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Which Eco-Friendly Materials Truly Work Best for Home Decor?
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Jul 29, 2025
As global conversations around climate change and ethical living continue to grow, more consumers are reevaluating the materials used in their home decor. Sustainable home design has moved from trend to expectation—but with so many material claims, which options actually make the cut? Anita, host of the #GlobalTradeGal podcast, dives into the best eco-friendly materials trusted by experts at Mondoro. Click here (https://mondoro.com/what-are-the-best-sustainable-materials-for-home-decor/) to learn more about What Are the Best Sustainable Materials for Home Decor? (https://mondoro.com/what-are-the-best-sustainable-materials-for-home-decor/) #SustainableLiving #HomeDecorTrends #EcoFriendlyDesign #InteriorStyling #GreenLiving #DesignWithPurpose #ConsciousConsumer #GlobalTradeGal Support the show (https://www.paypal.com/globaltradegal)
View Video Transcript
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[Music]
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Hi, this is Anita, the global trade gal.
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You know, we live in this world where
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the climate change, there's a lot of
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climate change going on. There's
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deforestation.
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There's a lot of environmental, you
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know, issues going on. These are, you
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know, there's daily headlines of this.
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In fact, I just read this morning in a
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newspaper about how hot the United
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States was becoming this summer in
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several parts of the United States. So,
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you see this all the time going on,
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whether it's either extreme cold,
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extreme heat, or there's these extreme
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weather changes going on. You know,
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Mandura, we believe that the hope of
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home decor lies at the intersection of
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thoughtful design and ethical sourcing.
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For us, sustainability is isn't just a
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buzzword, it's a business model. And I
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want to talk a little bit about
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sustainability and and why we believe in
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sustainability. You know, our commitment
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starts in Southeast Asia, a lot of the
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things we produce here, where we work
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closely with artisans and producers to
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source eco-friendly materials that
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support both the planet and local
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communities. And I'm going to talk a
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little bit about some of those planets.
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But first, let me talk a little bit
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about why Southeast Asia and in
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particular for us it's it's Vietnam. You
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know Southeast Asia is positioned as a
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global hub for sustainable material
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sourcing. It's a region which has a lot
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of these sustainable materials like
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bamboo
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uh ratan
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water hyasin.
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All of these things are readily
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available in countries like Vietnam,
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Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand. So
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they're rich in the law raw material.
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You know, some of the materials that we
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trust and that we like include bamboo,
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which bamboo basically is a grass. It's
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considered to be the super grass. Some
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bamboo will grow up to a meter in a day.
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It's very fast growing. It requires very
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little water. It's it's pest resistant.
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It's just an amazing amazing material.
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You know, it can be harvested without
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killing the entire root system in making
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a plant that's renewable. We can use
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bamboo in a lot of different ways. is
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you can use it for lighting. You can use
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it for furniture, mirrors. Vietnam does
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a process here called spun bamboo where
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they where they take the bamboo, strip
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the bamboo down, and then they sort of
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spin the bamboo around and make it a
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variety of shapes. It can also be made
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into strips and woven. So, there's lots
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of different ways that bamboo can be
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used. Water hyasin is also another
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plant. Used to be many years ago that
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water hyasin was considered this
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invasive sort of terrible plant. I
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remember living in Thailand and seeing
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it in the waterways of you know places
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like Thailand would literally choke the
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waterways and you know a boat would be
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driving along and all of a sudden a boat
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would stop because the water hyestin
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would sort of like choke the water and
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stop the boats. It would kill the
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wildlife, kill the fish. So then people
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began to discover, well, we can take
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this plant and we can dry it and then we
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can basically use it to weave, we can
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dye it, we can paint it, and we can
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basically make a lot of great products
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out of this plant, which was once
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considered this huge uh nuisance. So
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that's a great example again of people
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using their ingenuity and saying like,
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look, we have this plant here. How do we
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be able to use this plant and put it to
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some type of use? So we work with local
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weavers in Vietnam, you know, to be able
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to turn water, dried water hyestin into
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baskets, trays, and furniture accents.
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Recycled wood is also another one. And
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recycled wood has been gaining more
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popularity. It, you know, it is a very
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specific look. It's not a look that
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every company can use, but it is a great
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look. You know, there's certain clients
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that really like it because it's
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sustainable. Was once used for one
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purpose is now being used again.
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It can be used a wide range of home
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decor products from furniture to lamps
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to mirrors to other types of accessories
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can all be used using recycled wood.
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There's other types of wood which is
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considered fast growing wood species or
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wood um you know wood that that
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basically can be renewed quite easily.
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You know woods like teak or oak would
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take decades to mature. But in contrast,
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you have these fast growing type of
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woods, accassia, rubber wood, mango
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wood, which grow very fast, can be
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harvested sustainably within a few
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years. You these woods are often
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byproducts of agricultural industries,
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which means using them adds value to
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what otherwise be waste. Years ago,
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rubber wood used to be considered a
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waste wood. They didn't know what to do
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with the wood. The wood couldn't be used
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for anything because the rubber was
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still inside the wood. And then they
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discovered this vacuum. If they vacuumed
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it out, have machines, they sort of
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like, you know, sort of like vacuum out
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the rubber, then it makes a beautiful
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hardwood. It makes a great hardwood, can
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be used in many different ways. This is
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a great example of somebody taking a
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wood that was once a waste and they
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would just burn the wood to wood that
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now can be used and can be considered
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sustainable.
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At Maduro, we also try to ensure that
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our wood uses from managed plantations
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and carries certifications where
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possible. You know, this can result in
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beautiful, sturdy furniture that doesn't
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cost the earth, but at the same time,
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you know, it doesn't destroy our earth
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either. So, it's a wood that basically
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helps the earth. So, there's different
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ways that you can, you know, you select
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the materials is through research and
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testing. You can look at supplier
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audits, look at the suppliers and what
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the suppliers are doing. Design
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collaboration, work together with our
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customers to be able to get the best
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type of material possible and to try to
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give more, you know, transparency into
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things and and that's part of the reason
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why I do these podcasts or or we do
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videos, you know, the videos that we do
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is to be able to tell the story and to
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be able to let people understand the
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story that we want to tell about
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sustainability. you know that
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sustainability in hand can go hand in
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hand that you know you don't have to
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really separate the two they don't have
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to be two separate goals that you can
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make them one goal together that you can
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try to be you know innovative and use
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materials which are sustainable and at
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the same time can give a beautiful
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product and a beautiful look we can also
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you know tell stories with it you know
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when you have a reclaimed piece of
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furniture reason why I'm I'm love
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reclaimed furniture wood that's been
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used before is it sort of tells the
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story it tells tells a story of
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furniture that was once used or scrapped
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away or maybe would have been burned and
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instead's made into a beautiful piece of
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furniture. I've always loved that story.
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I'm someone who's always appreciated
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that kind of story that they're not just
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objects, but this really is something
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that has a history to it and has a story
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to it. So, if you're interested in this
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at Menuro, we would love to be able to
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help you to be able to look at, you
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know, ways that you can become more
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stain sustainable or sustainable
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materials that you could use. We'd love
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to be able to talk to you more about
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this, talk about things that we could
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develop together in the home decor and
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home furnishing. We could um talk about
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different types of materials you could
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use. We collaborate together with you to
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get the right designs. We'll make sure
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that the quality is up to the standard
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you need. We really consider ourselves
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an ethical manufacturer. We work with
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workshops and factories that we ensure
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use fair labor practices and are
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environmentally responsible. If you'd
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like to be able to read more about this,
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we have written a a blog post on this
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entitled uh sourcing sustainable
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materials in Southeast Asia for home
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decor. If you're not in the home decor
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industry, but you're in another
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industry, you can still look to be able
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to make sustainability one of your goals
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if everybody did a little bit of that.
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And then imagine what a different place
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the world would be and how much better
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the world would be if we all looked at
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sustainability as one of our goals when
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it came to manufacturing. This is Anita
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from the Global Trade Gal. Thank you so
7:49
much being part of our community. We
7:51
hope that you will join with us. If you
7:53
haven't joined with us already, press
7:55
that subscribe button and become part of
7:57
our community and part of us. And we'd
7:59
love to hear from you if you have any
8:00
questions or comments. Thank you so
8:02
much.
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[Music]
#Green Living & Environmental Issues
#Home & Interior Decor
#Home Furnishings