It sounds a bit clunky but I think there's something in the idea of 'built-in intended re-purposing', for companies who are falling foul of making affordable products that last a long time and are good for all kinds of sustainable reasons. Its a big load of words that essentially mean, designing and marketing a product and services that go with it, to intentionally make money out of when the product has gone beyond its first period of use and is about to be thrown out or just ignored. It's at this critical time that the product's part in a recycling programme can be a new source of value - a re-purposing that helps the brand and consumer get together on a sustainability agenda.
Its about getting good and principled revenue out of two significant stages of a product's life - 'life with the first consumer', and 'life after the first consumer'.
A PSFK tweet a few days ago about jelly mould shoe phenomenon Crocs got me to this. It lead to this article on how Crocs went from market leading hit in 2007 to now severely struggling with big deficits. Apparently the hard wearing nature of the products has meant initial purchasers take a long time before they are potentially ready to buy again. It's arguably a big concern for companies who are aiming to do better by the planet - how to make sound things that are built to last, and still keep consumers buying relatively regularly.
James Gilmore and Joseph Pine, in their 1998 'Welcome to the Experience Economy' article in the Harvard Business Review headed a section 'You are what you charge for'. This seems apt to me for brands like Crocs - they have to charge for more than just shoes and thinking about managing the wider brand experience would be a good place to find ways to build a stronger relationships around a brand point of view that people would support.
Turning the relatively indestructibility of their product from a threat to an advantage is an obvious start. The traditional business model of charge for product's life from new to not wanted is wasteful and not what a company switched on to sustainability would do. It encourages the 'buy, use, disgard, buy a different but similar one' mentality - not good for the planet, but great for more disposability and keeping mass production lines churning.
Crocs charge money for a long lasting shoe, what they could do is charge money for an opportunity to be part of a use and re-use sustainability initiative with shoes as the raw material means to a good for all of us end.
They might do well by providing and making us more aware of how we can re-buy into their brand and products beyond first use of their products. Their shoes would be appealing on two levels - we'd use them in their first life and, then we'd pass them on to be re-purposed. The key new thing for me would be to buy them from the outset with the intent to pass them back once we're ready to recycle, or send them into the after-first-use life.
I would have thought it would be easy to pull at our eco consciences and make us realise that there is good recycling value in the big plastic oddities languishing around in wardrobes and summer shoe bags, worn thin from a couple of season's usage. There are obvious ideas - 'recycle your old pairs in our programme and get a discount on your next buy and feel good that you've helped make a new basketball court, a playground surface, or a 'buy one new and on your behalf Crocs donates a pair free in partnership perhaps with someone like Tom's Shoes where every pair of Tom's Shoes bought means a pair is donated to a child in a developing part of the world who needs shoes.
I don't really know how good Crocs eco-credentials are, but either way the creation of a programme for the intended re-purposing of the shoes seems a very responsible thing to do that should help shift perceptions for the better.
I hope Crocs gets innovative on products and processes and marketing to get back to successful ways. I bought a bright blue pair of Crocs in 2006, they're still kicking around somewhere and I think it would have been great if I was asked at the time I bought them, when I expected I might be done with them and be returning them to Crocs for their recycling programme. Also I think it be great to be able to say, 'we make products for people who still get value from them even when they don't need them anymore'.
Perhaps that's another take on sustainability - the ability to be perpetually of worth, to be valuable beyond your physical existence. Sounds quite zen, in a good way.
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