Quote of the Day: Method Co-Founder Adam Lowry, on Green Style
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 03.14.08
What the style element does is it creates mass market relevance for a green product. And I'm not just talking about Method right now, although that is very much our strategy. We're not the first company to think cleaners should be green, but we are doing them in a way that makes them accessible both from a price-point standpoint and from a design/aesthetic standpoint to everyone else who isn't this sort of tree-hugging granola -- forgive the expression ...
Why would you do all this green stuff and then just hang out with other greenies? That's one of the biggest reasons why the traditional environmental movement has not succeeded. It's not democratic.
One of the big goals with Method, and why design and sustainability are inextricably linked in our brand, is that if you don't have the design element, you're only going to appeal to people who are already green, so you're not actually going to create any real environmental change ... To us, "sustainability" and "green" are just aspects of the quality of our product -- they are not a marketing positioning ... I mean everything should be that way. Just build it into the quality of the product and let the experience of the product be the real hero.
--Method Co-Founder Adam Lowry, in an interview with Grist (Method's other co-founder, Eric Ryan, chimes in as well), on the importance of combining sustainability and design
See also: ::"Go Naked," Says Method, ::Give Greener with Method, ::Microfiber Towels from Method, and ::Method Home Cleaning Products
the sustainability aspect of method is really great- the design...not so much. i have been a fan of method's products ever since they started showing up on shelves- BUT- try using the large dish washing soap. it is impossible to open or grip with wet hands, the opening dries out and gets clogged with excess product. the shave cream in the "bloq" container is also wasteful. the way it is designed, the product is very hard to dispense as quantity diminishes. it takes a lot of placing the container this way and that to allow the contents to settle.
i applaud their effort to make environmentally conscious products, but the packaging design has to play a bit of catch up. while aesthetically pleasing, bad packaging design leads to waste through novelty and impracticality.
I agree. I think Method has gotten lazy. They built a name for themselves so now the concern is increasing market share in stores like Target. I think they've lost sight of their original vision and have purposely passed up multiple opportunities to do things in a more sustainable way in order to cut costs. Packaging is one example, as is their hard goods, such as the o-mop. If they are a sustainable company, why are they making products from virgin plastic? Because they can. Well I'm not going to buy a non-eco friendly product just because it comes from a company that markets themselves that way. I hope Method realizes its customers are smarter than that.