The Ashmolean Museum, His Majesty’s Treasury, the Natural History Museum, and the Royal Horticultural Society; no, this isn’t a role call for some of the country’s most prestigious cultural institutions but the first snapshot of finalists for this year’s Brand and Lifestyle Licensing Awards Sustainability category.
Making its ninth outing this year and returning to the Royal Lancaster London on Thursday, 25 April, the Brand and Lifestyle Licensing Awards is once again celebrating the industry’s best and boldest across a suite of categories while honouring the pioneering brands pushing the envelope when it comes to product sustainability.
Emerging from the other side of what has been a highly competitive category, the Sustainability Brand Licensed Product or Range Award shortlist has been officially unveiled, paying homage to some of the biggest and most forward-thinking names in the museums, heritage, and cultural sector.
The finalists for the Brand and Lifestyle Licensing Awards 2024 Sustainability category are:
- Ashmolean Museum – The Curious Collection, from Atlantic Mats
- Ashmolean Museum – The Treasured Collection Paints, from Graphenstone Paints
- Ed Stafford Hybrid Duffle Pack, from Groundtruth
- HM Treasury 75th Birthday of His Majesty King Charles III Silver Coin, from the Royal Mint
- Laura Ashley AW23 Wallpaper Collection, from Graham & Brown
- National Forest – Growing Together Children’s Clothing, from FatFace
- Natural History Museum Collection, from Dunelm
- RHS Heritage Home Fragrancing Range, from Freckleface Home Fragrance
- RSPB Range, from Carousel Calendars
- Van Gogh Museum Sneaker Collection, from Cariuma
As is usual, this year’s complete shortlist of entries has been whittled down and compiled by a panel of judges comprising retail buyers across the spectrum, including Ann Summers, Asda, Character.com, DFS, FatFace, HMV, The Hut Group, Selfridges, Tesco, and more.
Products of Change played a special role itself in lending its expertise across industry sustainable development to help select this year’s shortlist and winning products within the Sustainability category.
So, with that in mind shall we get to know the finalists a little better?
The Ashmolean Museum – The Curious Collection, from Atlantic Mats
A range of decorative doormats made from recycled materials. The Curious Collection – taking its name from the early days of the Ashmolean Museum’s ‘cabinet of curiosities’ is made from recycled plastic ‘diverted from landfill waste.’ The mats’ dirt trapping pile is 100% recycled and the anti-slip backing contains 65% recycled content.
This year, Atlantic Mats will be rolling our an end-of-life initiative for its mats through which customers will be able to return their old mats to be returned to the yarn manufacturer, where the components will be broken down and reused.
“From mid 2024, we will have in place a mat recycling scheme where products can be returned to us at the end of their life for recycling,” said the Atlantic Mats team. “This will be made possible by switching our yarn from a recycled nylon to a recycled PET Polyester yarn, made from plastic bottles which typically have been collected from waste plants and re-processed into yarn.”Atlantic Mats goes as far to support ‘Healthy Seas’ by donating a percentage of the sale from each of its Ocean Mats to support the work of the charity in rescuing ghost fishing nets and plastics found in our seas.
Ashmolean Museum – The Treasured Collection Paints, from Graphenstone Paints
A paint range launched to celebrate the Ashmolean Museum’s 340th anniversary, each paint in the collection is made from lime and other natural minerals infused with graphene. Due to their use of natural minerals in place of petrochemical bases, the Graphenstone paints boast an ‘ultra-low carbon footprint’ and actually ‘absorb CO2 at the point of use’. The paint tubs are made from recycled plastic and are fully recyclable.
On top of this, Graphenstone’s factory is powered by 100% renewable energies (hydra – 37%; wind – 51%; and solar – 12%) while all water used is recycled back into the production processes.
“Storytelling is fundamental to this partnership,” said the team at Graphenstone. “The paint helps tell the story of some of the Museum’s highlight objects as well as some hidden gems. Likewise, the Museum were keen to tell the sustainability story behind the product and have supported the launch with messaging in the Museum itself, its sop, and it social media channels.”
Ed Stafford Hybrid Duffle Pack, from Groundtruth
The Hybrid Duffle Pack is an innovative design which enables ‘every purchase to be a carbon sink,’ says the team. With production methods using Bluesign Manufacturing – a full-service solutions system with a focus on ethical production – the Pack resulted in a product that “has a big impact on customers, but minimal impact on the planet.”
Ed Stafford, known for his long-spanning adventures influences not only the bag’s versatile and innovative design, but its adoption of green innovation, too. The product is made from 123 recycled plastic bottles and 100% recycled fishing net ripstop lining; the coating used is water-based and free from Volatile Organic Compounds; while the bag’s patent-pending zip design is made from captured CO2 emissions.
These emissions are embedded into recycled plastic, increasing the strength by 40% compared to virgin plastic used to create the zip features, in collaboration with Oco.
“The Hybrid Duffle Pack is a perfect example of one product which has different features with various impact on sustainable production,” said the team at Brandgenuity. “At the forefront of this is the bag’s construction and features, which are made from different recycled materials or repurposed carbon, and show commitment to their ethical sourcing practices.”
HM Treasury 75th Birthday of His Majesty King Charles III Silver Coin, from the Royal Mint
Committed to be a leader in sustainable precious metals, the collection’s use of X-ray silver is one of several pioneering approaches to reduce reliance on mined materials. It also pays tribute to His Majesty’s advocacy for sustainability throughout his life, making it fitting that the first official UK coin, produced from X-ray silver, be His Majesty’s King Charles III’s 75th birthday coin.
This marks a new chapter in The Royal Mint’s coin making history as it continues to develop crafted pieces while increasingly supporting a precious metals circular economy. The coin is the first made by The Royal Mint from silver recovered from X-ray films.
“For more than 50 years, His Majesty has campaigned on environmental issues, consistently communicating the importance of preserving the Earth’s natural resources for future generations,” said the team at The Royal Mint.
“This is the first Commemorative Coin we have made from this unique source of recovered and traceable precious metal. This exciting innovation follows our introduction of the use of gold recovered from electronic waste in 2022 and is another step towards reducing our reliance on mined materials.”
Laura Ashley AW23 Wallpaper Collection, from Graham & Brown
Working with its wallpaper and paint licensee, Graham & Brown – which has reduced its carbon footprint by 29% this past year with plans to reduce it further – the Laura Ashley wallpapers are printed on digital printers that run on 100% renewable energy. Meanwhile, all paper used is sourced from sustainable sources and managed forests.
Graham & Brown has invested over £2m in six digital printers within their new digital factory located next to the Laura Ashley distribution centre. All the inks used in the collection are water-based and solvent-free.
Stay tuned to get to know the remaining Brand & Lifestyle Licensing Awards Sustainability category finalists in part two of or spotlight feature next time on Products of Change.
