Let's Get Nitty-Gritty!

Welcome, knowledge seeker! Below you’ll find details about how we conceive of and act on our commitment to sustainability. We love that you’re here — it means you really care about sustainability in a deep way. You are Doing. Your. Research! Read on for information about our ethos, standards, and how the companies and vendors we partner with meet them. We’ve also compiled a special section for our artist collaborators and other favorite artists, media and organizations working toward a better world, to fill up your inspiration cup!

How Our Mission Works

UpRoot Design Studio is a hub created to help everyday people go green more easily, in all facets of life. This includes everything from learning to doing, connecting to celebrating – and just simply being. We’ve broken our mission down into these goals:

Build skills & community-led systems of power:

Expand access to healthy food & provide alternatives to monocropping:

Improve ecosystem health:

Grow a reciprocal economy:

At the UpRoot Shop, this means:

We are committed to sustainable, ethical materials, processes, and systems to create goods that enable easy sustainable living. Keep reading for more details:

Paper Goods

All paper goods we sell are made of either recycled or FSC-certified materials. This includes greeting cards, envelopes and tissue paper. Our stickers are made of biodegradable paper or zero waste curbside recyclable paper. Whenever possible, we vet our printers for non-toxic inks and printing processes with low water usage.

Greeting Cards

Fabric & Containers

We prioritize using recycled, dead stock, organic & low-impact fabrics. Any printed fabrics are created by Spoonflower, a company committed to sustainability. Sew-in labels are made by Wunderlabel from OEKO-TEX certified 100% recycled yarn. And all product containers are made of recycled and/or recyclable materials, such as tin and glass.

Eye Pillows

Food

We focus on sourcing food that is the best for its farmers, the Earth, and you. The tea we offer is organically farmed and made from ethically wildcrafted herbs, and is packaged in plant-based biodegradable teabags. Similarly, the cacao we offer is made of organic raw heirloom Ecuadorian cacao and combined with organic herbs and spices. Both tea and cacao products are packed in recycled (and recyclable!) steel tins.

Pantry Items
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UpRoot Materials

Wanna have a look around and see for yourself? Sustainability information is listed with each and every product so you know exactly how you're helping the Earth with your purchase. Our gift boxes combine materials, so are a great place to start!

Our Processes

Manufacturing

We produce our goods in small batches per demand, to avoid creating waste. A lot of UpRoot goods are printed right at home on an Epson EcoTank 8550 printer or Cricut 3 Maker. This way, we can be sure we’re using recycled and FSC-certified papers, being efficient with ink, and eliminating the carbon emitted through shipping processes. For those products that do require shipping, we partner with vendors who offer sustainable materials, carbon offsets, and are committed to ethical and sustainable processes such as renewable energy at their facilities.

Packaging

All our shipping boxes are sourced from local mills and made of up to 100% recycled materials. Our packing paper and tissue paper is made of 100% recycled material and/or is on its second life from other moving/shipping companies. Any sleeves that appear to be plastic are actually made of a plant-based material and are compostable! (The “compostable” stickers which label these bags are also, of course, compostable. ;) We use recycled Kraft tape and print shipping labels on recycled paper.

Shipping

When you purchase a gift box from UpRoot, your items will arrive in a decorative shipping mailer which both brings joy to your doorstep and eliminates the need for an extra shipping box. For smaller orders, we use TishWish compostable mailers made of corn. For larger orders, we reuse shipping boxes which we or local neighbors/stores have already received. We offset carbon for any shipped orders through an app called Cloverly. And we plant a tree for every order placed to add lasting health to the Earth and balance out any resources we may be using.

UpRoot is an official partner of One Tree Planted

Learn More

Brands We Sell

Printers & Vendors

We carefully select vendors & companies that help our products stay even more sustainably made. Items include seeds, tea, honey, candles, fabric, bags, envelopes and journals. Check out these companies that are moving our planet in the right direction by offering recycled, plant-based, organic and/or renewable options:

COLLABORATORS & ARTIVISTS WE LOVE

UpRoot Donates 10% of Profits to Aligned Organizations

Below you'll find a sampling of some of our favorite efforts.

Stuff We Love

Books & Media

🌱 Find more of our fave books here.

Climate & Justice Orgs

Farms & Food Orgs