Did you know… packaging accounts for almost half of all plastic waste globally. Only 9% of plastic waste is recycled.

At the House of Baukjen, the people behind premium fashion brands Baukjen and Isabella Oliver, we believe it is our social and moral duty to make positive movements towards reducing our impact on the environment.

We are proud to be a Certified B Corporation, meeting the highest standards of social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose.

From our collection to our packaging, we design for good. Our packaging is one of the many ways we make a difference.

We have been on a long and surprisingly challenging journey to move away from plastic packaging towards a more sustainable but still premium solution. With the help of carefully selected packaging suppliers we’ve been able to make huge strides and are proud to now have phased out plastics completely. Your garments are sent to you in 100% plastic free, 100% recyclable packaging that’s predominantly made from 100% recycled materials and is biodegradable as well. The majority of materials used to create our packaging are responsibly sourced..

“In October 2018, Baukjen and Isabella Oliver, became the first premium UK fashion retailers to have eradicated plastics from their packaging. It is such a big achievement and proves them as leaders in the industry, encouraging other brands to follow. They should be shouting this from the rooftops.”

- FRED LILL, CO FOUNDER OF LIL PACKAGING

We are committed to make a lasting positive change, which is why recycling is integral to every aspect of our business, not just our packaging and internal waste but also our collections. We do as much as possible and we are always striving to do more. Read more about our sustainable garment production and recycling here.

The result? Packaging that is designed for good. This is how we make sustainable packaging, beautiful.

Our journey to plastic free

Typically, plastics used in ecommerce packaging are rarely recycled because they’re made with a base of such varying colours/substrates (polybags, stretch, tape, jiffys, plastic voidfill) that they’re too time consuming for local authority Recycling Centres to sort. We wanted to change that and provide our customers with packaging that was not only fully recyclable, but also easy to do so.

When you no longer need your packaging, you can either reuse or easily recycle it with your local recycling. Recycling plants are able to collect cardboard which returns to paper mills where it will be mixed with new fibres and remade into cardboard boxes.

After the success of creating our recyclable packages, we wanted to improve even more, making our boxes 100% biodegradable. The final improvement made was to replace the sticky tear strip with an entirely cardboard based one. This ensures that our packaging is 100% biodegradable in 3 months – perfect to try home-composting. In order to biodegrade, the bag would need to be shredded, soaked and mixed with soil.

“Great quality and great service. Love the ethical approach and packaging too”

SALLY, CUSTOMER

“I have found a new brand to love! Great quality and the packaging is all eco-friendly. A real family feel to the whole process”

WENDY, CUSTOMER

“This is a fantastic company. Products of the highest quality, beautifully packaged and I love their ethics, social responsibility, transparency, and safe environment for the people they employ”

PAMELA, CUSTOMER

“Good, efficient service and I love that the packaging is eco-friendly”

CAROL, CUSTOMER

“I was really pleased to see no plastic packaging. The quality of the products is good and ordering easy. I am also glad to see there are ethical standards to the production of the clothes”

JKN, CUSTOMER

"Thought you may like to see a very useful recycling of your box. We are hand rearing a fledgling robin who can now get out of the cage. Hopefully the box will help!"

CAROLE, CUSTOMER

We would love to see you unboxing your parcel on social media and hear what you think about our #plasticfreepackaging. Please share this message to encourage other businesses to follow our lead and provide environmentally friendly packaging, and use the hashtags #plasticfreepackaging #recyclablepackaging #baukjen #isabellaoliver #Bcorp #Bthechange

We have learnt a lot on this journey and wanted to explain the different logos you may come across in daily life.

On our packaging:

This logo is used to indicate that products are certified under the FSC® system. So, when you see it on your packaging, it means that the packaging is sourced from responsibly managed backgrounds, both environmentally and socially. FSC® certification lets you buy forest products with confidence that you are helping to ensure our forests are alive for generations to come.

When you see this logo on our packaging, it means that everything from the box, to the seal, to the tissue paper inside is covered by this certification. 100% biodegradable, 100% sustainable and 100% recyclable.

The designs on our packaging are printed with certified eco-friendly vegetable and water-based inks, that don’t release harmful chemicals into the environment whilst being made and printed. Meaning that we can still provide beautiful packaging for a memorable unboxing experience, whilst doing good for the environment.

This logo guarantees that no plastic is used in any of our packaging. You can shop with confidence that the packaging your garments arrive in is certified 100% plastic free and will not end up polluting the oceans.

Other logos to look out for:

This logo indicates that the item it is on is capable of being recycled and will sometimes include a percentage figure in the middle to show how much of the packaging contains recycled materials.

Seeing this logo on packing will mean that it is certified to be industrially compostable. Often these products are made from compostable plastics that are designed to break down. Plastics that carry this symbol can be recycled with your garden waste through your local authority.