Oliver Co. London

Sustainability without Compromise

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Vegan Wallet & Accessories

SUSTAINABILITY

Our Promise…

From the outset, we have been focussed on making accessories differently. Sustainability has been built into our DNA and effects every decision and stage of production. Through transparency and innovation we challenge the old methods of thinking and commit to defining what the future of fashion looks like.

Our Materials

A Journey of Understanding

Learning about materials and understanding their impacts has defined our direction as a brand. When we started Oliver Co. in 2018, the leather industry was under heavy criticism. Discovering the human, environmental and ethical concerns associated with its production, left us searching for a better alternative.

When looking into synthetic alternatives, they too posed environmental problems of their own. While they were considered better in terms of global warming and pollution, extracting large amounts of non-renewable fossil fuels for their production has significant effects.

Our Materials

Our apple leather and wood leather materials mark the beginning of this new age.

Our B Corp Journey

Balancing profit and purpose…

Since starting Oliver Co. we have had our sights set on becoming a B Corp company. B Corporation Certified companies meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose.

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In January 2021, we hired our first freelancer to help us achieve our goal. Having previously worked at Parley for the Oceans and being an active volunteer in Extinction Rebellion, Catarina has a fantastic knowledge and understanding of sustainability and the environmental crisis which we are facing. Prior to working at Parley for the Oceans she studied ‘3D Design & Craft’ at University, where she quickly discovered her passion for protecting the environment, specialising in Sustainable Product Design.

Living and working from New York, and with the new normality of Zoom calls, we have been able to strategise together on how we can become the most sustainable and ethical company possible.

In the past few months we have been analysing our ethical and sustainable performance, and identifying where improvements are needed. To make the lasting changes required, we have developed resources to help our team work in alignment with Oliver Co.’s values, which include:

1. Virtual Office Stewardship

2. Guide on Reducing Carbon Emissions

3. Detailed Mission Statement, outlining our environmental and social commitments.

4. Employee Handbook

5. Code of Ethics

We are also working with our suppliers to make sure they are operating sustainably and ethically. To do this we have created a Self Assessment Questionnaire to be completed by our suppliers, which allows us to review their environmental and social performance, ensuring compliance with all local laws and regulations, as well as environmentally-friendly manufacturing, ethical labor, and fair wages. In addition to the Self Assessment Questionnaire, we have set Environmental Key Performance Indicator goals, allowing us to keep track of the goals throughout the year using the following metrics:

  • Energy Use
  • CO2 Production
  • Amount of Carbon Offset
  • Water Use
  • Waste Production
  • Waste that has been recycled
  • Diversity amongst our Suppliers

At Oliver Co. we believe that our business should be a force for good, so we donate a minimum of 2% of our revenue to support our community. More specifically, we will continue to work with The Felix Project who collect fresh, nutritious food that cannot be sold and deliver it to charities and schools in London so they can provide healthy meals and help the most vulnerable in our society.

To further reduce our environmental impact, we have also recently become Climate Neutral Certified, reducing our carbon emissions where we can and offsetting the carbon emissions that we produce as a company.

We look forward to sharing our B Corp journey over the coming months, building up to June when we are eligible to apply!

Our Story

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We believe in making products differently.

Through transparency and innovation we want to create highly functional products that cause as little environmental impact as possible.

Eco-Innovation & Transparency

Oliver Co. London is a UK based brand producing vegan accessories made from premium sustainable fabrics. Using innovation and transparency, our range of vegan wallets and card holders use the latest in premium bio-based leathers, recycled and organic linings and ethical craftsmanship.

There is often an expectation that you have to give up premium aesthetics or functionality within sustainable design. It is our aim to change people’s perceptions and, through using innovative new sustainable fabrics and working with high-end manufacturers, we want to create minimalistic functional designs that outlive fashion’s seasonal trends.

The company was started in 2017 by Matt Oliver, a product designer, who having studied sustainable design and previously worked in high-end watch design, wanted to apply both of his skills to create a responsible brand with the same level of detail and craftsmanship.

Ethics & Transparency

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Sustainability is about going further than just the ingredients in a product. We work closely with our suppliers to ensure a high standard of ethics are maintained from production of the materials through to the product manufacturing.

We want to be completely transparent with you. We’ve spent a lot of time finding the right suppliers and manufacturers and want to and share the stories of how our product came to be. We aim to trace back all of our products ingredients, so that you know exactly what you’re buying into.

We only sell online, bypassing middlemen and wholesale stores. This allows us to invest in higher quality materials and better craftsmanship whilst still selling at a fair price.

We are constantly assessing the market for new innovations, with the aim of transitioning away from the linear economy (make, use, dispose) and moving towards the circular economy. Circular materials use the notion of zero-waste whereby the materials can either be up-cycled into new products or composted back into the earth after their useful life.