The recently launched DoneGood browser extension and app makes it mind-bogglingly easy to shop online for products made under fair, ethical and sustainable conditions.
Shopping responsibly, ethically and sustainably is not always so easy. Studies show that consumers are increasingly looking to buy items that are produced under fair conditions. But such products might not always be so readily available, while greenwashing can allow companies to show off some of their more tokenistic positive efforts as a means of disguising some of their less-than-commendable practices, making it even harder to know which products are truly doing good.
Enter DoneGood, a web browser plugin and app. Type in a product you are looking for into Google or Amazon and the usual search results will appear on your screen. However, where possible, the Chrome extension will list sustainable alternatives to each result just above each link; users simply need to click on the alternative link to be redirected to the sustainable version of the product they’re looking for. DoneGood then earns a commission from the featured company each time a user makes a purchase.
The companies listed in the DoneGood database include B Corporations, fair trade-certified organisations, Global Organic Textile Standard-certified companies and more.
A lot (but not all) the companies featured are smaller, local outlets. Finding smallscale businesses producing products ethically and sustainably can be a bit of a slog online, mainly because typing ‘shoes’ into Google or other search engines brings up bigger companies that have better SEO capabilities. As Mashable makes clear, in that sense, DoneGood cuts out a lot of the leg work involved in finding smaller-sized ethical businesses.
The app goes one better than the browser plugin, allowing users to search for companies first based on values or issues they care about. Looking specifically for upcycled products? DoneGood’s app will let you key that in as key criteria before you go about searching for products you want to buy and will bring up results that meet your wishes.
DoneGood is a product of two US entrepreneurs Scott Jacobsen and Cullen Schwarz who, according to the DoneGood website, both wanted to make it easier to find high-quality goods made under sustainable and ethical conditions. The two refined their concept and created DoneGood as part of Harvard Innovation Lab’s Venture Incubation Lab, and after a testing phase, the product was officially launched in November 2016.
Learn more about the initiative via the DoneGood website, download the Chrome extension here and the app for iOS here and Android here.
Interested in other apps that make ethical shopping easy? We put a few to the test as part of our RESET App Check – take a look!
