We see waste as a design problem. The average person in the United States creates 4.4 pounds of trash per day. Recycling is only part of the solution. Recycling systems are overburdened and limited in their capacity to process multiple types of waste, and not everything that is recyclable gets recycled. We intend to solve this problem by designing zero waste products.
First, we redesign seemingly inconsequential products – such as the coffee sleeve – to create zero waste solutions. We promote engagement by designing for functionality, fun and true sustainability. Through the redesign of these products, we will give every American the opportunity to seamlessly move to zero waste.
The Freedom Sleeve is the first solution in the Design By Freedom portfolio of ideas. Why did we start with a coffee sleeve? We had to start somewhere – and it is worth noting that 40 million of these “inconsequential” sleeves end up in our waste system every day. Eliminating sleeves from our waste management system seemed like a pretty good place to start.
While maintaining its heat-protective functionality, the coffee sleeve is redesigned to eliminate waste altogether. The Freedom Sleeve is made from durable materials and is impossible to forget. Use it for as long as you would like, and when you’re done with it, throw it in your house plant or in your garden compost.
We designed the Freedom Sleeve for fun, engagement and mobility. Wrapped around your coffee cup it becomes its own doodle stencil and creativity center, inspiring limitless ideas and innovation.
(View of the clasp)
(Extremely easy to put on and take off)
(You won’t forget your waste solution!)
(Comes in five colors)
(Seamless mobility)
(It’s friendly too! :))
We have a four-step implementation plan to get the Freedom Sleeve to market.
1. Crowd-Funding: This Indiegogo campaign will fund the manufacturing of the Freedom Sleeve and provide us with a foundation to develop other ideas from our portfolio.
2. Manufacturing: We have identified biodegradable, compostable materials, as well as some great USA-based manufacturing partners who are ready to go.
3. Building Partnerships: We are developing relationships with sustainability-minded coffee retail chains and will be building partnerships across academic institutions and private sector organizations as well. These relationships will help us move the Freedom Sleeve to market on a large scale and provide a foundation for implementing future zero waste solutions.
4. Distribution: We plan to distribute the sleeve through a number of channels, including retail, conference management and university partnerships.
(Prices INCLUDE shipping worldwide.)
Personalized Certificate of Appreciation: More than just a “thank you” for bringing the Freedom Sleeve to life.
Solutions Insider Group: First access to the newest inventions, designs, solutions and community-only communications.
Listed Stakeholder on Website: Join the community of stakeholders listed permanently on the Design By Freedom website.
Customized Freedom Sleeves: 100 sleeves in colors of your choice with personalized branding and information. Great for university swag, wedding favors or as a substitute for business cards.
#BabyHornet RV Adventure Day: We will pick you up (wherever you are in the continental U.S.!) and take you on the most exciting 24-hour adventure you will ever have.
We are explorers, adventurers and outdoorsy people. We are also builders, engineers, makers and creators with immense passion for design, social impact and strategic thinking. Bringing these passions and skills together gave birth to Design By Freedom.
We are a team of believers and doers, working predominately pro-bono to get this first solution into your hands.
A mission-in-action, Design By Freedom is also the story of how Freedom and Trouble found each other in a desert bloom and decided to become partners in crime and in life. (More on this story to come…)
We need your help in taking the Freedom Sleeve to market by investing in manufacturing. Your pledge to this campaign will allow us to manufacture the sleeve with U.S-based manufacturing partners. Getting these sleeves to market is a critical first step in our mission to move America to zero waste.
We also need help in connecting with coffee retail brands. If you have ideas, connections or introductions, please reach out. We are always looking to make new friends, build bridges and partnerships. We invite you to connect. :)
1. Has this product been tested in the market? How was this product received?
This solution was iterated over nine months. (And you thought it was easy to make a coffee sleeve!) We tested all kinds of ideas. In our experiments we designed coffee sleeves that were the size of credit cards. We designed sleeves that could be pasted on cell phones. While many of our ideas sounded cool – and some of them even looked pretty great – not all designs fit the bill because they were not zero waste. Our mission is sacrosanct to us, so we moved on to experiment with design hypotheses and more sustainable materials.
After several iterations we arrived at the current solution based on user feedback on 3D-printed versions of the Freedom Sleeve. Everyone was excited about our first solution, telling us the Freedom Sleeve was like “joy on their cup of coffee.” We realized we were on to something.
We invested our personal savings into developing the Freedom Sleeve. Now, we need your help to begin manufacturing.
2. Why you should care about this solution and invest in this organization?
The Freedom Sleeve is capable of eliminating 40 million cardboard and paper sleeves thrown into our waste system every day. Think about how many sleeves you use in a given week, month, or year. Together we can eliminate that waste.
Your pledge to Design By Freedom and the use of the Freedom Sleeve puts you at the ground floor of a movement that will drive America to zero waste.
And this is just the beginning. Design By Freedom’s mandate to invent zero waste solutions will allow all 300 million Americans to seamlessly join the zero waste movement. We have a roster of 100+ ideas in the pipeline and your contribution to our mission will help bring those solutions to life.
3. Why is the sleeve a solution?
The sleeve insulates your hand from hot beverages. It is intuitive and simple, easy to carry and hard to forget. Just snap it on your backpack and take it with you. Because it is soft and stretchable, you can also squish it into your pocket. If you like to work out of coffee shops, use it as a laptop wire tie. If you carry your keys in a carabiner, snap your carabiner on to your sleeve. If you are out for a walk with your dog, wrap it onto your doggie’s leash.
Equally important, the sleeve is truly zero waste – use it as long as you want and then compost it in your garden or house plant.
The best part: having fun with the sleeve! Looking for your next big idea? Doodle away through your coffee break, be your most creative self and ideate awesome things with your sleeve.
4. Why is the sleeve easy to carry? Why is this product convenient for me?
This solution is designed for your convenience. We want to make your switch to zero waste as seamless as possible. The Freedom Sleeve and all upcoming solutions in our portfolio will add to your quality of life and give you an opportunity to positively impact the environment while making the most minimal changes to your lifestyle.
5. What is the Freedom Sleeve’s DNA? Why does it look and work the way it does?
One word: Fun.
3D-printed versions of this solution were tested – bottom line, they made people happy. We think that is a good thing. If we want to make sustainability an everyday affair, it cannot be boring. If people are having fun, the dialogue around zero waste can truly become dinner table (or coffee table) discussion!
6. The cup is a problem too, so is the lid. So is the stirrer and the straw. Why the sleeve?
We had to start somewhere. Eliminating the paper waste coffee sleeves generate is just the beginning. Curious what’s next? The Solutions Insider group will get the latest on all solutions in the Design By Freedom pipeline.
7. What is a customized sleeve?
A customized sleeve is one that you can personalize with your organization’s branding or personal message. It’s a great giveaway for university swag, wedding favors or as a substitute for business cards.
8. What exceeding our goals on Indiegogo will mean to us?
Our goal is the minimum that will allow us to go into production and help us ship the Freedom Sleeve to you. This is the barest of minimums needed to make the Freedom Sleeve a reality. Exceeding our goal will allow us to bring at least two other zero waste solutions to market before the end of 2017, ultimately getting us closer to our mission to move America to zero waste.
If you still need more information, tweet us at @DesignByFreedom and we will do our best to get you the answers you need.
As with every business endeavor, the development of our first solution comes with some risks. Below is a snap shot of some of our bigger hurdles and our plans for mitigation.
Risk one: The coffee market is stable and consistent leaving little motivation for innovation.
To mitigate this risk, we have a two-fold approach. First, we will generate customer movement by creating a community of sustainability minded coffee drinkers. Second, we are bringing retailers and industry stakeholders a ready-for-market product, eliminating any heavy lift on their part to give their customers what they want.
Risk two: Retailers are inundated with coffee-specific products making for a “noisy” marketplace where new products are easily lost.
To mitigate this risk, we are focusing our attention in three main areas:
1. Corporate relationships
2. Online retail
3. University partnerships
The Freedom Sleeve separates itself as an interactive and reusable coffee sleeve that is intuitive to carry and hard to forget. Durable enough to be used for more than a year, you can feed it to your house plant or throw it in your garden compost when you’re done with it. The real mitigation we bring to the marketplace is the solution itself.