Sustainability
SYRINX's leather goods business had a unique start from "Mottainai".
Founded as an audio brand, SYRINX was characterized by speakers with soft bodies made of leather. In our quest for leather that is good for sound, we came across Italian vacchetta leather, which has a beautiful color and gloss due to aging. However, manufacturing speakers produces a large amount of scrap wood.
We want to use up the life we have been given with great care.
With this in mind, we began to produce leather items using the scrap wood. This policy is still carried on in our various initiatives today.
An interview about SYRINX's SDG initiatives was featured on the SDG portal site " Spaceship Earth.
SYRINX｜What is the recycling-oriented business of leather products that started from "mottainai"?
1 Mottainai Market
Aiming for a recycling-oriented society without waste, SYRINX offers products that cannot be sold as regular items due to their characteristic leather quality or discontinued products as "Mottainai Market.
This initiative is based on the idea of "mottainai," which is the starting point of SYRINX's small leather goods.
2 Showroom Anywhere
Samples used for photo shoots and interviews, returned products, and B-grade products such as those with scratches. This initiative was started to make effective use of such useless products. This is a service where samples are delivered to your home and you can actually try them out for a few days.
3 The Ultimate Use of Scrap Wood
This small key case full of ideas was developed to make effective use of the scraps of leather after removing a large product and to reduce the amount of discarded leather as much as possible. We only produce this product when we have large pieces of offcuts, but we can offer it at a very reasonable price because it utilizes discarded leather.
4 Reduction of waste
Dummy cards attached to wallets. After the wallet is purchased, the dummy card becomes useless and is destined to be discarded. We have devised a way to use the dummy card as a multi-functional ruler instead of throwing it away.
5 De-Plasticizing Packaging
Illegally discarded plastic is a serious cause of marine pollution. Non-woven fabrics and OPP bags are also widely used for packaging leather products.
SYRINX reduces the use of these plastics as much as possible by replacing OPP bags with paper sleeves and non-woven fabrics with thin paper. In order to achieve this, the understanding of our customers is essential. We ask for your understanding that there may be some bite or scuff marks on the outer box during storage and transportation.
SDGs] Efforts to Reduce Plastic
6 Paperless
Leather products usually come with a leather certification card and maintenance instructions.
However, SYRINX products generally do not come with paper instructions. All necessary information is delivered directly to you via email. (In some cases, we may enclose minimal instructions, such as points requiring special attention.)
By doing so, we are not only more environmentally friendly, but we are also able to deliver information in a timely manner that is richer and easier to understand than paper.
7 Recycle paper
Hasamu® A4 was created to make effective use of the backs of copier paper that has been discarded in the office.
With the backing paper, you can freely draw whatever you want without worrying about missing anything. What is important for developing ideas is to be able to draw without stress. Lined paper is one of the best options.
8 SYRINX Fundraising
On the official SYRINX website, there is a "Donation Amount" field on the payment screen when purchasing products to raise funds. We donate all the important money we receive from you to support Ukraine and Turkey/Syria earthquake relief.
It may be a steady activity. However, we believe that in order to move forward, it is important to start first and then continue. We will continue to do so step by step.
9 Protecting the forests of Hokkaido
The late Ryuichi Sakamoto, a musician, was the representative of the "more trees" organization, which promotes the leather of Hokkaido's Ezo sika deer.
The Ezo sika deer, which inhabit the entire Hokkaido region, have a strong reproductive capacity and are increasing in number until they destroy all the vegetation in the forests. As a result, more than 100,000 deer have been captured each year in recent years. Their skins, however, are rarely put to effective use and discarded due to shotgun pellets, difficulty in processing, and wild wounds.
We, who have taken away the wolves, our natural enemy, for our own reasons, have a responsibility to respect and use the life of the Ezo sika deer, a blessing of the great nature of Hokkaido, to the very end, instead of wasting it. It is with this in mind that the Ezo deerskin speaker "LOG" was born.
LOG" received the " Social Products Award 2018 Special Prize " for its significance.
Mottainai" and "Itadakimasu
Leather from cows and pigs is made from the byproduct of meat processing. We do not take life just for the sake of leather products. And when the skins are discarded, the process places a heavy burden on the environment. Leather is an environmentally friendly recycled material that embodies the spirit of "mottainai".
In Japan, there is a wonderful saying, "Itadakimasu" ("Itadakimasu" means to have something to eat). It is our responsibility to be grateful for the life we have received and to use it carefully.
On the other hand, methane gas generated from cattle rearing has an impact on global warming. Although measures are being taken, the number of cattle raised may decrease along with the spread of meat substitutes. In addition, the possibility of other materials is being researched in parallel with leather these days.
SYRINX will continue to be aware of the trends surrounding leather products, and as long as the meat culture continues, we will be grateful for the lives we have received and continue to use leather with care.