Will petitioning for green products work?

In a comment on the truly green crafting article mentioned yesterday, I suggested that petitioning craft stores may not be the way to go:

A petition approach targeted to a store or type of owner could be less effective than sales-oriented approaches targeted to specific products we want to see more of.

What might a sales-oriented approach mean in practice?

1. Recognize the value we bring. Craft chains are suffering from falling sales and traffic. (Stay tuned for some numbers and analysis around the industry in coming days.) At the same time, young people love crafts. Making things yourself is a defining form of personal -- and even spiritual -- expression for our generation.

So what's going on? This is an existential problem for major craft stores. Passionate eco-crafters have insight that can help a savvy craft chain redefine its brand and attract young customers. This is a gift, not a political attack.

2. Big-picture value: A spiffed-up brand and growing market share. In an age when even Wal-Mart is trying to go green, this argument is not a hard sell. Young urban craftistas and 'mainstream' crafters alike are attracted to environmentally conscious products. (If executed correctly, and not greenwashed). Just imagine: If one of the big craft chains started stocking and promoting a lot more green products than its competitors, wouldn't you drive a little further to buy from them?

3. Next layer of value: Product sales and profitability. Across many consumer products, green is the little engine that could. Such products make up a small but rapidly growing share of current sales, and a diverse group of consumers expresses interest in eco-friendly products.

For example, take Clorox's new line of green cleaning products. In Clorox's initial research, they found that less than 2% of sales of all purpose cleaners in 2007 went to natural products. Yet sales of this niche grew 23% from 2006 to 2007. And Clorox found that nearly 50% of their customers would be interested in a green option, if such cleaners were readily available at local stores and of a similar effectiveness as traditional cleaners. Read more in the San Francisco Chronicle.

4. Champion codified standards or brands. Take out the guesswork. When Clorox wanted to establish green products, they relied on the Sierra Club's guidance and the EPA's Design for the Environment certification process, as is noted in the Chronicle article mentioned above. It's tricky for firms to get involved in defining what's green or not because they often don't have knowledgeable staff on hand to deal with these questions, and also because it opens them to charges of greenwashing. Advocates should have on hand a definition of what makes something green, and ideally, a certification process. Certification has been very successful at jumpstarting green commercial real estate construction, for example.

Some examples of this in the craft community are the Organic Trade Association's organic cotton standards and GreenBlue's Sustainable Textile Standard for all fabrics. Hopefully there are more out there!

5. Name-drop: Promote affordable and awesome products. Stores can only sell what their suppliers have on hand. In the longer term, of course, suppliers will make more green products if demand is proven out (as I think it will be). But in the short term, stores and consumers alike are constrained by what is available today. Know of a great glue, fabric line, etc? Talk it up. And when it sells out at a chain store, they will order more.

6. Build consumer coalitions. Three key goals promoted on Crafting a Green World include: transparency in manufacturing, invest in the development of innovative tools, and eco-friendly non-toxic products. The latter goal especially is just as appealing to teachers, Girl Scout leaders and grandmothers as it is to green lovers. What if school districts or a teachers' union committed to only buy green craft supplies by 2010? These big buyer blocks are natural allies. How can we get creative about working together to get the non-toxic supplies we all want?

There are probably more great ideas than those listed here. Imagining a win-win situation for craft retailers and the environment alike is the place to begin.