This is your life… do what you love
Eco-conscious shopping is a wonderful thing, though sometimes it can feel a little limiting. Luckily, there are companies like Holstee who take designing with a conscious to a whole new level. Holstee offers mindful shoppers a place to find meaningful product. They curate with great taste, uncovering designers making a difference and offering products you want to buy.
To get a better look at this creative company, we chatted with co-founder, Michael Radparvar, who not only gave us insight into his company but sheds light on the infamous Holstee Manifesto.
What is the Holstee Mission?
To create a positive impact through good design.
You have created a very specific product line. How do you and the team decide what products epitomize Holstee?
It didn't take long for us to realize the amount of incredible designers and organizations that we wanted to find ways to support. When we started Holstee, I think one of the earliest things we did was create a page highlighting the other organizations that we loved and that inspired us. In 2012 we're looking to work with designers like emiLime more collaboratively whenever possible.
What are your favorite products?
Alpaca Hat: Each hat is handcrafted in Peru by a group of women who are thus empowered to increase their family’s income and well being. The material provides all that only 100% Alpaca can, creating the coziest hat you will want to keep on all day.
$55.00
The Black Wallet: Each wallet is one of a kind produced from upcycled plastic bags. Holstee has partnered with a non profit in India helping those referred to as "rag pickers" get work.
$40.00
Holstee Dress: Designed by Holstee - finally a t-shirt that works as well as a dress. Each dress has a quote from the manifesto incorporated into it.
$55.00
Okay, there's no way to talk about Holstee without mentioning the Manifesto. Take readers back to that day in Union Square when you, Dave and Fabian created this beloved inspirational piece.
We were early to mid 20's, approaching the notorious quarter life crisis, re-examination of life, and ready to rethink the different directions we could go. We wrote the manifesto as a way to define for ourselves what a successful life might look like. It was a pretty quick process overall. We put it up onto our site, as a way to immortalize it on the web, and three years later it's been translated into more that 15 languages by our community, viewed by more than 30 million people, and continued to help a significant amount of people learn about Holstee every day.
Got any eco-friendly shopping suggestions for us? We would love to hear them!