Rehabilitation for health and skin care in the zero garbage store KL – Wired PR Lifestyle Story

Rip Curl, who was working with an Australian surf clothing brand, was involved in many beach cleanups with Jon Leek. Although he has not encountered sea turtles drowned in plastic straw that is often featured in awareness ads, he has seen other scenes he has never forgotten.

“I saw a dead dolphin as we were cleaning up on the shore on an Indonesian island. [It was] a beach with more garbage than your eyes can see; you couldn’t even imagine how it could have happened, and there’s no question of whether cleaning was possible, ”he told me during a visit to his pop-up warehouse, Release lifestyle within the store Bernazalea In Bangsar.

Not long ago, he also lamented the death of a friend. Surprised and unable to believe it, Jon suddenly realized that an unfortunate event might have happened to him.

“Here I decided to do a deep soul-searching exercise to find out what really worked for me; if I didn’t try to do it I would regret it the most [in the event] I’ll be back the next day, ”Jon thought.

He was on an indefinite sabbatical from the position of notebook marketing director anatomy, Jon launched Re {me} dy in January 2021 with investments from some friends.

Not exactly a zero garbage store

Re {me} dy is a sustainable concept store for health and skin care, and stores local branded products that have the same ideals for being environmentally sustainable. Customers can refill products from Re {me} dy refills by reusing empty bottles. This, in turn, helps to reduce waste that is dumped in landfills.

Of course, Re {me} dy comes to a very competitive place, with players The hive, Liquid, etc., A little less, and NAKED already has a presence in the Klang Valley. It’s not a bad thing, because having more opportunities to fight for a good cause is valuable because it’s in the middle of our dying planet.

And even though the concept of Re {me} dy looks like a zero garbage (ZW) repository on the surface, Jon wouldn’t call it exactly that.

The ZW store perceives them as trying to sell everything, but with limited options for each product. “[For example,] if you want to buy a body gel, there are only 2 options and that’s it. I felt I had to sacrifice my life to work for sustainability and sometimes I feel a little scared, especially for ordinary people, ”Jon added.

The group that chose the name Re {me} dy believes that their products are natural remedies that are beneficial to humans and the planet. {me} tells you how they want to create a personalized experience, such as making your own face wash blend or customizing a supplement based on your specific health concerns.

“At Re {me} dy we focus on health and beauty products, just like a medication,” Jon said.

Packaging with e-commerce is still inevitable

The appeal of Re {me} dy lies in the retail experience, where customers can browse products in large bottles to refill their small ones. But when it finally opened its doors in January 2021, the nation soon returned to the blockade.

Jon shared: “E-commerce was not what we thought of Re {me} dyr. We wanted to reduce waste and e-commerce is one of the biggest contributions of packaging waste!”

Selling products online means packing and shipping the products in boxes, helping to generate more greenhouse gases in the process. In addition, Re {me} dy bottles are made of glass, making them easier to clean and reuse. So protective containers are needed.

After a month-long brainstorming session, the team finally got to use recycled bubble wrap; it was the best option they had with the resources at their disposal.

“While we can’t change the way we do e-commerce right now, we could show people that we can reuse containers instead of just throwing them away,” Jon explains.

Fortunately, customers who placed an order online would make an effort to refill these products when they run out of the brand’s physical store. So the supplied glass bottles would be given more options for reuse.

Located in a historic building

High-density neighborhoods within KL and PJ are often beneficial for ZW stores because of the large demographic inflows of those living in the area. However, Re {me} dy’s store is located in Off Kampung Attap, KL, within the historic Zhongshan Building this has become a kind of art gallery.

Asked about this, Jon agreed that the location is difficult to get a warehouse back on, as it is far from residential. But he has a different strategy.

“It’s a nice place for trend-setters to like to visit and that’s what we thought of for Re {me} dy, where we want to become unconverted,” he justified. “Our goal was to encourage people who haven’t taken a regeneration product to do that, and we hope they will fall in love and continue to do so for the rest of their lives.”

Jon also admitted that choosing the location was not the most strategic for the business, but he believes that being inside the Zhongshan building is appropriate for his brand.

“It is a pre-war building with the principle of long-term conservation and use. It is very much in line with the concept of reducing our waste, ”he added.

Arrive business sustainability

The remedy is still in the red, the blockade has worsened and the public is still wary of making retail purchases. While e-commerce has helped a bit, the brand has explored other options, such as corporate gifts.

So far, Re {me} dy has managed to partner with BMW to be part of the car care package for its car owners. #KitaJagaKita was launched as a campaign to help local brands promote local products.

Although Re {me} dy raised little revenue, the initiative helped the brand show.

In the long run, Jon wants to turn the brand into a social enterprise with volunteers leading it as a community effort.

“I can’t expect the same commitment I have with the project, but we hope to get more support and make it a better reality,” he concluded.

• You can learn more about Re {me} dy here.
• You can read about more of the zero garbage stores we’ve written about here.

Featured Image Credit: Jon Lee, founder of Re {me} dy