How to Shop Like an Eco Warrior: A Chat with Kia Simpson, Co-Founder of Moonie

We created our ‘How to Shop Like an Eco Warrior’ podcast series to help you get a step closer to living a greener, more sustainable lifestyle. Throughout the series we discuss the issues, share the trends and ideas through interviews with other awesome and exciting challenger brands. And ultimately, you’ll go away inspired and empowered to make little changes in your life that will help protect the earth.

Read below to read our full interview with Kia Simpson, Co-Founder of Moonie.

Please tell us a little bit about Moonie. Why did the brand begin?

We are a small startup business, and we specialise in making everyday eco essentials. Our mission really is to make eco-friendly products more affordable, accessible and attainable. We first had the idea of business over 10 years ago. But it wasn’t actually until last year when we became unemployed, that we decided to take the opportunity and the courage to follow our passions.

We have quite a few products in the range now. And they include everything from reusable cotton pads, cotton mesh bags, reusable bin liners, toothbrushes, all those good things. In the last 12 months, we with the help of our community have saved over 2 million single-use make-up wipes from going to landfill.

How do your products help with the plastic crisis?

Single-use products are a really big polluter for the planet. So we’re passionate about designing products that are reusable and can be used again, again and again and I guess that’s quite unique for our business because we don’t want repeat purchases.

Do you have a view on greenwashing?

So greenwashing was quite a big motivation for us wanting to start the business. Because especially about 10 years ago, companies were often saying they were green and ethical, they were making all these claims, but when you look into a bit further, it’s quite clear that they’re not very ethical. And it’s a bit of a marketing spin, isn’t it? And especially now, when green living is on the top of everyone’s agenda, a lot of the big companies are just kind of jumping on that bandwagon. And it’s not very nice, because people want to believe that they’re doing good by buying these products or supporting these businesses. And they’re just being misled, which is such a shame.

Fast fashion brands are quite a big player in this. An example would be when these brands name a collection ‘conscious’ and say that they use recycled materials. But when you read the small print, only 10% of the materials are recycled. So what about the other 90? What are the factory conditions actually like? What do they do with all of the fabric waste? It’s just being super aware that these corporations might not be as truthful as they should be.

How can we make sustainability more accessible to the masses?

Education is key. Making sure that from a young age, kids are aware of sustainable options and the benefits that they have. I do think issues like this should be started in schools. And these problems should be spoken about in schools, just so that people are more aware of the impact on the planet and what they can do about it.

I think there are some basic things that should be taught in schools, like how to sew or how to mend things. And I just can’t think those things are being taught. Well, they weren’t when I was at school. And I just think there needs to be more focus on how to reuse and repurpose things that we already have.

Wholesale