What is one of the biggest challenges of going green?
My biggest challenge was figuring out a way of placing the marketing power of all the paper we were consuming in our marketing process. So for me, it was about figuring out how to draw people to our Web site, draw customers to our Web site without having to send them a ton of paper, which is historically what we had been doing. And that was our total marketing re-engineering for business. It was very challenging and very hard. We started doing that in late 2000. So, it was a long time ago, when Web sites were just being started.
Immediately, I saw the environmental impact because they get so many e-mails. But the environmental impact of e-mail compared to a letter, which has to be produced, printed and mailed and the gas it takes to move all the supplies around. They should be delighted for every e-mail they get because it’s not being piled up like the mail on their desk. So, that was definitely the biggest challenge of placing the marketing power that paper has historically been produced from.
How do you get buy-in from employees for going green?
You need to get with that program and not be afraid of that key person that may not be that change-orientated and may say, ‘We will never be able to do this.’ Make sure that you have the courage and the position to say, ‘We have to do this in order for our company to succeed and in order to perceived as a progressive company in the market,’ and that can be difficult. It’s our part, and everyone’s part, to be environmentally responsible.
HOW TO REACH: The Queensboro Shirt Co., (800) 847-4478 or at http://www.queensboro.com/
