How the Brightly Shop Helps You Shop Sustainably

Written by

Laura Wittig

Published

What started as a podcast in July 2019 has truly grown into a movement of millions of conscious consumers creating change, daily. You've texted, emailed, DMed, and even called us to ask for our take on a planet-friendly way to purchase our tried and tested Brightly favorites, and we're thrilled that it's here: The Brightly Shop is open! 🎉

As we set out to create the most sustainable shopping experience possible, we knew it would look a little different than your average big box online store. Here's why we launched the Brightly Shop, how it works, and what our community thinks so far.

Why We Launched the Brightly Shop

While shopping sustainably should be easy, oftentimes it’s anything but. Even though the world of conscious consumerism is exploding, it can still be difficult to figure out how to go about making purchases in a mindful, planet-friendly way—and why those actions matter. That’s where the Brightly Shop comes in.

In order to take the eco-overwhelm out of the picture, every product has been handpicked and thoroughly vetted by the Brightly team. (Including Brightly-exclusive products, like the beeswax wraps above!) By shopping with your values, you can make a huge difference in the world. We believe in the power of collective change, and we’re so glad you’re joining us on this journey.

How the Brightly Shop Works

In order to make the Brightly Shop experience as sustainable as possible, it's set up differently than other places you shop online. Here's how it works.

Products drop the first Monday of the month.

The shop reopens on the first Monday of every month. You'll find a new selection of eco-friendly products that have been handpicked and vetted by the Brightly team.

You can shop for 5 days before they sell out.

After 5 days, we close shop and focus on sustainably shipping out your package. This shorter, planet-friendly shopping window allows us to only order what we need.

Your products ship by the end of each month.

At the conclusion of our presale, we pack and ship out our products in bulk. This low-impact supply chain reduces waste and keeps the planet happy. Thank you for shopping slow! We're also Climate Neutral Certified, which means we offset our entire carbon footprint, from our operations to shipping.

The Benefit of Shopping This Way

We created this type of shopping experience because it's much better for the planet.

For the online shopper, packaging accounts for the greatest environmental impact, with parcel delivery and freight transportation (aka ground shipping) closely following. Typically, packaging associated with in-store purchases has a significantly lower carbon footprint than packaging for online purposes. That's because when items are wrapped individually, they require much more packaging.

According to Bain, emissions of two items shipped separately are 35 percent higher than it would be if the items were shipped together. The Brightly Shop ships out all products at the end of the month. That way, we can package items together.

Online returns also have a large environmental impact. 40 percent of people return items they've purchased online, compared to seven percent in-store. Because returns account for five billion pounds of landfill waste and 15 million tons of carbon emissions every year in the United States, we've chosen to make the no-return policy cool again.

We believe that part of being a conscious consumer isn't just looking into sustainable options—it's thinking about purchases before you make them. When buying what you love, no returns are necessary. And if for any reason one of the products doesn't work for you, consider these eco-friendly ways to let go of your goods instead.