Circular Economy Branded Merchandise

At Firebrand, we’re actively challenging our supply partners to introduce products to the market that support a circular economy. We now have a growing range of circular economy branded merchandise options available on our website.

What is a circular economy?

The circular economy is a new way of creating value, and ultimately prosperity. It works by extending product lifespan through improved design and servicing and relocating waste from the end of the supply chain to the beginning—in effect, using resources more efficiently by using them over and over, not only once. In a circular economy, products are designed for durability, reuse and recyclability, and materials for new products come from old products. As much as possible, everything is reused, remanufactured, recycled back into a raw material, used as a source of energy, or as a last resort, disposed of. Source: United Nations Industrial Development Organisation. You can find out more about various key terms relating to sustainability on our education page.

How can branded merchandise contribute towards the circular economy?

There are multiple ways that promotional swag can support the circular economy. One way is through the Premium Brands that we offer and the other is our own products.

Premium Brands

Many brands are on their own sustainability journey’s. One example of this is The North Face. They manufacture many of their clothing with recycled materials, with the goal to move to 100% responsibly sourced fabrics in clothing by 2025 and in all footwear and equipment by 2023. You can find out more about their goals on their website. In several of The North Face stores across the UK, you can find Take Back bins. When you’re ready to part ways with your The North Face product, you can take it to one of their bins. They can then refurbish, donate, or recycle it.

Another example is The Honest Bottle. The bottle and lid are made from 100% post-consumer, food grade recycled material. The strap is manufactured in the UK using virgin materials, however once you’ve reached the end of the bottles life, the bottle and lid can be recycled and the strap can be returned to Honest for free and turned into new straps. Find out more on our Take Back Scheme section of our CSR page.

Branded Merchandise

The design and manufacturing of promotional products has changed in recent years. We’ve seen the launch of new materials, recyclable and biodegradable products. Our new Kai Jacket is a promotional circular jacket. The Kai Jacket is a unisex, lightweight jacket made with GRS (Global Recycled Standard) recycled nylon. The branding on this jacket goes onto a removable sleeve patch. Once the jacket is no longer needed, the owner can scan the QR code, which is placed inside the jacket, fill out the form, pack the jacket correctly and return it to our factory. Once it’s been returned, we can give the Kai Jacket a second chance at life. It will be professionally cleaned, repaired if needed and rebranded for reuse.

If you would like to discuss circular economy branded merchandise for your brand, please click here to get in touch.