Founded in 2012, Canadian sustainable fashion brand, Tentree, creates various lines of apparel with the purpose of planting ten trees for every product sold. With roots in Vancouver, British Columbia, the brand has evolved into a forefront runner of environmental conservation, specifically through efforts of reforestation, minimized footprint, brand transparency, and ethical manufacturing.
Tentree showcases their commitment to the planet from the beginning. The logo includes tree iconography and the header has two links that are directly related to sustainability: Climate+ and Impact. We will explore these two sections later but the presence of this content at the highest level signifies the value of sustainability for their brand.
Tentree provides a real time counter on their home page ( a feature available through GoodAPI's apps) that allows visitors to understand the scale of the impact as well as a quantified mission that they will be joining by purchasing from this brand.
Continuing on their mission of quantifying impact, tentree also uses this opportunity to educate their merchants on the waste created by the apparel industry. This is a moment to really explain the problem that the industry faces and how the brand is combatting that problem by committing to initiatives beyond trees. These targets include diverting waste from landfills, and using water more efficiently.
Surprisingly, tentree has not placed emphasis on their product page. We think this is a missed opportunity to improve conversion on one of the main CTAs, the Add to Cart Button. Tentree does have a "Details" section which when opened shows sustainability iconography around the materials they use. One of GoodAPI's most popular badges is the product badge which adds a small banner under the Add to Cart CTA to showcase not only the merchant's commitment to sustainability but also how the customer can be part of it by taking action on the CTA.
Tentree uses a slider cart and here they do emphasize their impact right next to the CTA. Under the 'Checkout' button is a carousel that switches between two impact statements
Note that the impact numbers are dynamic and tied to the quantity of items in the cart. If you were to buy 2 items or increase the quantity in the cart, the tree count and CO2 amount dynamically update. This feature is also available through the GoodAPI apps. Our cart badges dynamically update as the cart value increases. We believe they should have used the same pattern on the product page in addition, which will improve CTA conversion.
.png)
Tentree continues with its commitment to sustainability by allowing customers to add sustainable actions to their checkout cart through upsell widgets. GoodAPI also allows you to showcase your commitment in the Checkout page. The upsell is smart because if a customer adds 1 or 2 trees and commits to taking action then that commitment will apply to their whole cart and increase the likelihood of final checkout. This method reduces checkout abandonment!
Tentree continues its impact storytelling post purchase through a curated set of emails that focus on 3 things
GoodAPI is currently building a customer extension that will allow shopify merchants to continue their storytelling beyond the purchase through customer accounts. We are also working on updating the order object to include the number of trees planted on that order so you can include it in your email series.
Tentree's social accounts focus on beautiful nature photography, outdoor product shots and educational posts. They are visually bridging their products to the environment and informing their audience along the way.
To gain more trust, Tentree has a series of accreditations and certificates listed on their website. This includes B-corp certification, climate neutral certification, and joining the Restorative coalition. These certifications and logos act as additional badges of trust for the company and gives credibility to the company claims.
Beyond selling physical goods, tentree also offers their customers the ability to subscribe to different packages which include different amounts of tree planting and plastic removal. It's actually very clever because it gives those customers one more way of connecting with tentree and potentially coming back in the future and purchase from tentree. The subscription also increases the trees in their digital forest.
Speaking of digital forests, tentree has gamified the planting experience by creating a digital forest where customers can log in to see exactly how many trees and what type of trees are planted on their behalf. It also displays additional statistics like amount of carbon offset, hectares of land reforested etc. to tie the customer's transaction to real world actions.
No sustainability shop would be complete without a section dedicated to materials. Tentree emphasizes their commitment to every fiber of their business including the materials they use, as well as the sourcing and processing of those materials in the most sustainable manner. This makes sustainability really part of the end to end experience.
Tentree also has a section dedicated to show their manufacturers around the world and how they work with companies that pay fair wages and are responsible employers. Sustainability as a concept, is expanded to sustainable employment practices.
We are going down the supply chain as we started with materials, then the manufacturers and now the last step packaging and shipping. Tentree here continues to invest in sustainable packaging materials that are recycled and degradable.
You would think that Tentree would dust off its hands after shipping but you would be wrong. Tentree also has a recycling program of their own. “Circularity” by tentree is a holistic approach to recycling and reselling your old apparel. The habit of wearing clothes that fit a certain trend or outgrowing your clothes and throwing them away results in materials being dumped into landfills, taking decades to decompose. The process follows like so: customer ships their clothes where an assessment takes place, the customer gains credit for their shipment, and the clothing is resold or recycled to create new pieces. Under other user tabs customers are introduced to the exploration of sustainable materials, ethical manufacturing procedures, and partner facilities.
In summary, we think Tentree gets a 10/10 (🥁) for their commitment to embedding sustainability throughout their brand journey. Join our newsletter below to be the first to receive our deep dives into more sustainable brands.
