This Saturday, August 29th, EarthHero celebrates its 3rd birthday – a milestone we’re proud to have gotten to with the support of our amazing community of Earth Heroes like you. From Day 1, we’ve been on a mission to change the way the world shops. We have big dreams, and each year we are so thankful to have grown closer to transforming those dreams into reality. Join us below as we take a walk down memory lane and look at some of our favorite EarthHero milestones over the last 3 years!
2017
Our first office
EarthHero dog Charlie helping us ring the celebratory gong after one of our first orders
This is where it all began! EarthHero launched (officially) on August 29th of 2017, with just a few people in a small office in Boulder, Colorado. Our first product was the ChicoBag Travel Pack, made from recycled PET (one of our favorite products to this day!). Each time an order was placed, we loudly rejoiced – and then wrote a long, handwritten note to express our gratitude. At first, it was mostly family and friends shopping…but as the months went on, strangers began shopping (!), which led to a celebratory ringing of the mini gong we keep in our office every time someone made a purchase. We began to slowly bring on other brands and products to join the ChicoBag Travel Pack, mostly in the zero waste living space. By the end of 2017 and the holiday season, we had products across a few categories, and had already outgrown our first office space.
2018
We entered 2018 ready for our first full year as a team, and by February, hit a milestone of 1,000 products from 50 ethical, sustainable brands. In the spirit of connecting with our community, we created the EarthHeroes Facebook Group – a small group dedicated to navigated sustainability with no judgement. We launched our first annual Zero Waste March campaign that spring, which highlighted our fastest growing category: zero waste living products. We also formalized a core element of EarthHero: the EarthHero Methodology. This 5-step vetting process is how we decide which brands make the cut, and which don’t. We also grew from a team of three full-time employees at the beginning of the year, to a team of six – plus a healthy number of office dogs! When the holidays rolled around, we launched our first Give Back Friday campaign, shifting the traditionally wasteful Black Friday holiday into one of giving back to environmental nonprofits – and this campaign is a team favorite that we look forward to each year! By the end of 2018, we had brought on over 45 new brands, sourced over 2,000 new products, partnered with several non-profits, and doubled the size of our team!
To deep dive into everything that happened in 2018, check out this blog!
2019
2019 was an amazing year for the sustainability movement and EarthHero: one full of exciting developments, growth, and changes for the entire team. One of our proudest accomplishments was becoming a Certified B Corp in June, joining a network of companies using business as a force for good. From public transparency to environmental performance, being a B Corp means we’re looking to redefine what success in business really means. This, alongside donating one percent of sales to environmental nonprofits through 1% for the Planet, and carbon neutral shipping through Carbonfund.org, have been some of the core pillars of what makes EarthHero unique. We also launched our registry feature, making it easy to share EarthHero around weddings, birthdays, showers, and other special occasions! In the warehouse, we switched to compostable paper tape, lowering the impact of our shipping boxes. We also launched EarthHero Corporate, a subsect of our company that helps other businesses with corporate gifting, as well as sustainable business solutions. By the time our second birthday came in August, we had 110 brands and 3,000 products! For the holidays, we teamed up with Trees for the Future, an amazing nonprofit partner that helped us plant over 10,000 trees during the 2019 holiday season. By the end of 2019, we were a team of eight, and we were ready to take on 2020 full force.
2020
As we’re sure you felt, so far 2020 has been….interesting to say the least. But the challenges and developments of this year have shown us how far we’ve come as a company, and how far we have to go. With COVID-19 changing the landscape of businesses globally, we used these trying times to support and provide a platform for the countless small businesses on our site. We looked for ways to bring sustainably made and reusable PPE products to our customers, and to make sustainable safety as accessible as possible. We educated (and learned from) our community on important topics such as environmental racism, intersectional environmentalism, and social justice issues. Today, we’re proud to be a team of 13, and offer 165 brands and more than 5,000 products (and counting!).
We know that 2020 has been a difficult year for everyone – but we’ve been amazed by the dedication to sustainability we’ve seen from our community – even in the face of restrictions around bringing reusable products to the store, necessary single-use PPE, and more.
We are so grateful for your support, which undoubtedly has helped us get to this important milestone in our history. We look forward to many more years sharing sustainability with you, and changing the world together.
Have a favorite EarthHero story or experience? We’d love to hear it! Comment it below! Want to follow along with EarthHero as we grow? Follow us on all social media platforms @shopearthhero. Plus, for our birthday weekend, celebrate with us and take 15% off up to three items with code BIRTHDAY at checkout!
