Issue #074

Welcome to your weekly dose of TooXToo this week featuring carbon labelled travel, Europe's first solar powered restaurant, fashion's fruity future and Ikea's real life series. 

Carbon labelled travel 

Alongside the usual suspects of itinerary and pricing, Brighton-based travel operator Pura Aventura have recently starting adding another piece of information to its trip descriptions: the total amount of carbon that is generated per person.   

"For every kilometre travelled by road, air and sea on your holiday, we carbon balance it by a mile i.e. by 160% of your trip's carbon, from your front door and back again, irrespective of whether we book your international travel or not."  

People are becoming increasingly aware of the impact their lives are having on the world and are looking to brands and companies to help them to make better choices with fewer negative consequences.  

Travelers for example will expect to be able to compare their options - which is where carbon labelling comes in!

 

Europe's first solar-powered restaurant  

A restaurant that cooks without gas, wood or electricity? Le Présage is Europe's first solar-powered restaurant. The foodie spot which uses 'cuisine solaire' utilises solar ovens and a large parabolic mirror to reflect and concentrate the sun's rays to heat a stove.  

Currently, the restaurant serves food from a shipping container however there are plans to build a more permanent site later this year. This more structured space will include a biogas installation to turn the site's own organic waste into gas, enabling chefs to cook on cloudy days and after sunset. Biogas residues can then be used to fertilize a garden that's meant to supply a quarter of the restaurant's vegetables. 

Sustainability is complicated, especially in the hospitality industry - however by turning to innovative solutions like solar power, you can connect with customers, create a memorable experience and work towards a more considered future.  

Fashion's fruity future  

Following an industry-wide focus on mushroom based mycelium - fashion is now looking to the next big thing - pineapple waste.  

Fruit and vegetable company, Dole have forged a deal to turn all of their pineapple waste into vegan lather alternatives in a bid to cut down on food waste and increase circularity,  

This comes as a number of brands take note of pineapple as a viable alternative. Nike, for example have recently released a pineapple waste version of it's famous Air Force 1 sneaker, whilst Pangaia have used pineapple waste in there new Frut Fiber loungewear capsule.  

Ikea x Real Families

To celebrate their diverse product range, Ikea have recently recreated three iconic living room sets to capture the imagination of customers in the UAE.  

Ikea have found that gaining relevance in this area has been slightly more challenging, so to connect with customers the brand created a set of three different displays, modelled after the living rooms of cult classics, 'The Simpsons', 'Friends' and 'Stranger Things'.  

The print ads use actual furniture from the brands inventory and shows that you can buy Monica Geller's coffee table for just $95.  

With the tagline, 'For Real Families', the 'Real Life Series' campaign can bee seen across Ikea's social media channels and catalogues and will appear in experiential forms across stores in the Middle East.