Clients in the News: Cali Bamboo
The green outdoors
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Cali Bamboo makes products, such as fencing, from bamboo, a high-yield renewable resource that is environmentally sustainable.
Most major home channel retailers have either developed, or are developing, a “green” outdoors section featuring products like rain barrels, backyard composters, solar powered lights and a whole range of organic lawn and soil products. |
At Home Depot, there are more than 3,000 products carried under the Eco Options banner -- including plants with biodegradable peat pots and recyclable rubber hoses -- a number the retailer expects to double by 2009. And Lowe’s this year began carrying organic gardening supplies, including fertilizer, soil and insecticides.
California has been a pioneer in the green movement, and Fairfax, Calif.-based Fairfax Lumber & Hardware offers many environmentally friendly products to its customers, including pots made from recycled rice and newspapers. According to buyer Catherine Windberg, these products have been available to her customers for a long time but are only recently gaining momentum.
“Some people have heard of these recycled products and aren’t sure what they are, so they come in to check it out,” she said. “Of course, California is first with a lot of these things, but I think the trend is filtering through the United States.”
About 80 percent of the fertilizer carried by Fairfax is organic. But for those who are offended by the smell and want to stay with a non-organic product, Windberg recommends time-released fertilizer, which releases nitrogen slowly and avoids the problem of it getting into the water system -- leading to further environmentally detrimental issues. “Time-released non-organic is considered a greener choice, but organic is the greenest choice,” she said.
Other eco-friendly products carried by Fairfax include drip irrigation systems, rain barrels and satellite monitors that are programmed to keep up with weather patterns and allow the lawn to be watered only if it hasn’t rained. “Many of these products are relatively inexpensive and can save a lot of water,” Windberg added. “And people can do a lot of it themselves, which is good because it gets them out into their gardens.”
The hardware co-ops are also investing time and marketing resources into the green movement. For the first time, Do it Best had an Eco Friendly Building Products display at its fall market featuring products from 15 companies, including Johns Manville, Renew Plastics and Guardian Building Products. In addition, there was an eight-foot “environmentally conscious” products display in the New Idea Room with about 1,200 skus ranging from organic fertilizers and household cleaners to building materials and farm and ranch rope.
At True Value’s fall market in October, the co-op released its environmentally focused merchandising program called Greener Options, offering a mix of multi-category products. True Value has identified more than 2,400 items that fall under this category. And Orgill, the Memphis, Tenn.-based distributor, will designate a green products section at its spring market in February in Orlando.
It’s all part of an effort to address America’s increasing demand for sustainable products, according to Jeff Goldberg, founder and CEO of San Diego-based Cali Bamboo. Goldberg's company makes products such as fencing, flooring, rugs and blinds from bamboo, a high-yield renewable resource that is environmentally sustainable. Bamboo can be continuously re-harvested every three years without causing damage to the plant system and surrounding environment, the company said.
“When we started this company in 2004, there was a lot of education to be done,” he said. “Now we get a lot more people who have heard of bamboo fencing and want to order from us. Now we’re seeing bamboo-based product in a lot of stores, including Target, and in clothing as well. The greening movement is helping perpetuate the want for this product.”
Demand for bamboo fencing is greater, he said, in metropolitan areas -- from Los Angeles to New York -- and that he eventually wants to get into other outdoor product categories, including decking and possibly outdoor furniture.
“We’re trying to bring bamboo fencing into the mainstream,” he said.
Water conservation is also garnering “green” headlines, especially in light of the drought that has plagued the Southeast this fall. Gardensupermart.com is an online catalog of backyard ponds, energy-efficient pond pumps, planters, rain barrels and other products. In addition to selling online, the company also distributes to Home Depot, Lowe’s, Sam’s Club and various garden centers across the United States.
According to vp Gerry Fung, the pond category has grown substantially in the last five years, along with the demand for environmentally friendly products. Fung also markets energy-efficient pond pumps that save electricity. His company has also been looking into making solar powered pumps, but so far they haven’t been able to come up with anything powerful enough to circulate water in a pond. (Solar is available for fountains and spitters.)
When it comes to water conservation, more Americans have been using rain barrels, which are receptacles that can be hooked to a home’s rainspout. Water collects in the barrel and can be used to water the lawn -- a concept that is encouraged by states and communities across the country.
“The whole concept is water efficient,” Fung said. “What’s more energy efficient than using rain?”
Ace Hardware has initiated a campaign called Helpful Earth Choices, introducing its retailers to the idea of carrying a whole category of environmentally friendly products. The label, along with explanatory signage, will begin to appear in Ace stores in 2008, with a more substantial rollout in 2009, according to Lorie Kurowski, associate buyer for storage and organization.
“We want to make sure we have a strategy of sustainability together before we reach out to the consumer,” she said. “Awareness is good, but you only have one chance to go out and make a first impression. You don’t want it to just be a marketing thing because consumers will see right through it.”
Ace is also trying to get certification on all potential “green” products, something like the Energy Star label that appears on energy-efficient lighting. More than 1,000 products have been put in this category and presented to the membership at the two 2007 markets. “We recognize the demand out there, and the response from members has been phenomenal,” Kurowski said.
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