🛒 The Check-Out: Smol

+ more in our basket - HiBar, cookies and... Henry Dimbleby?

May 16, 2024

Happy Thursday! Welcome to The Check-Out - your weekly dose of brand x sustainability inspiration, and your discovery box of what the team is loving this week. It’s great to have you here.

Who here LOVES doing laundry? Wow, look at all those hands up! Wait, are those tears of joy? Screams of excitement? Ok…maybe that’s our imagination, but we’ve been daydreaming about Smol and their products so you really can’t blame us. One of those brands whose products shouldn’t feel so innovative, because they really just make sense, we’ve been following their work for years. Today - we’re excited to dive in deeper to their world of detergents, deodorants and more.

After we’ve spent time with Smol, we’ll share what the Following the Footprints team has loved and consumed this week. Let’s dig in…

> Brand Spotlight

Smol: Getting Sudsy With Sustainability

Ever wondered what happens to all those plastic bottles once you've squeezed out the last drop of detergent? Smol did, and they decided to do something about it. With their subscription model, they’re banishing single-use plastics from both the cleaning isle and our bathrooms. Founded in 2018, the UK-based brand delivers their vegan, cruelty-free goodies in plastic-free and FSC certified packaging, cutting down on waste and keeping your waste bin as clean as your countertops.

Not stopping there - they’re also tackling volume. What do we mean by that? A huge part of the products we use is just….water. With more concentrated formulas, which Smol has developed to shrink their laundry capsules down to their most potent form, they're slashing carbon emissions by a very healthy 35%. Just this past year, they’ve expanded their range from the laundry room to the bathroom too - via shampoo, body soap, toothpaste, deodorant and more. There are huge wins to be made here too - liquid shower products, water concentration can be as high as 80%!

Putting suds back into the S of ESG

The Sussex-based company's sustainability initiatives transcend environmental concerns. Through partnerships and social programs, Smol actively addresses hygiene poverty, donating over 600,000 laundry capsules to schools, food banks and shelters.

Their collaboration with organisations like The Hygiene Bank brings their consumers along with them. With their Donate-a-wash scheme, consumers can also choose to (you guessed it) donate washes with their orders. Their latest project, Suds in Schools, instals mini launderettes in schools with washer-dryer machines and detergent so that children from families in need can have access to clean uniforms and clothes.

Collectively scrubbing up

Aiming for accountability, Smol has certified as B Corp. They also go the extra mile by showcasing stats on their website boasting impressive figures - 1948 tonnes of single-use plastic saved, 4,794 tonnes of chemicals spared, 2,955,463 litres of water shipped and counting - all achievable through a shared goal.

Smol aren’t alone in their efforts - whilst a brand can trailblaze change for an industry, no brand can create systemic change alone. Other brands like Who Gives a Crap, Milk and More, and Bower Collective also employ subscription models to promote sustainability within their respective niches - we can’t wait to discover more (email us, please!).

> In Our Basket

🔎 What we loved and consumed this week:

From Jenny in New York: I’ve long been on the hunt for a plastic-free deodorant that will actually serve me well amidst the impending summer humidity. I’m feeling optimistic about my HiBar deodorant, but will have to update you all once it’s August (the armpit of the summer months).
From Leone in London: I find myself recommending Henry Dimbleby’s ‘The National Food Strategy: One Year On’ talk at Groundswell 2022 a LOT. Nicola Smith told me about it when I interviewed her for Meet the Brands a few years ago, it’s a passionate, comprehensive and really fascinating talk.
From Katherine in London: For any vegans or dairy-avoiders based in the UK, I can’t recommend Marks and Spencers Plant Kitchen Chocolate Chunk Cookies enough! They’re always fresh and found in their bakery section. As a long-time lactose intolerant I have yet to come across any other vegan cookies that taste this good!

That’s it for today!

Know a brand we should spotlight next? Let Leone know!
Have links that can make the team learn or laugh? Share them with us, we might just share them in The Check-Out next week.
Hungry for more? You’ll see us on Monday! That’s when we suit up and get serious, digging into a topic that is guaranteed to make you look smart at standup.

Much love,

Team FTF