eBay Teams With Zem Joaquin & Ecofabulous for Re+Purpose Campaign

Championing Eco-Conscious Ways to Shop, Save and Be Green  

SAN JOSE, CALIF. – October 7, 2009 – The vintage dress that gives you a brand new look. Last year’s laptop that saves you money, and helps save the planet. An antique couch that now looks great in your living room instead of in a landfill. For savvy consumers around the world, discovering new value in existing products is becoming a smarter, greener way to shop. The latest consumer trend didn’t just arrive in stores, it’s using what we already have and can buy and sell from each other.

This fall, eBay’s Green Team champions this growing consumer mindset with their six-week “re+purpose” campaign. Re+purpose is designed to inspire people to make more sustainable shopping choices and increase awareness that the greenest products are often ones that already exist, whether vintage, used, or repurposed.

eBay’s re+purpose campaign kicks off October 7 through a collaboration with The Uniform Project – designer Sheena Matheiken’s year-long mission to increase awareness about sustainable fashion and raise money to support education for underprivileged kids in her native India. Beginning October 22, eBay’s re+purpose campaign moves into its second phase via a collaboration with PopTech and MAKE Magazine to show how old items can be transformed into creative and functional new products. And on November 4, the eBay Green Team will launch the third and final phase of re+purpose alongside ecofabulous.com by holding a national competition for the most creative do-it-yourself home décor reuse project. To follow the re+purpose campaign, visit ebay.com/greenteam.

“The trend towards repurposing is something we see consumers embracing around the world,” says Amy Skoczlas Cole, Director of the eBay Green Team. “These consumers recognize how much stuff there is in the world. They see buying used and vintage as not only a way to shop smart, but also to help the planet by extending the useful life of things that already exist.  Useful stuff doesn't need to become useless trash. By connecting buyers and sellers in the world’s largest online marketplace, eBay helps create value for vintage, used and refurbished products. The re+purpose campaign promotes three of the best creative reuse efforts we see today.”

The eBay Green Team – comprised of over 100,000 eBay consumers and employees from more than 25 countries – is committed to encouraging smarter, greener shopping choices. The community draws inspiration from some of the ways in which the eBay marketplace is intrinsically green. Because of the green advantages of buying used combined with the environmental benefits of eBay’s business model, which leverages existing transportation modes:  


• Over the past three years, the sales of pre-owned handbags instead of new on eBay had the same effect as planting over 2 million trees
• Last year alone, the sales of used laptops on eBay instead of new saved 96,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions

1 dress, 365 days – unlimited possibilities
The re+purpose campaign launches with a focus on fashion. In May 2009, Brooklyn-based Sheena Matheiken pledged to wear the same dress for an entire year as an exercise in sustainable fashion. Inspired by the uniforms she wore as a child in India, she called her venture The Uniform Project, and her challenge has been to reinvent the uniform dress every day by accessorizing it with sustainable goods—vintage, borrowed, purchased on eBay and elsewhere. The Uniform Project has succeeded in proving that reuse is stylish, yet Sheena’s ultimate aim is to raise funds for the Akanksha Fund, a non-profit organization that is bringing education to underprivileged children living in the slums of India.

To help The Uniform Project achieve its mission, the eBay Green Team will engage its 100,000+ member base in the effort. At ebay.com/greenteam, members can find featured content from The Uniform Project – including a design-your-own-look application, as well as opportunities to win a $5,000 vintage shopping experience on eBay. From October 7-21, for every person who joins the eBay Green Team, designs their own look, or tells a friend, eBay will donate $1 to The Akanksha Fund in support of the cause.
 
Master makers at work
The second phase of the re+purpose campaign will tap into the community of “makers”—people who turn existing items into functional or artistic pieces, giving them a second life. From October 22-November 3, eBay Green Team will collaborate with PopTech, the leading “innovation” exchange, and MAKE Magazine to celebrate some of the most creative and innovative makers worldwide. At PopTech 2009: America Reimagined conference in Camden, Maine (October 21-24), two “master makers” will set up shop in a community storefront. Using old electronic and other items purchased through the eBay marketplace, the team will create new, useful items.

Consistent with the theme of showcasing inspiration for reuse, the ebay.com/greenteam site will have exclusive, behind-the-scenes content from the PopTech event, along with instructions for creating unique masterpieces from reused items, inspired by the “makers.” During this phase, eBay will donate $1 for every new and returning eBay Green Team member to RAFT (Resource Area for Teaching). RAFT is a leader in hands on learning, specializing in the innovative repurposing of commonly discarded materials to engage students in learning.     

Ecofabulousness
The third and final phase of the fall campaign drives home the fact that reuse is cool—especially the “sexy, sustainable stuff” curated by creative DIY maven Zem Joaquin, ecofabulous.com’s founder and editor-in-chief. From November 4 – 19, the eBay Green Team will hold a Creative Reuse Competition, a national call for the best examples of DIY projects – made from reused items – from around the country. Members and fans will vote on their favorite, and the winner—to be juried by Zem and eBay—will be featured as a Creative Reuse Expert for eBay, winning a $1,000 shopping experience with Zem on eBay and gaining international exposure on the web site, not to mention possible media opportunities. For the duration of the collaboration, ebay.com/greenteam will feature custom content from Zem to serve as inspiration and will reward new and returning eBay Green Team members with $1 donated on their behalf to Global Green USA, the American affiliate of President Gorbachev’s Green Cross International, a leading environmental organization focused on fostering a global value shift to reconnect humanity with the environment by creating healthy, affordable green homes, schools and communities.