One Percent for the Planet

Branding, for a change

Grain is an agency that understands ethical branding and design. We are experts in marketing for ethical brands and ecofashion labels. And we practice what we preach! Ambitious business minds usually have wider concerns than a company’s bottom line. Of course profit is one metric of success, but what’s the use of investing in your business if you aren’t supporting the planet it lives on?

With Grain, your branding gives back. We help create and grow successful brands, turning your vision into reality, and pass on 1% of your investment with us directly to two charities so your business can thrive in a healthy environment.

Most people now understand that the climate and ecosystem of our beautiful big blue planet is threatened by the activities of humankind. Greenhouse gases, together with other forms of pollution and the over-exploitation of precious resources, combine to create a perfect storm of threats to the lives of our descendants and the planet’s future. When faced with the scale of this impending disaster it’s hard to see what one branding and marketing agency like Grain can do to help. Or it was difficult to know what to do, until we discovered One Percent for the Planet way back in 2008.

If you haven’t come across it before then it’s well worth taking a look at the One Percent for the Planet website. This brilliant organisation connects businesses, consumers, and environmentally linked not-for-profit organisations, empowering all of us to drive big, positive change. Each member business pledges to give 1% of its revenues to one or more of the 3300 carefully selected not-for-profit organisations. And with 1200 member businesses, collectively that makes a big difference. Since the idea was created in 2002, over $150 million has been raised for planet Earth.

At Grain we decided to support two particular charities approved by One Percent for the Planet. The first is TRAID, a charity working to stop clothes from being thrown away. Many of the clothing banks in recycling centres are run by TRAID and they have their own banks all around London. Better yet for all concerned is the home collection scheme, which is convenient for people donating, and results in higher-quality donations plus the Gift Aid bump-up for the charity. TRAID turns unwanted items into funds and resources. This helps to reduce the environmental and social impacts of our clothes with the aim of increasing clothes reuse across the UK and thereby reducing waste, carbon emissions and consumption. Simultaneously, they fund international development projects to improve conditions and working practices in the textile industry so that the new clothes we do buy are more likely to be ethically produced. A major PR initiative organised by TRAID is #SecondhandFirst week. Its aim is to increase the number of people committed to wearing and sourcing more of their clothes (and other resources) secondhand, rather than new.

The other charity we support is the Marine Conservation Society, committed to caring for our seas, shores and marine wildlife. This highly active organisation works tirelessly to defend the marine environment, protecting endangered species, cleaning up our beaches and seas and promoting the growth of marine conservation areas. They also provide the Good Fish Guide which keeps up to date with which species are threatened, so you know what you can eat without feeling guilty! Their work is vitally important to secure a future for our living seas and to save our threatened marine wildlife before it is lost forever.

Of course our contribution grows every year that we grow. As part of the One Percent for the Planet collective effort we know we’re making a big difference: the power of one multiplied by many people and companies also pitching in. Would you like to join us?