The Sock Drawer

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Sustainability & Giving Back

Fun, colorful assortment of Goodly product

 

At Goodly we are proud to be a small local business that provides jobs in our amazing community, but we’re also proud that we go the extra mile to make a difference in the world where we can. We believe that each business choice we make should take into account more than just profits. 

We know that many of our customers choose to shop with us because of our commitment to ethical practices. We want you to know that we do the same. We make a concerted effort to work with vendors, suppliers, manufacturers and other business partners who are equally committed to causes such as sustainability, charitable giving and equity for all. 

Environmental Sustainability

We make a continuous, concerted effort to do our small part in fighting back. That effort starts in our warehouse, where on a small scale, we do our personal best to do little things like reuse scrap paper and separate the heck out of our trash and recycling. We traded in our single-serving coffee pot for a good ol’ fashioned drip machine a while back, and we’ve planted our small outdoor area with native plants.

On the shipping front, we’re happy to report that we now use only paper packing tape. Made with 50% recycled content, this paper packing tape even uses a plant-derived biodegradable adhesive. It’s also compostable and doesn’t stop the boxes they’re used on from being recycled.

We’ve come up with two different solutions to our old plastic bubble wrap: either a biodegradable and recyclable ‘green’ wrap (kinda like bubble wrap but without the plastic), or compostable shredded paper. Finally, our mailing envelopes are made from 100% recycled material, and they’re also reusable. Our gift boxes are also recyclable and compostable!

Don’t forget, all of the printed materials that come with each order are recyclable, too.

Pair of gold gloved hands passing a Goodly gift box off to another hand

 

 

General manager Cindy gives an interview with KSBY

In the spotlight: Watch an interview our general manager Cindy gave to local news station KSBY about our environmentally friendly packaging.

 

We have also asked our vendors to consider more environmentally friendly ways of shipping  goods to us, such as cutting back on packaging where possible. It’s an ongoing effort that we reevaluate time and again, and we’ve seen many of the partner brands we work with do their best, as well.

But what about the actual shipping itself? For this issue we’ve worked with our commerce platform, Shopify. We’re excited that we can now offer carbon neutral shipping on all deliveries! Here’s how it works: a formula developed by Shopify data scientists calculates the estimated carbon emissions generated by our orders each month. We pay a fee to Shopify and that money goes toward carbon removal and ensures that our shipping is carbon neutral.

Giving Back

One of our values at Goodly is to “pass it on.” You’ve almost certainly heard some version of this before: Pay it forward. Share the love. Spread the wealth. 

We have been so very fortunate that our business — bringing people joy with fun gifts — has been successful, thanks to all you folks out there who put value in laughter and positivity. We do our darnedest to take all that love you’ve given us and give it back to our community and our world by donating products, money and our time.

A variety of donations the sock fairies have made over the years
Donations over the years: The Goodly team loves fundraising and donating products, funds and time to worthy causes! Here are just a few images from over the past few years.

 

Just a few of the causes we’ve contributed to over the years:

  • Rita’s Rainbows: This local nonprofit group in our community holds a sock drive each year for young teens and children in need. We’ve happily donated hundreds of pairs of socks over the years.
  • NAMI: The National Alliance on Mental Illness was our “Socktober” beneficiary in 2020, with a portion of every sale through the month of October going to the renowned organization of support centers. We will also donate proceeds from sales on Giving Tuesday 2020 to NAMI.
  • Fire relief efforts: We are headquartered in California, and although our county has been relatively safe from the increase in wildfires in recent years, many of our friends and family have been personally affected by these disasters. We have contributed both socks and funds to relief efforts.
  • Girls, Inc.: This national group’s goal is to empower and inspire girls and young women, a cause that’s also close to our hearts here at our woman-owned and -operated business. We have proudly donated funds to Girls, Inc.
  • TMHA: Transitions-Mental Health Association is a local group that aims to reduce stigma around mental health disorders and provide support services for sufferers and their loved ones. Each year, our team members happily don our bowling shoes (and some silly costumes) to raise money for this wonderful organization at their annual Bowl-a-thon event. Although 2020’s event was not held due to COVID, our team can’t wait to get back out on the lanes for this great local charity!
  • Local homeless services: Did you know that socks are one of the most-requested items at homeless shelters? We have proudly donated hundreds of pairs of our funny novelty socks over the years to local groups such as the Prado Day Center and Maxine Lewis Memorial Shelter.
  • Medical workers: We have long had an exceptional customer base among medical workers, who love pairing fun socks with their scrubs! When the COVID pandemic took hold in 2020, we wanted to do something to help. We donated hundreds of pairs of socks to two local hospitals, as well as a group of longtime customers in Michigan who work in healthcare. 
  • RISE: This local nonprofit organization provides crisis intervention and treatment services to survivors of sexual and intimate partner violence and their loved ones. We have proudly sponsored their popular annual fundraising auction event, Wine, Women & Shoes. We also hosted an art show for young RISE members during our downtown community’s Art After Dark series.
  • Woods Humane Shelter: For this local animal shelter, where many of our employees over the years have volunteered, we have donated baby socks, used by animals after surgery to cover up paws. 

In addition to these, we also make frequent small donations of socks and funds to cancer patients, school fundraisers and a long list of other causes that pluck at our heartstrings. And on top of that, the personal contributions of our incredible, selfless team to charitable causes that are special to them as individuals could fill many more webpages.

We are proud to be able to do some small part in our corner of the universe, to pass it on. And we encourage all of our customers to do the same!

An Ongoing Commitment

As with so many things, our focus on ethical practices needs constant maintenance. We like to think that we are always learning and growing, both as people and as a company. We often reflect on our choices here, talking about how we can do things better. And we’re so thankful that a lot of that inspiration comes from you! Have ideas or comments on how we can improve in any way? We’d love to hear from you. Contact us anytime.

 Colorful collage of all things Goodly

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