Future Kind
Future Kind was founded in 2019 by Aussie brothers, vegans and certified nutritionists Shaun and Eliot. After studying nutrition, they discovered the power of a plant-based diet, but finding the right vegan supplements was difficult. Future Kind focuses on evidence-based products, using 100% vegan ingredients, with science and environmental sustainability at the core. Future Kind isn’t just for vegans though, and is loved by thousands of people around the world who want to support a company that reflects their values.
Climate change, deforestation and plastic-filled beaches are some of the things that Future Kind wants to act upon, so the brand has a huge focus on how it can be the best business possible when it comes to: Packaging, Manufactoring & Operations and Ingredient. As the brothers mention: “This is an evolving process, but if we can do our very best and play a role in pushing the industry along, then we think it’s a worthy mission.”
Packaging. When designing the packaging, they asked themselves: What is the most environmentally friendly material we can use? Will it protect our product? Can it be recycled or composted? How energy intensive will producing these materials be? That’s when some truths came to light:
• While plastic can stay around for thousands of years if it’s not recycled, it’s way less energy intensive (produces less emissions) than producing glass
• But while glass is more energy intensive, it can be recycled indefinitely, but since it’s quite heavy, it means that the trucks that delivering it burn more fuel
• Paper and cardboard, even though they’re really recyclable, can often produce more emissions than glass and plastic, since a lot of it is made from trees cut down in Indonesia, that are then placed on ships that burn fuel on their way to China…
It turned out being sustainable was a bit more complicated than originally expected. So the best solution they found for the moment is 100% post consumer recycled PET bottles. This was chosen because:
1. It’s lightweight and so can be transported using less fuel
2. It’s made from 100% recycled materials, so it’s already had a life
3. It’s highly recyclable (most of our customers report recycling plastic at home)
4. It’s airtight, protects the product and there’s no risk or glass shards breaking off
For the Super Greens, Future Kind decided to use 100% home compostable pouches. Unlike a lot of “bioplastics”, these pouches can literally be put in your home compost and will disappear in a matter of days. However, for some of the products, like the protein powder, a stronger material than the compostable pouches could hold was needed, which is why these are packaged with 100% PCR HDPE.
For our bestest customers that decide to order lots of our products, rather than using multiple mailers, Future Kind use boxes. These are not only made from 100% post consumer recycled content, but they’re also manufactured in the USA, so they didn’t need to travel from overseas factories. For the product labels, 100% post-consumer waste paper is used. These labels can be infinitely recycled and re-used again which is hard to believe when you see how amazing the quality is! The brochures are made from 100% post consumer recycled plant-material, which means they’re not from trees. Soy-ink is used and they’re carbon-offset. The company uses Kraft tape which is also made from 50% recycled materials. For some of the smaller products glass is used. While glass can be heavy, it’s also infinitely recyclable, unlike plastic that tends to have a maximum life of 10 cycles. It’s also an easy product to recycle.
Manufacturing & Operations. As a remote team, working from our home offices, Future Kind is able to knock out one of the largest contributors to a typical company's resource usage: The Office. Not having an office means less furniture, electricity, water, computer equipment and air conditioning. It also means removing the need for people to make long commutes, which reduces the number of cars on the road and the amount of fuel burned. Like almost all supplement companies, The label uses shared facilities to manufacture the products. From a sustainability perspective this makes sense, but it can be tricky to get total visibility on their practices, which is why we all suppliers receive a comprehensive survey that covers the following: Corporate environmental footprint, Manufactoring environmental footprint and Employee conditions.
The company also offsets their carbon emissions. There are generally two approaches to this:
1. Pay a charity that will invest the money into renewable energy projects like wind farms or;
2. Pay a charity that will either plant trees or protect existing forests
photo: @sidneynicolerogers
Future Kind chose the second approach and after a lot of research it was decided that there was generally a better return on investment by protecting existing rainforests, rather than creating new ones. After reading an in depth analysis by the Founders Pledge, we The Coalition for Rainforest Nations was selected as charity of choice to offset our emissions.
Ingredients. Here the greatest concerns are:
1. How much will this nutrient help people?
2. How strong is the science behind it?
3. Is it from the best source available? Is it organic?
Future Kind only uses ingredients that work and they do their utmost to find organic suppliers, since they tend to have the most environmentally friendly farming practices. Furthermore, the label tries to source as locally as possible and minimize the amount of fuel that was needed to get it to the them.
Based: Jackson, Wyoming, USA
Ships to: US, Canada, UK & Australia.
Products: Clean, sustainable, vegan vitamins.
Mission: To build the world’s most sustainable supplement brand.
URL: Future Kind
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