Jessica Alba and sustainability?

One of my greatest guilty pleasures is catching up on celebrity gossip. Despite knowing that most of the stories are fabricated by magazines and the idea of wanting to know the details of a complete stranger’s life is absurd, I must admit that sites like justjared and popsugar are bookmarked on my computer. I never thought my daily escape would lead me to any useful information about sustainability, but it just so happens that going “eco-friendly” is a popular trend among Hollywood’s big names. I came across a post about Jessica Alba’s new venture into business via her eco-friendly, baby-friendly company catered to mothers and decided to find out more about it.

Simply named The Honest Company, it works as a monthly subscription fee that cusotmers pay online and eco-friendly, decently-priced, visually-appealing baby or household products are shipped directly to people’s homes. The company is co-founded by Christopher Gavigan, the former CEO of Health Child Healthy World and Jessica Alba, who was inspired by the birth of her two children to search out the safest and greenest products to use.

Currently, they “ource natural, organic, sustainbly harvested, renewable, pure raw materials” for products, use reduced toxics, reduced petroleum based plastic, and 100% recycled/renewed materials in their products/packaging and delivery. In terms of business operations, they ensure electricity used at their factories are 100% renewable power, providing incentivces for eco-friendly transportation, choosing ground shipping whenever possible, and reducing their carbon footprint throughout the entire product life cycle. They seem to be well on their way to reaching their company goals which are to

• “redce the ubiquitous presence of toxic chemicals in our our natural environment (air, soil, oceans, etc), man-made environments (homes, schools, offices) and our personal environments (industrial pollution inside our own bodies);
• Protect natural resources by minimizing waste and maximizing use/re-use;
• Support peace, security, and social justice; and,
• Promote diversity and productivity through all facets of life – from cultural to ecological.”

Wthin the green purchase perception matrix, The Honest Company’s products will fall into the why not? purchases. Baby and household products are a necessity, and Honest’s products are moderately priced. Despite a low level of compliance (its convienent, pretty and there isn’t a huge sacrifice needed to use these eco-friendly products instead, the company is still relatively new for now, and consumers have no way knowing if all of Honest’s claims are true. With a growign degree of confidence, I can see these products easily becoming win-win purchases.

Overall, I think this company is headed in the right direction in terms of its sustainable marketing and seems useful and helpful to new mothers everywhere. Despite what I personally think are not-so-great acting performances on screen by Ms. Alba, I admire her take in sustainability and I hope she will use her celebrity-platform to promote going green even more.

To find out more check out: http://www.honest.com/