Convenient. Trendy. Low-priced. Whenever these adjectives are applied to products, you can almost bet that they're viewed as disposable. It's one thing when the product is something like facial tissue. It's quite another when you're spending hard-earned money on sophisticated electronics, appliances, tools, and furnishings. You expect a quality product to work as advertised (or better) and last longer than a few months.
Yet, disposability and planned obsolescence are purposeful. Long ago, manufacturers realized that low-cost, low-quality products needed to be replaced sooner. Built-in repeat purchases are further assured if the owner can't repair them. This enables brands to continually introduce "new" models with little additional cost and virtually guarantee repurchases with a higher profit margin. Aggressive marketing fuels a "keeping up with the Joneses" attitude. The result is more than 292.4 million tons of trash generated per year, just in the U.S[1]. Of that trash:
- 146 million tons ended up in landfills
- 69 million tons were recycled
- 35 million tons were burned for energy recovery
- 25 million tons were composted
People will always need to consume goods and services simply to live. But rampant consumerism combined with a disposable mentality has launched a backlash. For one thing, it's expensive to live that way. While manufacturers are producing more products for little incremental cost, the consumer isn't purchasing with that benefit. In addition, consumers are increasingly concerned about exploitation of raw materials, as well as air, water, and soil pollution generated by hyper-consumerism. Not to mention the waste of perfectly good products, components, and materials that are created and then sent to landfills because they simply aren't used.
That's not how we roll. We believe luxury and sustainability co-exist beautifully, which is why we design and craft products to become passed-down heirlooms. Our designs are original and handcrafted from top-quality, natural materials. Sustainability is built in. We source dead stock fabrics from world-leading design and luxury houses and from sustainably raised and harvested woods. Part of what makes each DandyLion product unique is that when certain materials are gone, they're gone. Our production scraps are recycled—becoming raw materials for other businesses.
Affordable, approachable luxury—experience our distinctive textiles and kitchen tools for yourself. You'll find us in a select group of distinctive resorts and retail shops. Or right here in our online store.
[1] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2018 (the latest available data)