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Sustainable Designer Jewelry When both style and sustainability are made equal priorities, design thrives. That’s what we found when we took the leap from simply maintaining an ethical green workplace, to making sustainable style the core of our business. Acknowledging our environmental impact started by considering the steps we took to create a green workplace at our studio in San Francisco, California. From there, the core of our design and materials choices, production methods, supplier network, workplace; over time, we found our focus shifting into a comprehensive eco-friendly vision. We’ve found that utilizing environmentally friendly resources contributes to design quality; encouraging us to think in new ways and see alternative methods of production as improvements to style and quality. The result is conscientious eco-jewelry that we are proud to offer and you can feel good about wearing. The line between ethical, sustainable methods of production and “of-the-moment” green advertising campaigns is becoming increasingly blurred, and we hope to show you just how integral our concern is for the environment with each step of our design, production, and distribution processes. With all that we are doing, we know that being sustainable is never an end point but a constant goal - we still strive to do more - and to push for more education and responsible actions from our suppliers, vendors and contacts within the industry, to clean up our corner of the globe. Our Design Process, Materials + Production: Our motto is ecological responsibility without sacrifice of quality or style. We source all materials for Kyler designs in the US, to boost our national and local economy, and where we can feel confident that each supplier provides ethical work facilities, fair wages and labor practices. While primary components of our designs utilize industrial elements such as glass and steel, our jewelry is made to be heirloom quality, also utilizing sterling silver and 14 karat gold fill chains and findings with recycled content. Materials of this quality are designed to stand the test of time, both in their durability as well as their constant relevance in the shifting winds of fashion. They are non-allergenic, and with gentle wearing and proper care, can be passed down through generations. The first facet of our approach is: reduce. The pieces are conceived to use the minimal amount of material and energy resources to successfully create a piece of jewelry with timeless style and enduring quality. We endeavor to create pieces that can be worn day in to night, season into season, year after year. Through careful consideration of the design, materials, and construction of our eco jewelry, we create products that are not meant to be disposable and that will not enter the waste stream for generations, if ever. The second facet is: reuse. Our jewelry is comprised of three types of materials, with an emphasis on choosing materials from recycled sources. All materials used are lead-free for your safety. All Kyler metal components - the stainless steel pendants; wire for our hoops, cuffs, and earwires; and all of our chains - are 100% USA manufactured, from metal creation through final fabrication, into Kyler eco friendly jewelry. Our main components are made of recycled stainless steel, both in it's raw form, as well as overlaid with 24k gold and blackened zinc. We chose to work with steel due to several factors - it is extremely durable, hypoallergenic, naturally beautiful in it's raw state and arguably the most eco-friendly, green metal available today. Steel is the most recycled material on the planet. More steel is recycled annually than any other material, including aluminum, glass, and paper combined. Greenhouse gas, air, and water emissions resulting from steel manufacturing and recycling are reduced more and more every day, along with the dependence on energy for steel production. For more information on steel's environmental record, visit www.sustainable-steel.org. To create our these stainless steel components, we begin with hand sketches which are then given to a local employee-owned cooperative in the San Francisco Bay Area for cutting into our final designs. Our local plating vendor uses cyanide-free chemistry and eco-friendly processing. All findings and chains are 100% USA made from heirloom-quality, hypoallergenic nickel-free 14k gold fill and sterling silver, made using metals largely from refined scrap sources - in the case of the sterling silver, it is 100% recycled material with a paper trail to back it up. In the case of the gold fill, I have been given verbal assurances that all the metals come from recycled post-consumer and industrial sources of gold over a nickel-free core. As all metals are highly valuable commodities, the recycling infrastructure is robust. This is especially true in the case of precious metals, such as gold and silver, but also higher value metals used for karat gold alloys, like the more abundant (and less expensive) copper and zinc, which form the core of gold fill. Gold fill is a uniquely sustainable alternative to solid gold jewelry - it has the beauty of the karat gold, plus high resistance to wear, all at a reasonable price. Gold fill wire is made by inserting a core of strong nickel-free alloy into a 14 karat gold cylinder that is equal to 1/20th the total weight of the piece. These alloys are then bonded together into a single round rod, which is then drawn repeatedly through powerful wire reducing mills, thus creating a long wire. The core of supporting gold fill alloy in our eco jewelry is made from the same type of metals that are used in creating 10-22 karat gold alloys - copper, silver, and zinc. Thus Kyler green jewelry is made with all of the appearance and endurance of karat gold, while reducing the amount of more rare precious metal needed to achieve the desired style. The third material in our designs is glass, a virtually infinitely recyclable material, for drops, colors, and accents. The beads we use are created from partially recycled, and fully recyclable glass, that are bought from US suppliers, and made by trained artisans in fair trade working conditions in Europe and Japan. These durable, classic materials all share a long history in jewelry and fashion. Through conscious choice of the materials that go into kyler eco friendly designs, we make sure that the pieces will last into the future and maintain their timeless style and enduring quality. The third facet is: recycle. All waste and scrap materials from our production processes is recycled. Our printed pieces like business cards and invoices are all printed on post-consumer recycled paper with soy inks or using energy-efficient desktop printers. All packaging is recyclable and reusable and our shipping boxes are certified cradle-to-cradle. Our Green Workplace: Kyler jewelry really is made by Joy O, in her green workplace environment in San Francisco, California with help from an incredible, if tiny, team of dedicated employees. Our storefront, office, and jewelry studio are resources shared with other local designers, lit by CFL bulbs, primarily warmed by passive solar heating, and have no use of air conditioning systems. Our renovation of the space included zero-VOC paints, engineered hardwood flooring, as well as re-used and re-purposed furniture and fixtures. We try to take every tiny step to reduce waste - like real cups, plates and glasses in the kitchen, and cotton, rather than paper, towels for cleaning and drying. We either recycle or compost all office and kitchen waste under San Francisco’s incredibly robust municipal programs. Our location is easily accessible to pedestrians and public transportation services, regarded as a “walker’s paradise” from walkscore.com, allowing us to all regularly commute by foot or public transit. You can expect that your jewelry came straight from this green San Francisco studio, where all labor meets fair US labor work standards, all employees are a part of the local economy, and stopping to enjoy a cup of coffee together never goes unappreciated. The Future: While we are trying hard, we know can always do more. Areas we are currently working on include: - becoming carbon neutral through purchasing appropriate carbon offsets for our facilities, distribution and packaging. - encouraging our suppliers to beef up their audited environmental certifications - finding cost-effective on-demand green printing solutions to reduce printed paper waste - exploring effective, timely electronic means of communicating with our retail and wholesale customers, in ways that benefit them most, to further reduce paper and mailings Giving Back: Social responsibility goes further for us than purely environmental impact. The threads that connect us to our community are the lifelines to any endeavor. We give back with full hearts and gratitude for the people doing the hard work to make others' lives a little better. Kyler by Joy O supports charitable causes such as environmental rehabilitation, women's heart health, breast cancer awareness and research, and alleviating hunger in the US. A percentage of all profits is donated to the charities below. They all accept donations online, so if you feel moved to do so, please share our support. Feel good as you do good - every purchase you make from Kyler is helping to make a difference! Global Releaf Global Releaf is an education and action program that helps individuals, organizations, agencies, and corporations improve the local and global environment by planting and caring for trees through the American Forests Organization. You can help by adding to the 25 million trees growing strong. Kyler will plant a tree for every order made on our website with the help of Green Releaf! Learn more about the organization at: http://www.americanforests.org/global_releaf/ WomenHeart : The National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease WomenHeart offers a range of support services to help women heart disease survivors live healthier, fuller lives. Heart Health Awareness month is February! To honor this month, Kyler by Joy O will be donating 5% of profits received in February to WomenHeart. Learn more about the organization at: http://www.womenheart.org/ The National Breast Cancer Foundation NBCF is committed to spreading knowledge and fostering hope in the fight against breast cancer by funding free mammograms for women and supporting research programs in leading facilities across the country. In honor of the NBCF Pink Ribbon Challenge, Kyler by Joy O will donate 20% of all profits from rose gold minimal hammered hoops and minimal hammered cuffs received during the month of October to help fund free mammograms for women fighting breast cancer. Learn more about the organization at: http://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/ SF Food Bank San Francisco Food Bank collects millions of pounds of food from growers, packers, processors, manufacturers, the USDA, and grocery stores and delivers food to over 600 community food programs to help those in need. June 2nd, 2009 is National Hunger Awareness Day. On this day Kyler by Joy O will donate 50% of all profits received to SF Food Bank! We also donate 1% of annual profits to this important cause, so close to home. Learn more about the organization at: http://www.sffoodbank.org/ |