Southwest Airlines is giving new life to old seats. Beginning eighteen months ago, Southwest stripped the leather seat covers off old seats and sent them to Kenya. There jobs were created by turning the leather into soccer balls and shoes for kids who had never had them before. “The seats covers have gone from taking people to a lot of joy on a flight to giving a lot of joy to the kids in Africa” noted a spokesperson.
Today the seat covers are also shipped to Garten, a company that provides jobs for developmentally disabled people. The workers clean the forty-three acres of leather that in the past had been destined for landfills. Then the leather is shipped to Looped Works, where it becomes satchels, totes, and toiletry cases branded So Fly. “Since there was a lot of heavy stitching on these and a three-dimensional shape originally, it made sense to turn them into three-dimensional items,” stated Scott Hamlin of Looped Works.
More than 10,000 So Fly bags have been sold in the last three months with buyers in all fifty United States. Scott explains that “Some buyers are fanatics around aviation, some are fanatics around sustainability, and some just say, ‘That’s a great looking bag, and I love the story.’”
This is more than a feel-good story to businesspeople. It demonstrates opportunity. As the story has progressed, opportunities have increased. The Kenyans received materials to create products useful to their children. The Garten workers got additional work renewing the leather. Loop Works released a new product that interested multiple target markets. Southwest Airlines looked good by exercising environmental stewardship. Each entity seized an opportunity by repurposing the leather rather than dumping it into a landfill.
With consumers becoming more concerned about the environment, opportunities for repurposing will grow. Companies will look for other ways to handle old materials than adding them to landfills. Some of this will happen because consumers like it. Some will be the result of a company’s environmental attitude. Some will be forced by legislation. Whatever the reason, repurposing is a growing opportunity.
Watch for repurposing opportunities. Consider their advantage. How can your business benefit from repurposing?
This week's marketing trivia challenge is What repurposing opportunities have you noticed? E-mail me your answer.
Today the seat covers are also shipped to Garten, a company that provides jobs for developmentally disabled people. The workers clean the forty-three acres of leather that in the past had been destined for landfills. Then the leather is shipped to Looped Works, where it becomes satchels, totes, and toiletry cases branded So Fly. “Since there was a lot of heavy stitching on these and a three-dimensional shape originally, it made sense to turn them into three-dimensional items,” stated Scott Hamlin of Looped Works.
More than 10,000 So Fly bags have been sold in the last three months with buyers in all fifty United States. Scott explains that “Some buyers are fanatics around aviation, some are fanatics around sustainability, and some just say, ‘That’s a great looking bag, and I love the story.’”
This is more than a feel-good story to businesspeople. It demonstrates opportunity. As the story has progressed, opportunities have increased. The Kenyans received materials to create products useful to their children. The Garten workers got additional work renewing the leather. Loop Works released a new product that interested multiple target markets. Southwest Airlines looked good by exercising environmental stewardship. Each entity seized an opportunity by repurposing the leather rather than dumping it into a landfill.
With consumers becoming more concerned about the environment, opportunities for repurposing will grow. Companies will look for other ways to handle old materials than adding them to landfills. Some of this will happen because consumers like it. Some will be the result of a company’s environmental attitude. Some will be forced by legislation. Whatever the reason, repurposing is a growing opportunity.
Watch for repurposing opportunities. Consider their advantage. How can your business benefit from repurposing?
This week's marketing trivia challenge is What repurposing opportunities have you noticed? E-mail me your answer.
No comments:
Post a Comment