Products With a Purpose, Summer 2018
The altruistic idea of giving back has become a natural sentiment lately. In a world where we need benevolence more than ever, having the means and the opportunity to give back in whatever capacity is so incredible.
Carrying products with purpose means stocking your shelves with products whose proceeds are donated to charity, or SKUs from companies that have a give-back mission or help the community in some fashion.
For the past two years, I’ve penned a regular section for Gift Shop magazine, a sister publication of Museums & More, dedicated to recognizing these companies. What has resulted on our end is a consistent slew of companies sharing their respective stories. One after another, I get lost in these stories. The hardest part is only being able to select only a handful to include in each particular issue. This is an incredible problem to have.
We’ll continue to share some great companies, and can’t wait to hear how they perform on your shelves.
Pebble Child
What they offer: A variety of knit toys for infants and children, handmade by women in Bangladesh.
How they give: Disadvantaged women from rural villages of Bangladesh are happy to make Pebble products as they can earn and carry their family expenses. On the other hand, Moms around the world are happy to give nice and fabulous toys to their children and the children are happy to get colorful toys from their mom.
Denik
What they offer: The idea for the Denik brand began with a few college kids at Utah State University in 2011. They started selling artist designed notebooks, made in the US, with a global charitable contribution. The vision has since blossomed from a grassroots street team of book-slinging artists, to an artsy, eclectic bunch of business professionals.
How they give: They gather artists from across the globe and put their work on notebooks, journals, and sketchbooks. Then, with every product sold, 5 percent of all profits are given directly to the designated schools, and an additional 5 percent is sent to the contributing artists.
BraveHoods
What they offer: They make fashionable, super comfortable hooded apparel with empowering, positive messages. For each BraveHood sold, they donate one to a brave kid who is going through cancer treatment.
How they give: BraveHoods offer comfort and hope to kids and families going through treatment. We also give to siblings because we know they are affected as well. BraveHoods make a perfect gift for those just diagnosed with cancer and for those that need a little inspiration.
Sammy Soap
What they offer: Sammysoap is a factory located in St. Louis that makes and wraps 4.5-ounce bars of soap. The all-natural skincare products are vegan and fragrant free, and the company substantiates fair trade supply chains and uses sustainable packaging.
How they give: Sammysoap is a job-creation machine for adults with intellectual disabilities disguised as the world’s best soap company. They are not a not-for-profit on purpose. They manage to the strengths of the employees to make the best soap around. Sammysoap exists in support of human health, a clean planet and disability wage equality.
Love Your Melon
What they offer: Love Your Melon is an apparel brand dedicated to giving a hat to every child battling cancer, as well as supporting nonprofit organizations that lead the fight against pediatric cancer.
How they give: Fifty percent of profits from the sale of all Love Your Melon products is given to Love Your Melon’s nonprofit partners in the fight against pediatric cancer. To date, Love Your Melon has given more than 145,000 beanies to children battling cancer and contributed more than $4.6 million to fund cancer research initiatives.
Sam Ujvary
Sam is the managing editor of Gift Shop Pets, Museums & More and Party & Halloween Retailer, and is a contributing editor for Gift Shop Magazine. She has a copywriting background and has been in publishing for six years.Social Connections
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