At Craftspring, we pride ourselves on creating handmade ornaments that spark joy and delight—not just when they hang on your tree, but from the moment you unwrap them. That’s why we take great care in packaging your orders beautifully, so that you will want to gift them to friends and loved ones. But how do we ensure our packaging is also kind to the planet?
In honor of Earth Month, we’re sharing how our commitment to purpose-driven design, sustainable holiday ornaments, and ethical production has shaped our packaging journey.
From Disposable to Meaningful: Reusable Gift Pouches
Since our early days, every Craftspring ornament has come tucked inside a charming cloth pouch—ready to gift and offering just the right amount of protection during transit. Using a reusable gift pouch rather than disposable packaging means that our customers can also use the pouches for storing their ornaments year after year. We’ve heard that some of our customers also love and use the pouches for all kinds of creative purposes – storing crafting supplies, jewelry, little treasures from nature, etc. Some of our local customers even return their pouches so we can re-use them—an act that warms our hearts and supports our mission of conscious consumerism.
The Shift from Synthetic to Artisan-Crafted
We originally used organza bags that showed off the festive ornaments inside. But synthetic organza is unfortunately made of polyester or nylon, which are oil-derived materials. We didn’t want to have this petroleum-based packaging as part of our product. We also learned that our pouch vendor was not paying its staff correctly and had other issues that were not aligned with our values.
So, in 2019 it seemed obvious that we needed to make a switch. It so happened that at that time one of our artisans in Kyrgyzstan was also looking for additional work and income – so we switched to 100% cotton pouches, that were sewn by our artisan in Kyrgyzstan. It seemed like a win-win for the environment and our artisans. These were also more aligned with our natural aesthetic and sustainability values. We wanted to support the livelihoods of artisans rather than a large company.
But cotton can also be resource-intensive to grow, and the cotton fabric they used was heavy and opaque. Because these were made in Kyrgyzstan, we also had to ship them by air, which was both expensive and carbon-use heavy.
So we made another shift. We partnered with a small artisan workshop in India to create lightweight cotton pouches that could be shipped by sea rather than air—drastically reducing our carbon footprint. We wanted to support the livelihoods of artisans rather than a large company, and we were also able to work with this Indian workshop on a customized lighter pouch design.
With our artisan partner, we were able to make our cotton pouches significantly lighter, which also meant we were using significantly less cotton. We have now gone through two re-design iterations with them. The latest version uses 35% less cotton than the original design—proof that sustainable design and creativity go hand-in-hand. This evolution in our packaging is an example of light-weighting, a design strategy that reduces the impact of a product across its entire life cycle—from farming to shipping to your doorstep.
How we Ship Our Products with Combined Packaging: When you choose "Combined Packaging" at check out, we consolidate all your ornaments into one cotton drawstring bag.
What is Light-Weighting?
“Light-weighting” is a sustainable design strategy that makes a bigger difference than you might initially think. Unlike some other strategies that reduce the environmental impact of one part of the product life cycle, light-weighting reduces the environmental impact of the entire product life cycle. By using less cotton per pouch, fewer resources are needed to plant, grow, and harvest the cotton for our pouches. Because they are lighter, less fuel is needed to ship the pouches from the artisans to us and from us to you. We are sending out more than 150,000 gift pouches a year, so this reduction in impact is no small thing!
Combined Packaging: Thoughtful Gifting Meets Thoughtful Impact
You, our dear customers, can help us reduce our environmental impact even further bby taking advantage of our Combined Packaging option at checkout. When selected, we lovingly consolidate your ornaments into one cloth bag instead of packing each ornament individually. f your order is large, we will consolidate your ornaments into as few cloth pouches as possible, while still lovingly packing your ornaments so they don’t get squished!
Our Packaging Reflects Our Purpose
At Craftspring, we consider our environmental impact in every aspect of our business. We want to bring beautiful and joyful items into your homes and lives, but we want to do that in a way that supports responsible and renewable processes. We are not perfect, but we’re continuously improving!
We deeply appreciate that our customers embrace and champion our dedication to fair-trade and environmental sustainability practices just as much as we do. If you ever have questions or ideas, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at online@craftspring.com. And Happy Earth Month!
