You would be forgiven for thinking that a light bulb is, well, just a light bulb but our warehouse is testament to the difference a new bulb can make.

Following months of research, planning and negotiation, a new energy efficient lighting system is now in place in our warehouse, meaning our hard working team are literally being seen in a new light.

The new lighting system is made extremely energy efficient by utilising fluorescent ECO lamps with daylight and movement sensors. The lights are set up to ensure that where there is natural light available, the lights automatically dim and where there are aisles not in use or empty for even a few minutes, the lights dim again. The process of lights dimming and brightening again happens within seconds so there is no delay for people passing underneath to have their way lighted.

Our partners in this project, Apex Electrical and Advanced Lighting Technology, have been a constant source of information and guidance on the correct way to install and place the lighting to ensure maximum coverage with the minimum lamp installations. Popping into our unit at short notice to re-calibrate lamps and advise on usage has never been a problem and the positive comments are already flooding in from staff, suppliers and visitors alike.

Huge reductions in our Carbon output are expected and for possibly the first time in our history we are excitedly awaiting our Electricity bill for January 2012 to analyse and report on the usage savings made during the first month following installation.

Also, at this time of the year when Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is rife, we hope this new lighting system will have an uplifting effect on the warehouse staff’s general mood and wellbeing. We can but hope!

So we have said goodbye to the (admittedly slightly orange) light of old and said hello to a whiter light that makes our warehouse look brighter, cleaner, fresher whilst most importantly maintaining our ethical ethos.

Carbon savings info to follow folks………

Written By Lindsey Tulip-Pearson of Spark Response

With Cupid busier than ever, it can only mean one thing; the season of love is upon us. Yes, the 14th of February is almost here and amorè is on everyone’s minds.

To help long-term couples, those enjoying the first blossom of romance or those simply admiring from afar find their perfect gift, Ethical Superstore, the UK’s leading online retailer of inspired eco-friendly, Fair Trade, organic and UK-made products has compiled a list of Valentine’s Day gifts, which range from the traditional to the more creative.

To view the full product ranges please visit www.ethicalsuperstore.com or call 0800 999 2134.

‘Chocolates are the failsafe choice for any Valentine’s Day gift’

Plush Fair Trade Belgian Collection, £7.95

‘Say it with jewellery, with this feminine bracelet’

La Jewellery Recycled Silver Love Me Do Bangle, £40

‘Famous men and women throughout history have expressed their feelings through the written word, and this card will help you find the same inspiration’

Fair Trade Love Heart Card, £2.95

‘Give the gift of your heart this Valentine’s’

Multi-­‐Coloured Heart of Bells, £6.95

‘Women aren’t the only ones who can be spoilt, and these classic cufflinks are sure to put a smile on any man’s face’

Recycled Fire Hose Torpedo Cufflinks, £35.00

‘Be more aware this year, and give the man in your life some stylish and ethical underwear’

Pants to Poverty, special price from  £7.99

‘Dream, create and fulfill with this charming fair trade   notebook from Tearcraft’

Fair Trade Dream Notebook,  special price of £4.25

‘Though not traditional gift for the 14th of February, this beautiful photo frame can help keep memories of Valentine’s gone by alive’

Bweju Recycled Metal Photo Frame, £19.95

‘Because everyone deserves a little pampering

’ Hedgerow Herbals Mmm Chill Out Slow Down Gift Box, £14.95

Now, I happen to know one of the warehouse supervisors very well [editor's note, they live together!] and I very often get a full and frank account of what goes on in the fulfilment warehouse on a daily basis.  So I know how hard those guys work, making sure orders are correct, secure in their parcel and dispatched on time.  Especially at this time of year, when we hunched up PC dwellers are asked to help out by picking some orders or wrapping some gifts, I think it helps everyone involved in the circle of ethical shopping understand just how hard we all work to make your shopping experience special.

Whatever you’re celebrating at this time of year, Christmas, Hanukkah, the Solstice, I think it’s important to recognise everyone involved in the circle, from the buyers and marketeers, designers and IT geeks (no offence guys!), web content and stock controllers to the pickers, packers and drivers, who were all working hard to help make your celebrations ethical.

We’ve all worked extremely hard this year to concentrate efforts towards optimising this whole process and we’re proud to say, our service is the best it’s ever been.  In April this year, we asked an independent review company to work with us who send an email to our customers on our behalf asking our customers to rate their experience out of 5 stars and share your thoughts with the world.

Since we started, we’ve already had over 2,600 reviews.  We have an average star rating of 4.7/5 and an impressive 99% approval rating!This process is not all to do with blowing our own trumpet though.  If a customer has had problems with their order, it gives us the opportunity to hear about those problems and do what is needed to make things right.

So if any of you receive one of these emails asking for a review, please take a couple of minutes of your time to complete it.It helps to keep us on our toes and it gives shoppers the confidence to choose Ethical Superstore based on real experiences.  If you had great service, tell everyone.If something went wrong, let us know and we’ll pull out the stops to put things right.

So thanks for reading, if you got this far!I hope you feel a little more clued up on how this all works and thankful, as I am, to all who make it work.

I wish you all a very, very Merry Christmas from everyone at EthicalSuperstore.com.

5pm, Wednesday, 21^st December 2011.  3 days and seven hours to go until Christmas.

One of Ethical Superstore’s priorities when we discussed the busy season six weeks ago was our commitment to getting our customers what they needed in time for Christmas.  Up to 12pm yesterday, orders could still be placed using standard UK delivery and for those who like to leave things to the very last minute, express delivery is available until 12pm tomorrow.  We’ve even temporarily reduced the price of delivery do standard is £2.95 (normally £3.95) and express is £3.95 (normally £5.95)!

At this time of year, everyone’s stress levels rise for whatever reason and this is particularly true for those working in the world of online retail fulfilment.  So I’d like to take you on a journey that I like to call the circle of ethical shopping; taking you from the click of your mouse to the delivery to your door and all the processes in between.

On the website

So you’re browsing Ethical Superstore, clicking your way through the 3,000 ethical, eco friendly, organic and sustainably sourced goodies.  You find what you’re after and click them into your basket.  When you’re satisfied that everyone’s covered, Grandad has his socks, Mum has her gift set and the little one their dumper truck, it’s time to proceed to the checkout.

In the warehouse

Once your order is complete and you have that all important order number and confirmation email, your order darts at the speed of light to our servers and order system.  A few checks are made to protect our customers from online fraud and once we’re happy with it, it is passed to the fulfilment system.  The orders come together ready for picking and our dedicated warehouse admin team print off the delivery notes.  The orders are typically grouped into batches of 8 orders with a master picking list for each batch.  Then, our warehouse team get down to the art of picking.  Each product we stock has a specific location and the fulfilment system knows exactly how much stock is in each.  That information is periodically passed to our order system and website to avoid selling stock that’s not there.

The master pick list takes the picker (elf, if you like – it’s Christmas after all!) on a route around the warehouse picking each product and putting them in a box numbered 1 to 8 on their trolley.  Once they’re done picking, they’ll pop their initials on the top of the picking list and queue up their trolley for packing. 

The packing team check each order before securing any “at risk” items, such as shampoo bottle tops and protecting biscuits for their journey. They will then pack out the box with recycled brown paper to keep everything snug and a bug in a box before scanning the barcode on the picking list to produce the courier address label and sealing the box.

Out for delivery

As boxes pile up, they’re stacked onto pallets and taken to the goods-out terminal, ready for collection by our courier partners.  As the boxes are loaded on to the courier’s lorry, each is scanned by the driver, at which point the parcel’s journey begins, being tracked all the way.

From our warehouse, the parcels all go to a local collection depot to be sorted and then taken overnight to a central distribution hub, which further sorts the parcels and sends each on its way to the local delivery depot, closest to the final delivery address.  From there, your order will then be loaded onto a delivery van and the next thing you know, there’s a knock at the door and a happy chappy with a high visibility vest and a cap cheerfully hands you your Ethical Superstore order.  All that’s left is for you to unpack your box, get the kettle on, make some delicious fair trade tea or coffee and get the organic cookies, sit yourself down at your computer and get browsing for your next crop of ethical necessities.  And so, the circle is complete.

To Be Continued… go to part 2

Having been hit hard by the recession, Santa and his helpers have had to make some cut backs.  But will Rudolf cope in his new role?  And will Santa manage to boost morale within the team after incidents of name calling!?

Check out our range of Rapanui Clothing

A beautiful handmade basket featuring a traditional African zigzag design motif:  the perfect centrepiece for your dining room table found in the Ethical Superstore Christmas catalogue.  But delve deeper and you’ll discover the story of basket producers Gone Rural, members of the World Fair Trade Organisation, who have been working to change lives in Swaziland for over 20 years.

Community Impact

Most of Gone Rural’s producer groups live in the mountainous areas of Swaziland where the Lutindzi grass they use is found. Many generations live in one homestead and share the household responsibilities and although extremely poor by western standards, Gone Rural families often take in neighbours’ children who have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS.

Rural Swazi communities now find themselves under mounting financial pressure, having to pay for transport to clinics, school fees and support more children.  As indicators of the importance of Gone Rural in the lives of impacted women:

• 80% of the women rely on Gone Rural as their sole income
• Each woman supports an average of 8 dependents
• 82% of their husbands and partners are unemployed

Product Development Process

Gone Rural products are handmade by our Swazi women who transform natural and sustainable materials into beautiful home accessories.

Harvest Grass

Swazi women living in mountainous regions harvest the Lutindzi grass once a year in February. The grass is plucked from the sheath leaving the root intact for next year’s growth. The women dry the grass outside before bundling it and selling it to Gone Rural.

Dye Grass

At the Gone Rural workshop in Malkerns the bundles of grass are transformed into beautiful colours in fuel-efficient dye vats.  Once dyed the grass is laid out to dry in rows under the African sun.

Travel to Producer Communities

Through rain or shine, Gone Rural makes the journey up the mountain roads or down though the African Bush of Swaziland to producer community meeting places. Here the women are grouped together waiting for Gone Rural with their beautiful products.

Market Day

At Gone Rural market days, the women meet under a tree or in a shady place. Here they finish their work while networking amongst themselves sharing ideas and experiences.

Women entrepreneurs within the Gone Rural group and community have created a micro economy at these meeting days when they trade vegetables, bread or clothes amongst each other.

The meeting days have also created an access point for health and education programmes to be run within the communities including literacy programmes, scholarships funds, advocacy training, HIV/AIDS testing awareness and counselling.

The Gone Rural production team buy goods ordered from the women at the previous meeting, quality is checked and each woman is given tips on how to further develop her skills.  Orders are placed with the women and they are given the dyed grass that they need to make the products.

Women Making Products

The women take their work home with them where they have the freedom to work at their convenience, producing Gone Rural products between their other household and parenting duties. The women sometimes work in groups weaving and coaxing the grasses into magical patterns.

Packaging

At the Gone Rural workshop the stock is received into the store room where the quality is checked before the products are individually labelled and packed into sets using hand-made clay beads and woven grass rope.

Design and Production Techniques

Gone Rural seeks to design innovative and beautiful collections whilst respecting Swazi cultural heritage, tradition and the environment.  When a new product has been created or a new technique used, training workshops are held to ensure high quality and to assist skill sharing among producers.

The Placemat Plaiting

The Swazi women traditionally use plaited grass to tie down thatching grass on the roofs of their homes. This traditional plait is the basis of Gone Rural plaited items. To make a placemat the women start by plaiting a long rope of Lutindzi grass. They sit on the ground with their legs straight out and sometimes hold the plait between their toes while they work.

When the rope is long enough (50 meters for a large place mat) they start to coil the rope into a small disc shape, they hold the rope in place by using the spokes from an umbrella. They then take sisal fibre and spin it into twine using their hand and thigh. With a long needle they thread this very strong twine through the coiled plait and stitch the placemat together.

The Stitching Technique

The artisans start with a small bundle of lukhazi reed; they wrap the dyed Lutindzi grass around the lukhazi and start to develop a coil-shaped item. As each circular row is added, it is stitched from the previous row to the next row using an overlapping technique. The basket shape is made free-hand without the use of a mould. It takes many hours to make one basket.

The basket-making women have unique hand-skills and are exceptionally talented in being able to add their own design input to our specific size, quality and colour way requirements.

Materials

The use of sustainable, local natural fibres is central to Gone Rural’s approach to product development.

Lutindzi grass

“Lutindzi” is the Swazi name for the strong, wiry sedge grass coleochloa setifera (Comptons’ “Flora of Swaziland”, no 512.) It grows high up in the mountains on rocky outcrops, finding moisture in the cracks of rocks. Due to its wiry nature and inaccessibility, it is not eaten by cattle and for centuries has been harvested for the manufacture of rope to tie down roof thatching on traditional beehive huts.

After good rains, the Lutindzi will be plentiful and the women will spend days harvesting it. If the harvesting is planned correctly, there will be enough for the weaver to work with throughout the rest of the year. The harvesting of this grass also leaves the roots intact for the following year, hence there is a natural abundance of this very special resource.

The plaiting of the grass is a skill learned by virtually every Swazi girl, but making the plaits up into floor-mats, tableware and other items is a skill learned patiently under the guidance of a girl’s mother.

Sisal Fibre

Sisal fibre is an invasive weed. Sisal is used in Swaziland to make cattle fences and grows throughout the country. Because it is a weed, it is ideal for craft production since harvesting does not threaten the country’s natural biodiversity. Gone Rural has developed unique knitted and woven textiles that are sensitive to the unique properties of the sisal fibre.

To learn more about Ethical Superstore’s fair trade merchandise producer Gone Rural, please visit http://www.goneruralswazi.com/ or to shop for beautiful Gone Rural products on Ethical Superstore, click here.

National Trust Pond Dipping Kit

Sometimes the actual experience is a little different. Not enough time to squeeze everything in and yet the kids seem bored before the day has even started. Everyone wants to do something different. And no one wants to do anything that doesn’t cost a fortune. It hardly feels like the “joys of family life” that I signed up for.

So once Harry Potter has been watched and the actual two weeks away has been taken – then what? Some days we will reach for the trusty National Trust membership card and take a trip to North East England jewels like Gibside or the Souter Lighthouse but I am hoping that this year the words “National Trust” will come to mean more than a quick dash round a stately home followed by spending a small fortune in the cafe and gift shop!

The new National Trust range we have just listed may well prove an entertaining distraction on some of the days those which look like a blank canvas -rather than those that look similar to the train timetable at Clapham Junction!

Each National Trust kit comes in a sturdy box with all you need to begin engaging with the particular aspect of outdoors that it focuses on. My personal favourite is the National Trust Bug Hunting Kit which offers everything from the specimen pots through to your very own pooter for collecting the bugs. I think it was reading Gerald Durrell’s “My family and other animals” that inspired me to get down on my hands and knees to study the little creatures that live all around us. The wonder of a centipede as the wave of movement ripples down its body. The amazing colour of the butterfly or dragonfly as it gets carried on the wind from leaf to leaf. The amazing world of ants all working together. So for the price of afternoon tea for the family we can set out on a bug hunting, pond dipping, bark rubbing, flower pressing or rock pool splashing adventure.

We’d love to know what ethical adventures your planning this summer – let us know by commenting to this post below.

So we’ve been on the hunt for greener packaging alternatives that are resilient enough to make sure your order arrives in one piece. And we have found some great products that fit the bill.

Firstly, over the last year, we have moved to stronger but lighter boxes that provide better protection for your products whilst reducing the weight of cardboard being used. (In fact if whole the whole UK packaging industry followed suit, carbon emissions related to packaging transportation would be reduced by over 30% overnight!)

Secondly, we have switched over to even greener packing materials:

• green bubble mailer – the outer paper is recycled and all the elements are either recyclable or degradable
• green bubble wrap – this is made from a significant proportion of recycled materials and is also recyclable in many areas
• green void fill – this is an inflated cellophane sack that is made from recycled bottles and is recyclable and protects your products in transit.

The last one is particular favourite as it’s called Cell-O Green and is just character different from Cee Lo Green – the US rapper who won best international male artist at the Brits this year. Although he doesn’t know, Cee Lo Green is the star of choice when it comes to packing your parcels efficiently and ecologically. Cee Lo Green may sing about “forgetting you”, but we reckon that Cell-O Green will help make sure you know we’ve not forgotten you or our duty of care for the environment when it comes to getting your order in the best possible shape.

We’d love to know what you think of the innovative steps we’re taking to reduce our environmental footprint while better protecting your precious parcels, and we’d be delighted if you let us know how we could do better – just drop us a comment below!

I should prefix this by saying at this point, I had no idea about ethical or sustainable shopping.  To me, Fairtrade was a buzzword and Organic meant the greenest peas or most orange carrots in the supermarket.  Naturally, the batphone rings almost immediately after I begin looking for a job and I get an interview at a place called ‘Ethical Superstore’.  Ok, I’ve never heard of them so I do what any other person would do – consult my good friend Google to see what they’re about.

Drat, I think.  They’re all hippies!  And that’s exactly my view of Fair Trade and Eco-friendliness; a bunch of dreadlocked layabouts chaining themselves to trees and advocating a free and peaceful existence for animals and plants the world over.

Not to look a free-range, organically-reared gift horse in the mouth, I dig out some smart clothes (no mean feat in itself given I’ve worked mostly from home for almost 2 years) and head down there to Team Valley, Gateshead.  The first thing to hit me as I arrived was the smell; the air was filled with neither the scent of hemp nor joss sticks.  Odd, I think to myself, the hippies must all be meditating in the warehouse or rescuing fallen leaves from the car park around the back.

Look, no hippies!

The reception area looks normal, no statues of Buddha or abandoned tambourines strewn across the floor and I’m greeted with the most unexpected sight of the morning… two *normal* people! They’re even dressed in normal clothes! Admittedly one, Dan, is a scouser, but I’ll not hold that against him for the purposes of this interview, although I did make a subconscious note to lock my car.

And that’s when it begins to dawn on me – this fair trade malarkey might actually be for normal people.

Fast forward from Wednesday to Monday, and I’m driving in for my first day (I probably should be cycling or wafting or whatever it is that these eco-friendly types do) and I start to get to grips with the job and the lifestyle.  I realise that I don’t have to wear linen pants or not wash my hair to be eco-friendly, and I don’t have to make life-affirming trips to poverty-stricken villages in the middle east to give smaller, independent producers a helping hand, I can do this simply by buying pretty much what I’d normally buy, just with a little more sense from where it’s from and how it’s made.

Coffee’s the first thing.  I’m a 3 cups a day man, and it’s usually [insert common household brand name here who may or may not also manufacture two-fingered biscuits] who I learn don’t have a stellar record when it comes to ethics.  I look at the likes of Cafédirect, and I realise that Fairtrade is just that; it’s trading fairly and responsibly.  It’s not a high-and-mighty purchase decision, it’s just a way of me saying “Hey, farmer, thanks for the coffee! I know some buyers will rip you off, so I’m happy to give you a fair price for your hard work – have a sit down and a biscuit!”.  It might cost a few pence more, but it tastes a few pence better (yes, pennies are a lesser-known unit of taste measurement) and the farmers get a few pence more for their efforts – everybody’s happy!

I’m also introduced to certified organic products, which is a genuine eye-opener for me.  Like I’ve said, my idea of organic is synonymous with expensive, and equally exchangeable with the word ‘vegetable’.  But, it’s not!  Blimey, you can get Organic clothing, sun tan lotion, shampoo, kids drinks and, most importantly, you can even get ORGANIC CRISPS!

Far from having to endure a rite of passage by living naked in the woods for a month to understand nature and be enabled to purchase Organic products, I realise that Organic is just another way of saying “Free from rubbish” and, yet again, it’s simply another purchase decision and not a massive lifestyle change.  It’s another way of saying, “Hey, this has no crappy artificial fertilisers, nasty pesticides and isn’t linked to animal cruelty”.  And you have to agree, that’s nothing special – it should be standard.  Of course, it’s a little more expensive – a vat full of chemicals is far cheaper than spending the time ensuring your soil is suitably nutrient-rich or your cows aren’t fed on an assortment of drugs and steroids. But, well, you get why it’s better to pay that little bit more to not cover your body in pesticides or artificially-fattened meat (Here’s looking at you, Gaga).

Saving energy – it’s, well, simple!

I’ll tell you what though, and I’ll tell you it for free, the biggest thing for me was when I nabbed a Wattson energy monitor to test for a couple of weeks, it hit home (literally) how much money and energy I wasted around the house.  I hadn’t even heard of an energy monitor until I started working here, but here’s this daft white box in my hallway which minds its merry business and glows an assortment of crazy colours to tell me how much energy I’m using. It’s broken though, it just constantly glows red, but I soon realise this means I’m using far more than my average when I first turned it on.  I’m a dweeb for tech, so I have a media streamer, a networked hard drive and an assortment of gadgetry and home theatre dotted sporadically around my house, and it becomes a game to then switch this myriad of energy drainers off one by one to identify and execute the cuplrit by firing squad in my back garden.

It was simple really.  It’s my Sky+ HD Box and my networked hard drive – both of which I leave constantly on.  As soon as I turn them off, the rageful red transcends into a ribena-esque purple and then blue when I toddle off to bed, and I realise I’ve just saved energy – and money too.  I don’t have to recycle my rainwater or bathe in the River Tyne or wear all of my clothes during the Winter to save energy, I just have to know that turning something off when I’m not using it saves energy – simple eh?

If I can, you can.

I think we’re all guilty of it really, it’s often seen as too much effort to turn an appliance off, reach for a switch or research all of your groceries before you buy them.  But that’s what I’ve come to learn in my two years here – it’s genuinely not an effort at all.

Fair trade and ethical consumerism isn’t (or is no longer!) the preserve of the poncho-and-sandal wearing eco-freak.  If it’s easy enough for an anti-debonair Geordie gentleman, not unlike myself, to look for a Fairtrade or Organic label when I shop, or to remember to switch off my Sky box at the wall at night (unless, of course, I’m recording Desperate Housewives) then it’s easy enough for anyone.

Buy Fairtrade, buy organic, buy recommended energy-saving products.  It’s simple, just look for the label or buy from stores who source ethically, wholefoods markets, local producers and, of course, your friendly chaps here at Ethical Superstore. It’s not a load of rubbish; each little bit we do genuinely helps the planet, helps small cooperatives around the world, helps animals live cruelty-free and helps us conserve our natural resources – and it couldn’t be easier to be part of it.  Now, where’s my tie dye…