Vote Earth

How Folk Essence strives for sustainable solutions

Our story today begins with an age old (well, at least in our age) problem; addressing the wasteful state of the modern fashion/home goods industries. Unfortunately, we are all too familiar with those tragic pre- beach clean up photos, or not to mention, when our beloved sea friends accidentally get caught up in the *insert single use plastic product* photos. It breaks our hearts, and we know that we could do better. And we must. For us. For our loved ones. For the planet. Present and future. 

So where does Folk Essence come into this?

Well, as a company involved in the making, purchasing, packaging, and shipping of products, we definitely have our weight to pull. 

Let me break it down by the categories of People, Product, and Planet and show You how we make every effort to leave as small of a footprint as possible on the environment. We give our word, that you can purchase your Folk Essence with dignity, every time.  

 People

We purchase all of our Vintage clothing, and home goods from local vendors, and local markets in Hungary. This means, there is no extra shipping material, or emission waste accumulated in this process. Folk Essence also partners with local artists (mostly women), to create our beautiful products. Artists are paid fair and ethical wadges, therefore are able to keep these beautiful artforms alive. There is no conversation of sustainability without the inclusion of the people, the artists and merchants, who are as important of a consideration as any other branch on the sustainability tree. Remember, no artists, no art. 

Product

The best kinds of clothing, and other home goods, are the ones that are made with the intention of a happy and long life. This is something we take to heart, and why we love our Vintage collection so much. All the artists we partner with align with our low impact goal, of sourcing from local and sustainable fabrics, using ecologically responsible methods, and minimizing waste in the production process.

We also encourage our customers to take a deep breath before hitting that Buy button, to be sure that they purchase an item that they absolutely love and will stay with them for years to come. We can, however, assure you that our designs are timeless, and unlike fast fashion trends, these beauties are here to stay. 

Planet

So long plastic, you are not welcome here! You may have a hunch that the fashion/homegoods industries are full of plastic and excess packaging. For example, the product made overseas is often packaged in a plastic polyester bag, or placed into a box filled with unnecessary plastic (we see you, bubble wrap) and covered with styrofoam peanuts JUST to reach the new owner. And we haven’t even gotten into the waste accumulated during the manufacturing! Yikes.

Here at Folk Essence we do things a little differently. Okay, a lot differently. We cut out ALL that plastic nonsense by using sustainable, biodegradable, plant based, and compostable materials. Sounds too good to be true? Well see for yourself…

✰ Our packaging tape is 100% plastic free, and biodegradable

✰Paper boxes > Plastic

✰And when we MUST use “plastic” for our smaller items, we use Noissue compostable polymailers

✰ Is it just me or does the Noissue polymailer smell like coffee? Real question…

✰Naturally our tissue paper is fully made from recycled materials

✰Our bubble wrap is 100% biodegradable, and 100% just as fun to pop

✰And our list would not be fully complete without our biodegradable packing peanuts, I mean they are really the stars of the show

So we hope you get the messege. We'll pass on unnecessary plastic waste any day.

We believe that only when the intersection of People, Products, and Planet are recognized, can any real Progress be made. 

We are not claiming to be perfect, but we are claiming, and making the promise, to always strive to do better. This is not business as usual. This is a vision for better values and actions, for a more conscious way of doing business. 

We care, so you can shop carefree.

Wishing love, light and inspiration to all ♥