Year Founded: 2006
Administrative Headquarters: Oakland, CA/Hong Kong
Production Headquarters: Hong Kong
Number of Staff: 5
Design Inspirations: nature, recycling systems, landfills, the materials we use

The other day, I filled in at my friends’ eco-boutique in Los Angeles. The clothes there are made of recycled cashmere, organic cotton, Tencel, and hemp. The shelves, tables, and chairs are bamboo. Even the sales counter is some compressed, repurposed something or other. Everything there is on the sustainable tip- except the hangers. They’re fake black velvet things from Bed, Bath and Beyond. Bummer. I thought to myself, “Well, eventually someone will get around to greening the hanger industry…” As fate would have it, only hours later, I was given…a hanger.

Ditto Hangers are super sturdy, 100% recycled and recycleable, and look pretty cool, as far as hangers go. Ditto already won the 2007 International Design Award in their very first year of production. Apparently the hangers are the first project by the sustainable industrial design team GreenHeart Global. I got so excited about their innovation, that I called CEO Gary Barker…

Why hangers?

It’s a neglected and ignored product. No one sees them, but the waste is astounding. We estimated that 8 billion hangers are landfilled every year. That’s enough to fill all 102 floors of the Empire State Building 4.6 times…every year. We estimate that 85% of the hangers produced are landfilled.

Where do you source your recycled paper and plastic?

Our paper is sourced in China (where most US paper is sent for recycling). The content is certified to contain no heavy metals and no chlorine. Our PET plastic is produced in Tennessee. Our recycled PET is from the factory where we make the hangers.

Why have you chosen to use recycled petroleum-based plastic over biodegradable corn plastic?

Corn plastic is only bio-degradable in municipal composting facilities, very few of which exist nationwide. It can foul entire batches of oil-based plastic recycling if it gets in the batch. That means in most parts of the country the only place for bio-plastics are landfills, where in an anaerobic environment make them as stable as oil-based plastics, lasting over 1000 years. We estimated that 85-90% of our hangers would end up in landfills if we made our products out of bio-plastic.

PET, on the other, is the most recycled plastic worldwide. It is the plastic that water bottles are made of. Recycled PET can be made into fleece jackets, carpets, pillows, blankets, computer and auto components and other PET bottles…. PET is non-toxic to make and is one of the most stable plastics, with no off-gassing or leaching.

Plastic hangers are currently made from Polystyrene, which off-gasses benzene, the active ingredient in cigarette smoke, which is a carcinogen. Also hangers are made from polypropylene, which leaches bi phenyl-A, a hormone disruptor, into the ground water.

You’re website is geared mainly to wholesale customers. When will you begin selling the hangers direct to consumers?

We sell to consumers quite often. Our minimum order is a case and many people have ordered from us. We’re presently putting together a 10-pack of Ditto paper hangers and will be offering them to consumers through various outlets.

Tell us about the design philosophy of GreenHeartGlobal.

At GreenHeart Global, our mission is to bring intelligently designed, environmentally conceived products. We reverse engineer all our products to flow efficiently through recycling systems. We pledge to find the best possible solution to solve some of industry’s most vexing environmental problems. We expect our solutions and designs to change with material and production innovation and as recycling infrastructures expand. Most of all we’re optimistic about the future and believe industry can and must provide leadership in conserving natural resources and taking responsibility for closing the loop on products.

Well, all we have to say to that is…Ditto.