Interior decisions

To open an ecodesign store also involves a bunch of decision about how to run your business as sustainably as possible. We cannot sell ecological products without making a same effort ourselves to be a sustainable business, can we! 

Of course one of the biggest decisions is the shop itself. It should have double glazing, so this is good for the insulation. The heating system is also very new, so this should make the energy-efficiency better. We also chose Lampiris to provide the gas and electricity. So the energy that we use should be green.

In the renovation we have tried to limit the use of harmful chemicals and to do it with natural products. On the walls and FSC-certified wooden shelves we have used Eco Tinto, which contains only natural substances and no industrial chemicals. Eco Tinto left a very beautiful matt finishing on the walls. And the other good news is that you can find it at your closest Brico. The clothing racks are just hooks, jute rope and a wooden bar. Inexpensive, light and no-nonsense. The counter we found in the wide treasure selection at Stefantiek. 

A lot of our shop furniture is actually made by We:Do:Wood, so bamboo. Bamboo is a good choice for furniture and for example floor as it is quickly renewable. Bamboo grows without insecticides, inorganic fertilizers or herbicides. The natural animal and plant life of the habitat are not damaged by cultivation. Bamboo re-circulates large volumes of CO2 and produces 35 percent more oxygen than other plants in the same regions and therefore contributes to cleaning the climate whilst it grows. 

Shops need a lot of light. Many old-fashioned lamps convert only a tiny bit of used energy into light, most of it is used as heat. The traditional incandescent bulbs only transform one tenth into light, 90 % is wasted as heat. We have selected mainly LED as our lighting solution. This will also help to keep the electricity bill small. The lamps cost a lot of money, but last longer and need much less electricity.

On packaging front we try to recycle old materials and use recycled paper. All print work is done by Ecoprint in Willebroek.

We selected cardboard hangers, that are ade of recycled paper and are easy to recycle when they get broken.It is quite a job to fold them together, but they also look pretty nice!