'The Clean Up' is a weekly newsletter that mixes in some Arvin Goods news, products, as well as stories we saw during the week that are worth a share. From books to podcasts, sustainability to business news, we try to keep it interesting, and fun. If you are not a subscriber, sign up and join everyone who receives The Clean Up directly in their inbox every Sunday.
Arvin News
Happy Sunday
More importantly, Happy Mothers Day to all the moms out there. We wish you all a nice relaxing day. In a pair of Arvin’s we hope.
A couple weeks ago we shared a story about Smartwool’s new collection called Second Cut. This achievement by Smartwool is major! We launched Arvin Goods with socks because they are an affordable, daily use product that has the potential to make a big impact. We started with a lower impact (recycled) base material, and an ambition to create some form of circularity through land fill diversion, and re-use. The challenge with socks or any product using elastic, or rubber is that they are very hard to recycle, and re-use. These products can generally be “down-cycled” but separating the natural, and synthetic materials for re-use is difficult, and expensive. A product that is 100% cotton (example) is easier to recycle and re-use. Once you have material blends, the recycling potential becomes more challenging.
What Smartwool has done is amazing. We’re jealous. The process to take back used item’s from their customers break them down, and extract the (in this case) wool to be re-spun into new yarn, and then made into a new pair of high value socks is complex, and expensive. That said, Smartwool is owned by V.F. Corp an $8.3 BILLION dollar company. This should be the norm across their entire portfolio of brands, not an anomaly at one of their smaller brands. We hope it’s in motion to be a new standard in the company, and we hope this helps lead a sea change in the industry. Below in our stories, we share the thoughts of Nicole Bassett, Co-Founder of the Renewal Workshop. Nicole says it better than we could, but in short this is a significant milestone, and we are celebrating it. Bravo, Smartwool.
We would love to hear from you. Comment here on substack, hit us on social, or email us at info@arvingoods.com. Have a great week. Cheers,
Harry & Dustin (Team AG) ✌️🧦
Stories Of The Week…
Industry
A Big F$*king Deal - Nicole Bassett (LinkedIn)
This is a post this week on LinkedIn from Nicole Bassett. Nicole is one of the co-founders of The Renewal Workshop and thought leader in the transition of an industry toward circularity. Her opinion matters. She says, “don’t screw this up” she’s right. We need more of this, and small companies like Arvin Goods, want to follow these steps and take advantage of new systems. Exciting! 🧦🙌
Finance
Can “ECO” go “IPO”? - Bloomberg
Reformation Eyes Going Public in Testing the Limits of Eco-Friendly Fashion. Sales doubled in four years to $300 million, but doubts remain about how big eco-friendly brands can get.👚🧶
Meet Chris Burkard
Chris Burkard Live - Looking Sideways (Substack)
Matt Barr interviews Chris Burkard at a special event in London organized by his agency All Conditions Media📸
Visuals
What do The Beatles mean to artists today? - It’s Nice That
Here’s how 30 illustrators see the band. RoomFifty co-founder and Beatles super fan Leon Edler curates and presents Beatles-themed artworks from Stan Chow and Wei Hsuan Chen to Paul Blow. 🖼️🎨
