sustainable packaging, website and the kelp razor

Well Kept is a values-driven, self-funded business and we have always done what we can with what we have. We've figured things out the hard way, had success and made mistakes, but we have always let our commitment to sustainability lead the way.

When we were updating our branding, packaging and website in 2021, we wanted to ensure that we were lowering our environmental impact whilst also elevating the customer experience.

We believe that our values should drive the decisions we make and permeate every facet of our brand. From the digital world to our physical products, we want Well Kept to represent taking care, of ourselves and the planet. 

With that in mind, here's a deeper look at how our packaging and website came to be. 

PACKAGING

As our business has evolved, so has our product packaging. In the beginning, we had many elements that just weren't manageable for our growing brand. 

In searching for a solution, we quickly found out that it's complicated to source environmentally-conscious packaging that doesn't cost an arm and a leg (a cost that is shouldered by customers).  Most conventional packaging options are done cheaply with little concern to the customer and their experience of a brand. We felt determined to create something that honoured our values, was beautiful to look at, and had as little impact to the earth as possible.  

We worked with some incredibly creative minds at Lind studio and had our designs printed (hemlock & summit) in Vancouver.

Some key points about our packaging: 

/ the card stock is FSC certified, uncoated and carbon neutral
/ none of the protective packaging is made of foam or plastic; we use fluted kraft inserts to protect our bottles and mycelium to pad our razors
/ mycelium is made of mushrooms: we literally grow mushrooms in a mold shaped to perfectly secure your razor and that means it's 100% compostable
/ all of our bottles are glass and we encourage you to get creative, reusing them throughout your home
/ we still produce, assemble, and package everything in our Vancouver warehouse

WEBSITE

Similar to our packaging, we felt our website wasn't delivering the experience that what we want to offer. We spent a long time seeking out a design studio that we aligned with and were thrilled when we landed on Faculty. Creators of some of our favourite sites and publications, Faculty’s work is stunning and they are located right here in Vancouver. A complete joy to work with, they made a site that we are so so pleased with. We encourage you to explore the site if you have time but here are a few things worth mentioning:

/ we added a safety razor page and an instructions page to walk you through the why and the how of using a safety razor
/ we’ve highlighted some of the ways we’re trying to reduce our environmental footprint and the impact we create as a business
/ on each product page, we have outlined specific categories that we wanted to create more transparency on - what ingredients are included/excluded, packaging details, ethical production, and end of life
/ the website has a light and dark mode (dark mode uses significantly less energy–think of it like turning the lights off)
/ we used less coding, less fonts, smaller images, and reduced video content–again, to create less energy consumption in the running of the website

You might notice a deep, green colour running through various elements of our site and packaging. This colour inspired us to create a new colour for our favourite product - our kelp safety razor. We hope you love it.