Importance of Recycling for Dri Umbrellas with Deirdre Horan

Hello and welcome to this episode of Conscious Design. I'm your host, Ian Peterman, and with me today I have Deirdre Horan, founder of Dry Umbrellas, which are made from 100% recycled ocean-bound plastic. Very specific there. And we're excited to talk about how you got into it and what you guys are doing. So welcome to the show.

Thank you so much for having me, Ian. I'm excited to be here.

Yeah, so first let's just start off with what everybody likes to hear, the origin story. What got you into tackling umbrellas?

I know, very obscure product. Um, yeah, I mean, I watched a few years back now, I watched this really disturbing documentary on ocean plastic, uh, really freaked me out and stuck stuck with me. And a few weeks after watching it, I was walking to work in Boston and my umbrella flipped inside out and snapped, as many over the course of my life and most people's lives have. And I threw it away. And when I looked down at the tag, it said made from 100% polyester. And I had learned through the Ocean Plastic documentary that plastic can be recycled into polyester fabric. So the wheels got turning a bit. Is there a way to make this recycled fabric? Is there a way to make this from ocean plastic fabric? So the wheels started turning, and Dry was kind of born from then.

Oh yeah, that's, that's a— will make you think a little bit when you realize you're throwing it all away, for sure. Exactly. I think you mentioned a crazy number. How many umbrellas? Millions? Get thrown away.

Yeah, 1.1 billion umbrellas are thrown away every year.

Oh yeah, billion with a B, so more, which is crazy. I still, I still was thinking about that after, after we first, first spoke and how, how huge that is. Now, something you, you're very specific about saying is the ocean-bound. Can you talk a little bit about how, because a lot of people focus on, you know, get the plastic out of the ocean and we'll make a product. And there's— I've interviewed a few companies that are doing that because there's, you know, a lot there. But you decided to shift. Could you talk a little bit about how, how you made that shift? What made you decide let's go ocean-bound rather than already in the ocean?

Yeah, absolutely. So, um, I have so much respect and admiration for those brands because there are Last estimate, 175 trillion pieces of plastic floating in the ocean. So I have a lot of admiration and respect for the brands that are pulling them out of the ocean because that is a very difficult process, um, and it's difficult to, to find plastic amongst all of that that is still recyclable. After the waves and the sun and the salt break down that plastic, it becomes more and more difficult to recycle. Um, so on one hand, we have trillions of pounds of plastic in the ocean, but on the other hand, we have a really concerning 33 billion pounds pounds of plastic entering our oceans every year. So all these cleanup efforts that are out there, I have so much admiration and respect for them, and I'm worried that they're going to be out there forever because we have 33 million pounds continuously entering every year. So I kind of see Dry's job as preventing that plastic from entering. So it's plastic that is found in countries with very poor waste management systems. And they happen to be countries that the United States and other first world countries ship our trash to. So speaking of billions, we spend billions of dollars every year sending all of our trash to countries like Indonesia and Thailand and Cambodia and places that really don't have the waste management infrastructure to deal with all of this trash. So it gets taken to landfills, but then swept out to sea because the landfills aren't poor— are pretty poorly maintained. So it kind of turns into a bit of a vicious cycle, and the plastic just keeps flowing into the ocean. So we're really looking at it from a prevention measure. So we're intercepting the plastic. We pay local workers in those areas of the world wages to gather the plastic before it hits the seas. So along rivers and coastlines, beaches, those types of places. And they bring them to recycling center where the plastic is shaved down from typically bottle form into plastic flakes. And then from From there, there's a bit of a lengthy recycling process that eventually turns it into polyester fabric, which we put on top of the umbrella canopy.

Got it. So yeah, it's a bit of a— still a bit of a journey to go from there, from there to an actually usable, usable fabric. But I'd also imagine that if you're doing it pre the ocean, it hasn't been sitting in saltwater. For possibly years. So it's probably— is it easier to recycle and sort out or not?

Yeah, it's definitely easier to recycle and sort out if it's still in somewhat pristine condition. Whenever the bottles and plastic are taken to the recycling center, it's always like cleaned and shaved down to those flakes. So while it's not— as long as it's not like decayed and past the point in which it can be shaved down into those useful flakes, Then we can utilize it to make the fabric.

And, and for the rest of the umbrella, right, there's— I know metal is a pretty common material, which is pretty recyclable in general. Is there any other areas to it that you're looking at of either now or later being able to make more sustainable, or is the rest of it kind of a pretty easily recyclable product?

Yeah. So we took a look at the umbrella, and we found that not only is the canopy itself, the fabric, made from plastic, but typically the pole and the handle are also made from plastic. So we initially just had the vision to update the canopy and make that environmentally sustainable. But ultimately we decided we wanted to take it one step further and just improve it top to bottom. So we're utilizing stainless steel for the pole, which releases much lower carbon emissions upon creation than plastic does and is recyclable. And then we're utilizing bamboo for the handle instead of using wood or creating more plastic. Bamboo is actually very coolly one of the most sustainable materials on the planet. It can actually grow up to 3 feet in 1 day. Which is pretty cool. So we, we use some of that. We harvest some of that. It's very cool. So we harvest some of that. And then, and then that plant grows back very, very quickly. So how regenerative it is was really, really appealing to us when we started designing our product.

That's awesome. So you're able to replace a few parts of the umbrella then with more sustainable options as you're You're building it out. Do you have— and you haven't quite launched it, but have you built samples, gotten feedback? Kind of where— let's talk a little about where you are stage-wise in terms of, you know, developing and launching a sustainable product.

Yeah. Yeah. So I've been working on it for about 3 years now, and we've had multiple samples, multiple iterations of it. The first one actually, funnily enough, wasn't waterproof. So that's kind of where we started. We had a lot of work to do. No one had really made full sheets of fabric out of ocean-bound plastic before. So it's definitely taken a lot of research and a lot of iterations. But at this point we have about 5 or 6 samples. And another part that came increasingly important to me was the durability of the product. Because like we kind of touched on, a billion are thrown away every year, and any consumer product that's seen as disposable but it's made of plastic is really an environmental hazard. You know, plastic cutlery, straws, all of that are really well known, but umbrellas are also typically seen as pretty disposable, right? We use them once, twice, maybe 3 times. They bend, they snap, they end up in landfills. We're being made of plastic. They never decompose. They're on the planet forever. So it was really important to me that we made them durable so they could be used for longer than 3 uses. So all that to say, it's been a long time because we've been trying to not only make them eco-friendly, but make them eco-friendly in the sense that they will be long-lasting. So I've had a few sample runs where I've just had to X-ray it because I took it out one time and it was bending in the wind, and we couldn't have that. Couldn't run a risk of having an entire production run run like that. So we're officially launching now. We've finalized our prototypes and are officially launching on April 21st via Kickstarter. So we're really excited for that. We feel like we finally finalized that prototype and are ready for mass production. So we wanted to launch them into the world in a way that a lot of people could get eyes on it and be able to learn Not only about us, but more about the, the plastic crisis itself.

Hey, it's Ian here. So glad you're enjoying this episode of Conscious Design. If you want the full scoop on Conscious Design, what it is, how we do it, how you can do it, then check out our book. We wrote it so creative entrepreneurs like you can code social and environmental responsibility right into your brand's DNA. You can download the first chapter for free. Link is in the description. Enjoy the rest of the episode. Don't forget to like, subscribe, and share. So with the product, you have this, you're about to launch, you're sustainable, you last longer as a product, right? You're more durable. There's a lot of things to get together. How, I'm curious, when did you start the process? Like how has How many years has it been in, in the works?

Yeah, so it's been about 3 years. So I had the idea a bit longer than that, actually, uh, probably about 5 years ago. And I started, I dipped my toe in the water 5 years ago, and then I realized how much work it was to start a business and to actually get an idea that doesn't exist into existence and then out in the world. And it is no joke with the amount of time and effort that that takes. And I think 5 years ago, I wasn't really prepared for that. And then it was about a month before COVID hit, and the idea came back to me. And I kind of thought, you know, why did I really let that idea go? I think it has great potential. The umbrella market is saturated, but there isn't really a brand name out there that I feel like consumers have a lot of loyalty to.

Yeah, I can't think of a single umbrella. There's not like the umbrella. I don't know.

Exactly, exactly. There's no real like market leader or name. I felt like I had no idea who made the umbrella that I threw into the trash that day. So I saw it as a—

I actually don't even know who makes them. Yeah, I feel like it's just a company in the background and it just appears at Target and they're like, oh, well, you can buy it.

Exactly.

That's it.

CVS. Yeah, CVS, Walgreens. They're just there for you. You don't, you don't really think about it. And so to me, it seemed like a market that could really use a brand name and especially a brand name that was eco-friendly. So hopefully that the rest of the market will have to kind of meet that standard, at least moving forward. So that was kind of the mentality on the umbrella because I know it is such a random product, but that's why, that's why we chose umbrellas.

Yeah. Well, I feel now that you've mentioned like, yeah, there's no brand, like there's no brand leader, right? And we could, I could list off all kinds of brand leaders in other areas, but yeah, never had a brand leader. So I think it's, I think you, it's a great, you've done a great job at finding this area that's a huge trash place that, you know, I had no idea, billion Our umbrellas are thrown away. Like, that's a shocking number. Um, I mean, it makes sense based on how many people use umbrellas and how windy things are and how cheap they're made to break. So like, it makes sense, but you haven't thought about it. And so it's, you've, you've landed on this very unique little spot of being able to create a brand in an almost brandless— I feel like it's brand, like nobody really brands their umbrellas either. I guess very, I can't even think of a logo on one. So congratulations on doing that. That's like a once in a lifetime opportunity to find an unbranded, heavily saturated market. So this is, this is great. I would never have thought about umbrellas as a place to innovate, but probably because nobody has and Whatever, 50 years or something.

Long time. Long time.

So yeah, this is, this is exciting. I'm excited to see how you guys go. And you guys are launching Kickstarter campaign, is that correct? Yep.

Yep. April 21st, we go live and we'll run for 30 days. So we're really excited to give people the opportunity to work towards addressing this very large, overwhelming problem. And the whole ethos of the brand is really just like You know, we have climate change and plastic pollution and these huge, enormous, overwhelming issues that people kind of get paralyzed into inaction a little bit and don't know how they can have an impact. So we just kind of want to be a vessel for that impact for people. So we did the heavy lifting for a few years now, and then hopefully with a click of the button, you'll really feel like you made an impact, because each Dry Umbrella is a plastic bottle. So Our Kickstarter goal is our minimum order quantity. So that's 2,000 umbrellas. And that'll be 16,000 plastics diverted from entering the ocean, which is pretty cool.

That's awesome. That's a lot.

That's a lot of bottles. It's not nearly as much as are made every day, but it's a lot of bottles.

You know, as long as people start recycling it, then it doesn't— it's less of a problem. So every little bit does end up counting. What's— do you have any— I always like to ask this for companies that are working in sustainability is, do you have any other product like through this process? So you're like, umbrellas are great, but now we also are gonna expand into other products. Like, are you looking at that or are you super focused on on this right now and no, no plans right as of right now?

So definitely still working on umbrellas. So right now, we're— our umbrellas are stick length. So they're not compact, they're not the golf size. And so I think we'd really like to expand within the umbrella world, just because doing something like golf umbrellas could open up an entire lane of the golf world and making products golf world in those, with those types of materials, making compact umbrellas, we shied away from it initially, just because of that durability piece. And they are so much harder to make really durable and strong.

Right.

But we'd love to get into that space, because that's much more of— it opens doors in terms of, like, corporate gift giving and branding for companies like Chase or Fidelity or larger brands that might be looking for them for employee gifts or client gifts, things like that. So kind of expanding within umbrellas and then seeing where it goes. Obviously, my mind has wandered into all sorts of, you know, whether it be other rain protective gear, whether it be other things relevant to the beach. My mind is kind of all over the place, but I'm trying to stay somewhat focused on one product at a time.

Yeah, you gotta keep some focus, but I think it is easy to wander, especially as soon as you start figuring out, oh, I have this material, what can I do with it? Like, It's, it's always, always fun.

Yes. And I think I'm, I'm gonna be very addicted to seeing the impact of it. So seeing how many umbrellas are sold and what that equates to in terms of plastic diverted from the ocean. So I'm sure once I see those numbers going up, my ambitions are gonna get larger and larger and larger. So I'm excited for that too. Yeah.

Yeah. I'm excited to see what you wanna do in the golf world. I've worked on some golf products and they're not exactly sustainable. So, so if you're, yeah, interested to see where you go with that, that would be another pretty untouched market from what I can tell. So that's exciting. That's exciting that you're, you're seeing some areas to go that are not too broad, like being able to still be umbrella, but expand into all the different kinds.

Yeah, definitely. There are, I'm very unfamiliar with the golf world, but in fairness, I was very unfamiliar with the umbrella world too. So Uh, it might take some time, but I think that, yeah, I think golf umbrellas are a great, a great avenue to pursue as we move forward. I'm excited about that one.

Awesome. Well, before we wrap up here, what, is there anything else you want to mention? Anything you want to share that we haven't covered yet?

I don't— I feel like I want to kind of double down on just in terms of like everyone being able to make an impact. I feel like with the design work that you do, with some of the other products I've heard on the show, like it is really easy nowadays to just— if we're a little bit more conscious in our purchases, if we do a little research into what we're buying or what we're building, it is easier to make it sustainable, more so than people think. So just being conscious in the decisions of things that we consume.

Yeah.

But besides that, I feel like listeners of your show are already kind of onto that. So I don't know if it's unsolicited advice that they already know. But the one I would say is I feel like I haven't clarified. DRI is spelled D-R-I. And a little behind the scenes, the reason that we did that is so that the dot on top of the I could be a raindrop. So spelled a little differently in order to make the logo look Much cooler.

I like it. That's, that's cool. Always, always interesting how people pick spellings of things. So it's the first time I've heard like a really logical, we did it because it looks better instead of just SEO. It's the only way it's spelled this way. So that's awesome. That's awesome. And yeah, to, to your point, like I think it's, I, Don't think it's bad to keep repeating. It is way easier because that's something that even people that want to do sustainable products that approach me to like work and develop them, they don't, they don't know how easy it is necessarily. So they're like, if we could maybe do it, but I know it's probably super, super expensive. And then I can be like, not always actually. So maybe there's, it's gonna be easier than you probably think it is. So. It's good to keep telling people that, and then eventually it'll click over and people won't assume it's expensive and horrible to do.

And it's so funny, this kind of concept of eco-friendly things being more expensive, because typically they're built more durably. And so over the course of their lifetime, they're actually much less expensive. So just thinking about how many umbrellas people have purchased in their life, cumulatively, the cost of that Well, far away what a dry umbrella would be. So yeah, just thinking about it that way, the whole lifetime quality of it, quantity of it.

Yeah, which was one of the— I prefer quality over cheapness because I like to have things for a long time, take care of them, not have them break just randomly because I used it once. So like that. Perfect. Well, I really appreciate you taking the time to be on the show and be able to share what you guys are doing and excited to see where you guys go. For everyone listening, what's the best place to find you guys? Website, social media, whatever. What, where would you like people to find you or reach out to you guys?

Sure. So we're www.dri. umbrellas.com, or on Instagram we are Dry_Umbrellas. So fairly easy to find. And then the Kickstarter, you can just look us up on kickstarter.com, Dry Umbrellas, and we should pop up.

Perfect. Amazing. And we'll have, we'll have those links in the description for everyone as well. And again, really appreciate you being on the show. Looking forward to see what you guys do.

Thank you so much. It was a pleasure.