Weecos – Discovering Sustainable Lifestyle

We often run into situations where we’re asked what does sustainable business and being ecological mean to us. Good questions! And something we try to figure out every day.

When Weecos was just an idea in our heads, a few years ago, we spent hours trying to define what do we mean by sustainable lifestyle! We discussed and discussed, we completed and reinforced each other’s thoughts and named challenges considering sustainable business.

The core idea is to provide consumers an easily approachable, elegant and high-quality range of products, which are ecologically and ethically produced. We had to define criteria not only for our entrepreneurs but for ourselves too. Again we discussed and discussed, what does ethics and being ecological mean to us.

As we all know, sustainable business is a huuuuuge concept and points of views to the matter are numerous. Traditionally, however, sustainable business is divided into three pillars: economic, environmental and social responsibility.

We want to share our thoughts and ideas with you! In our opinion, responsible business is something that cuts through the entire operating philosophy of a company.

This means that

• a company must take good care of its employees and their working conditions,
• a company must be aware of its supply chains, overall production and operations – who does what and under what circumstances and
• in addition, a company must actively seek a way to improve and develop its impact on society – for example, would it be possible to replace some harmful material with environmentally friendly materials.

Since being ethical and ecological are also complex concepts, let us clarify them too from our point of view.

Being ethical, for us, means that the company’s supply chain is completely transparent. By this we mean that all operations of the company and its subcontractors happen under conditions, which do not mentally or physically harm people or animals. It goes without saying that products must be long lasting.

Being ecological means that an entrepreneur’s actions have a low environmental footprint and are as natural as possible. In the production process you must favour natural materials or surplus and recycled materials. In the word ecology we also associate the importance of thinking a product’s lifecycle. By this we mean that we appreciate that entrepreneurs have thought of their production from designing to the disposal of the product. In other words, being ecological starts from good product or service design.

After clearing these important concepts to ourselves, we contacted various experts. Together we created a questionnaire, which contained numerous of questions that would help us to see the overall picture and select the right entrepreneurs to Weecos. The questionnaire did not only clear our own values and basic principles, but also offered us to take into account other views and experiences on responsibility.

By using this questionnaire we try to figure out how different entrepreneurs contacting us determine social, economic and environmental responsibility. For us it is very important to know how a company takes care of its employees and their own wellbeing, how transparent their supply chain is, what motivates the entrepreneur to sustainable business and how do they understand corporate social responsibility.

In addition, we want the company to think deeply such things as packaging, logistics and the possible risks in their supply chain. They are also encouraged to tell, how they could improve their production chain in the near future.

It goes without saying that there are many challenges considering these matters. But by admitting them and opening them literally both for themselves and us, we think we can help them to develop their business. We then choose, on the basis of this information, the suitable actors to Weecos.

It must be said, however, that we understand the many challenges a small company confronts in the field of sustainability. For instance, as a small company, you cannot always choose the most responsible of all methods, especially when it comes to materials. The bigger the company is, the more stringent the criteria for them are.

We also realize the fact that acting in a sustainable way is never complete. New questions, such as how to measure accountability or for what do we need certificates for, keep coming.

But what are your thoughts on sustainable business? Do you agree with us or do you want to add something to our ideas? Share your thought on responsible business with us!