Every time someone buys a product at a new Providence retail store, something good is happening across the globe.
The concept behind Impact Everything LLC, at 297 Thayer St. in College Hill, is to make those consumer purchases part of a greater social good.
For example, the T-shirts in the shop are all sustainably sourced, whether they originate in hemp plants, recycled polyester or bamboo.
The most popular sneakers being sold in the store have recycled tires as their soles. A top seller also includes stainless-steel straws, a replacement for plastic.
The retail shop of ethically and sustainably manufactured products, which number in the hundreds, is the work of Lanna Nawa and Saroj Bhandari, two University of Connecticut graduates who opened the store in December 2017.
As a social enterprise business, they negotiate with each supplier to contribute some portion of the purchase price toward an ethical or sustainable purpose, be it educating children in Nepal or planting trees worldwide.
Within the store, they keep the prices modest, to appeal to students and working people on a budget.
“It’s all about finding solutions and giving back,” Nawa said.
