London’s iconic institution, the Natural History Museum is working on a new set of licensing programme-specific sustainability guidelines it believes will ‘steer future product development in the right direction,’ while encouraging others to do the same.

It’s the latest in a long list of actions the museum has taken in recent years to not only reduce its own impact across varying areas of its business but to help educate those at every juncture across its value chain of stakeholders.

For this reason, the Natural History Museum is a vocal champion of its ongoing and ever-evolving journey of sustainable development, working with licensing partners new and old to ‘implement new strategies and encourage more thoughtful product development.’

It’s for this reason, the Natural History Museum is counted as one among a line-up of very high calibre sponsors of the Sustainability in Licensing Conference this year as the in-person (and live-streamed) event prepares to make its return to the Royal Geographical Society in London on Wednesday, 8th November.

“It was fantastic to be able to attend the conference in person for the first-time last year,” Maxine Lister, head of licensing at the Natural History Museum, tells Products of Change. “Aside from the engaging panels and discussions on offer, it was equally valuable to be able to further expand on these discussions with other attendees between sessions.

“We took a huge amount from the Conference, much of which has since steered our own approach to sustainability within our own licensing programme.”

The fruit of which, will be revealed to the industry when the team launches its new sustainability guidelines to the licensing industry in due course.

With exploration of sustainable development at the top of the agenda at the Natural History Museum this year, Products of Change catches up with Maxine to learn a whole lot more about the licensing team’s latest steps forward.

Hello Maxine! So good to talk again. The last time we did, we spoke about the Museum’s evolving relationship with sustainability and how it is reflected in the licensing programme. How has that journey developed since?

Our sustainable journey is an ongoing and ever-evolving thing as we work with our licensing partners, new and old, to implement new strategies to encourage more thoughtful product development. This can be as simple as minimising the amount of packaging (if any), requesting the use of alternative materials, or introducing messaging to inform and educate consumers. We have our basic expectations, but we are continuously striving to improve on this as we learn more.

We are currently developing a robust set of guidelines specific to our licensing programme that we hope will steer future product development in the right direction and encourage others to do the same.”

We love that these are being developed to take the conversation to your stakeholders and partners. What’s the consensus out there? Have the industry challenges faced when it comes to sustainability evolved?

Sustainability continues to be at the forefront of all licensing conversations and is broached at a very early stage so that any potential partners are fully aware of our expectations. One notable difference we have seen is that most partners we speak with are already making changes to the material composition of their product as well as reassessing their supply chain relationships, which is very welcome.

We no longer feel we are asking the impossible but finding that the industry is actively looking at this, most likely due to pressures from consumers, who are much more conscious of environmental issues and are becoming more vocal about this.

We still have a very long way to go, but it is very encouraging to find that these conversations are now the norm, and we can work together with our partners to find more sustainable solutions wherever possible.

Of course, we’re very excited you guys are returning as sponsors of the Sustainability in Licensing Conference this year – these feels like a very positive endorsement of the event last year! 

It was fantastic to be able to attend the conference in person last year. Aside from the engaging panels and discussions on offer, it was equally valuable to be able to further expand on these discussions with other attendees between sessions.

It was fascinating to hear from the likes of LEGO and Primark to understand how such dominant companies are approaching their sustainability journey, as well as getting some great insight from the senior packaging manager at Tesco as to how they continue to evolve their packaging output to be more sustainable while also educating their consumer.

We took a huge amount from the conference, much of which has since steered our own approach to sustainability within our own licensing programme.

Given the calls for ‘drastic and swift action’ from the last IPCC report, do you think the industry is moving fast enough when it comes to sustainability?

There is always that can be done and progress has been slow over the last few years, but we do feel like the momentum is there in a way it hasn’t been previously. Most partners we are in conversation with are genuinely keen to minimise their carbon footprint and develop more thoughtful products.

However, a large part of it also comes down to the consumer and ensuring we educate them about their choices at retail. With the cost-of-living crisis, many choices come down to cost as more sustainable options, such as organic cotton, are often too expensive. But, there is also an education piece around buying less and moving away from the throwaway fashion culture that is hugely damaging.

Educating the consumer on the benefits of purchasing less often and instead investing in pieces that have been made to last is something that could benefit the entire industry. In addition, we are actively looking at how we can also better inform the consumer on second uses for their products after they have finished with them, rather than simply throwing them away.

In the UK, there is a vibrant second-hand industry that gives all manner of products a second life helping them avoid landfill or the equivalent. The more we can educate the consumer to embrace this second life culture, the more we will encourage positive movement towards a more circular economy.

You guys have been shortlisted for an incredible 10 awards at this year’s Brand & Lifestyle Licensing Awards, including two nominations in the Sustainability category – go on, time to be smug and tell us how that feels…

We are incredibly excited! We’ve been nominated for two Sustainability awards for our licensed collections with Dunelm and Blueprint Collections and see this as an acknowledgement of the hard work that has gone into not just our licensed collaborations but also our commitment to producing more sustainable product collections that we can be proud of. It’s also a lovely reason to celebrate all the fabulous licensing partners we have!

Yes, and there are plenty of them! Before we let you go, can you tell us what new partnerships we can expect from the Natural History Museum in 2023?

Our ongoing partnership with Dunelm will continue to flourish this year with a new spring/summer collection having launched very recently and another significant collection soon to follow in the autumn as well as seasonal product for December.

Dunelm has recently launched its Conscious Choice label with the aim of making it easier for the consumer to find homewares that have a reduced environmental impact compared with others. Some products in the Dunelm x NHM collection already fall under Conscious Choice and we working alongside the team to expand on this for future collections.

We also have a new summer collection due to launch with Joanie. We love working with the Joanie team, not only because of their absolute commitment to using sustainable fabrics, but because they are just so creative with our visual assets, producing quirky and fun designs for women who love vintage-inspired clothing.