Eco-mailer Boxes for fashion: Feeling Felt

As a part of our Journey to Sustainability, we're telling stories about brands who were thinking green and put this at the core of everything they do.

We talk, we learn what they did, and we inspire others to try to do the same.

This time, we got a chance to sit down with the founders of Feeling Felt, an Italian brand created by a group of young entrepreneurs who put all their effort into a dream about sustainable business.

With sustainability as their main focus, these people took business one step further. They understand the effects the environment is taking and want their project to make a difference, and always remember this value in all of their decision making.

Feeling Felt discovered the eco-recipe that creates a successful and fruitful brand of the future.

Beginnings of Feeling Felt with a vision

When we asked about the brand concept, founders of Feeling Felt immediately jumped straight to their focus, eco-friendly values.

‘When we started out, we were inspired by high quality, minimal design and sustainable production.’, as they explain.

These core values are reflected in the product range, which includes backpacks, laptop sleeves and key rings, all made from… felt. The name of the brand is, indeed, a smart and catchy wordplay. Not only that, but it immediately indicates the main perk of the Italian brand, ‘all of the material we use for each product - felt - is made up of recycled plastic.’ This strategy hits home, because Packhelp turns to using only recycled materials as well (learn more here), and that's what linked Packhelp and Feeling Felt.

What also made the DNA of Feeling Felt stand out from other eco-conscious brands, is that they actually implement it throughout their entire business operations. They have the goal of "encouraging a different way of business, one that supports the conscious and responsible consumption of resources".

And that is the main goal of sustainability efforts - to help the community become aware of bad consumption habits and become more responsible.

Inspired to protect the planet and their country

'Everything began with a trip to the south of Italy', explains the founder of Feeling Felt. This is where they countered the shock of pollution and the reality of the plastic problem at hand.

"We realized that something had to change. And that we could be the ones to try to make a change".

While diving in one of the most beautiful caves in Italy, they found themselves swimming in a sea full of plastic and waste. They sat down and started brainstorming how they could get a hold of the plastic problem and do something that would effectively combat it.

And 3 elements stood out and led the creation of Feeling Felt; the concept of a circular economy, a system aimed at eliminating waste and using resources in the entirety of their useful life.

Getting to know the Feeling Felt team

Feeling Felt is also very proud of their team. They all come from different professional backgrounds, but each one of them contributes in unique ways to make the project work out.

Barbara worked for 10 years as an Artistic Director in the advertising industry. She already had her own collection of handmade accessories, which gave them a know-how advantage to start creating products.

We also have Francesca. She has a background in new businesses development and project management.

Riccardo is the technology specialist and deals with things like 3D printing.

These three very different personalities and backgrounds allowed us to be the company we are today. They are who have allowed Feeling Felt to be a self-sustained and balanced brand.

When you put people with different skills that share common values to work, the outcome can be magnificent.

More than just a conscious design

Feeling Felt has values based on respect for people, animals and the environment.

And this is particularly important when it comes to managing the brand. As mentioned, we believe that truly sustainable brands take this into their core. And as it is with Feeling Felt, these values are remembered in every decision made about the brand.

With Feeling Felt, we want to prove that brands can be good to people and the planet if only respect for all of the stakeholders involved is considered.

Green businesses are what you can call the trend nowadays. Unfortunately, only a label is not enough. Many of these companies don’t really act according to their behaviours but are rather greenwashing.

Learn more about greenwashing, how to spot it and how to avoid it here.

Feeling felt wants to distinguish itself from this. This is the biggest challenge for many brands. It is easy to position and market yourself as a sustainable brand, but actually being one is a completely different thing.

Explore Packhelp's guide on how to make your company more sustainable.

The production chain of Feeling Felt is done entirely in Italy. This allows them to maintain a high-quality standard for materials and work environments, and to minimize our carbon footprint that would come from shipping items from abroad.

When it comes to designs, they're mostly inspired by the Northern-European minimalist trend.

In addition, Feeling Felt went a step further and wanted to create some awareness about endangered animal species.

We chose 5 animals that are at high risk of extinction due to plastic pollution and represented each one with its own colour. This was our first collection.

Sustainable practices, products, and packaging

Packaging was also a fundamental part of Feeling Felt's brand identity. As an online brand, the packaging is the first thing customers see. There is no doubt that sustainable packaging has to be used in order to support brand values.

From that first physical touchpoint, our customer needs to know that we are a true sustainable brand. That’s why eco packaging was not an element we could ignore or give little importance to.

Feeling Felt wanted packaging that was recycled, recyclable and reusable. The natural choice fell on recycled cardboard boxes, compostable shipping mailer bags, and natural kraft paper bags.

Their ideal packaging choices were:

- Eco Mailer Boxes; made from 90% recycled cardboard and printed with water-based ink.

- Bio Poly Mailers; a plastic-free option, made from start based materials that makes them biodegradable.

- Paper Bags; made from recycled materials and fully recyclable.

Representing the future of retail

Feeling Felt is a growing brand, and in the future, they see themselves as a well-positioned brand with a solid market fit.

They also look forward to implementing new features into the business, like a tracking system where customers can have a description of the origins of the materials used in their products. And hopefully, as well, they plan to open zero waste and self-sustainable stores.

Packhelp is proud to collaborate with brands like Feeling Felt and helping them accomplish their sustainability goals. We want other brands to join of our sustainability efforts and become the brands driving change for a better future.