Issue #060

Welcome to your weekly dose of TooXToo, this week featuring Lidl taking on period poverty, the chicest of supermarkets, Ikea X Mud Jeans and celebrating Earth Day.

Lidl take on period poverty  

Lidl Ireland has become the first major retailer, globally to battle period poverty with free pads and tampons.  

The initiative utilises Lidl’s app and consumers are able to sign up via their phone to receive a coupon which can be redeemed for one free box of period products.  

Once consumers are signed up – there is no need to register again, the app provides a new coupon on the first day of each month to ensure that those who have periods don’t go without.   

A shocking number of people are affected by period poverty and a 2018 study found that almost half of girls in Ireland aged 12 to 19 sometimes struggled to pay for menstrual products.  

To reach homeless people who might not have access to a smartphone, Lidl will be making quarterly donations of products to Simon Communities, a charity working with the unhoused. It will also be providing tampons and pads to football clubs across Ireland. 

The chicest of supermarkets

Designer of the moment, Camille Walala’s latest work see’s the London Design Museum shop transformed to a pop-up supermarket selling the most gorgeous essential items.  

Open across this week, the shop aims to help "nourish creativity" as the UK emerges out of a three-month lockdown, when supermarkets were one of the few places to remain open. 

A number of artists have helped to design each different product including bread, washing up liquid and gin for people to purchase.  

The limited-edition items will be sold in-store and online from 21 April until they sell out, with proceeds going to the museum's new Emerging Designer Access Fund, which gives free design museum tickets to emerging designers.  

 

Ikea X MUD Jeans

Ikea have, in their latest sustainability push, partnered with MUD Jeans to turn old jeans into new covers for sofas.  

MUD Jeans, a circular company are the perfect partner and the collaboration will see over 16,000 pairs of jeans recycled; two pairs per cover. According to IKEA, each cover saves nearly 27,000 litres of water and has a 67% lower CO2 footprint compared to industry standards. 

Ikea have also made it possible for customers to get involved – if they donate two pairs of old jeans at their local IKEA store, they will get 10% off and the knowledge that their jeans have been recycled!  

 

Google map our damage

This week saw the celebration of Earth Day, exploring the theme of ‘Restore our Earth’ – focusing on the climate crisis and repairing some of the damage we have already done to our planet.  

Earlier this month, Google Earth launched a new time-lapse feature which allows users see the damage that climate change has caused over the last 37 years. Using millions of pre-existing satellite images, users are able to navigate virtual tours from the China to Australia.  

By seeing the world’s fragile beauty degrade before your own eyes, Google hopes that “visual evidence can cut to the core of the debate in a way that words cannot”.