Having officially launched a sustainability hub on 1 January 2021, Products of Change – an international digital membership platform built to drive sustainable change within the brand and licensing industry – has reached 250 members in its first quarter. Membership is open to all businesses, organisations and individuals, with licensors, licensees, retailers, agencies, trade suppliers and supporting bodies joining as members.
Gift sector names already signed up include Rainbow Designs, Keel Toys, GB Eye and Whiz Kid Games, with other members including BBC Studios, Asda, Dreamtex, Hasbro, LEGO, Viacom CBS, Tesco, Danilo, Character World, The Point. 1888, WildBrain CPLG, Carousel Calendars, Brand Focus, Kids Industries, Dependable Solutions, Licensing International, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and Recoup.
“To see the industry embrace working together and sharing their sustainable journeys so openly is testament to the foresight and leadership we have within the industry to build a better future,” commented Helena Mansell-Stopher, founder of Products of Change.
The last three months – since its official launch as a membership organisation – has seen Products of Change gain considerable ground on many fronts and different sectors.
Some of the highlights include bringing leading licensors together to work on embedding sustainability requirements into their licensing agreements; engaging with world leading names from the sports sector to create a set of guidelines for events and merchandising; and has been working with DEFRA (UK Gov), The Children’s Literacy Trust and Wastebusters (the leading environmental education not for profit organisation) to build the first global recycling infrastructure to recycle toys through an initiative called Recycle to Read. Due to the recent legislation changes throughout Europe and the UK, Products of Change has also forged close links with Recoup (the national charity developing plastics recycling) to inform and consult industry for the new plastics tax.
In addition, as part of its global mission, POC has also opened up dialogue with the Beijing Government through their Open Beijing initiative to work on improving the sustainable supply chain.
“We have achieved a lot in our first quarter, but this has been down to the support and input from leading organisations, such as the Ellen MacArthur Foundation as well as the will and passion of our members,” Helena underlined. “The only way to shift our industry forward is to work together, and this is exactly what we are doing across all sectors. It’s pretty phenomenal and I’m so proud of the work the Products of Change group is already achieving. As more members join, we will be able to achieve even more.”
