
Overall, we aim to minimize and optimize the use of materials and components in our products and packaging.
This also includes accessories - We realised our users already have a drawer full of charging cables at home, as a cable is included with every new electronic product they buy, and we don't want to add to the pile of unnecessary electronic waste. Therefore we decided to only sell cables separately on our website, giving people the choice of buying one if needed.
Color & material strategy
Color has always been one of our trademarks. But we realised that creating very limited color editions leads to a higher risk of creating additional waste in the production process, which goes against our “less is more” mindset. To minimize the use of material resources in our supply chain, we now apply a color strategy for all our products, where we carefully select and mix colors across our complete portfolio on a yearly basis.
Recycled plastic
After years of hard work side by side with our recycling partner, we are super happy to introduce our 100% recycled plastic material that can be used to make headphones. This one is actually so exciting, we had to give it an article of its own: “Introducing: recycled plastic”.
Vegan leather
At Urbanears, we made a choice early on never to use animal-based materials. Our main approach to it was to guarantee animal welfare, which to be honest felt like a given. But there’s also an environmental aspect to this choice. By using vegan leather, we release less than half of the carbon emission compared to using cow leather*.
Reducing hazardous substances in production
Since 2019, we have removed coatings on our products and replaced them with delicately designed textures applied directly in the molding. This might sound nitty-gritty, but what it means is that our products get a high-quality, tactile surface that is nice to the touch, comfortable, and longer-lasting than our previous products. It also uses less hazardous substances in the production process and has improved the occupational health conditions in the manufacturing process.
To conclude; less is more is a part of who we are. It is a part of our history, but an even more important part of our future.
*Source: 2017 Pulse of the Fashion Industry Report