Opinion


The arts of craft: Measuring success outside the linear model


Sellability? Or longevity? If we want to protect the planet – and with it our children's future – then we need to rethink how we measure a toy's worth, argues Rob Hutchins of Products of Change


Craftsmanship is a sentiment too often overlooked in business. Innovation, imagination – the toy industry is brimming with the fun stuff. Want a magic potion kit that turns your ingredients into a fluffy toy? Who doesn’t? Now there’s a bit of kit that’s going to sell in its tens of thousands this Christmas… That’s the measure of a product’s success, isn’t it?


For the avoidance of doubt, business is wonderful. Where


governments continue to disappoint us at every turn, business is a vehicle for change – fast moving, dynamic, and life-giving. But at the same time, business has gone beyond the pale of what is sustainable. Its ‘take, make, break and throw away’ model is a pathway to the devastation of the planet's resources. For a second opinion on that, look to the European Commission, which recently presented its strongest package to date of Green Deal proposals to boost circular business models. Among them is a proposed new set of rules to make almost all physical goods on the EU market more friendly to the environment, circular, and energy efficient throughout their entire life cycle. It’s arguable that central to a model based on circularity


is a return of emphasis on craftsmanship. It’s a term that encompasses an appreciation of the time, labour and resources given to a final product. We all know the cost of a ‘pocket money’ plastic toy stretches beyond the £3.99 your


customer might pay for it, yet it comes with a play pattern that will sooner see it discarded than cherished for its ‘impact value’. This way of thinking needs to be subverted. And no industry is better placed – in the hearts and homes of increasingly eco-conscious families – to do that than toys. The question – as posed by a member of The LEGO


Group’s senior leadership team when Products of Change hosted its latest toy workstream meeting – is how do we end ‘take, make, break and throw away’ thinking when it comes to toys, and emphasise a product’s true value beyond its first life? The team at Wastebuster has highlighted the issue, swapping toys for reading materials in its UK schools campaign, Recycle to Read. Meanwhile, Products of Change has recently partnered with Dr Gummer’s Good Play Guide on a project that will look to highlight not only a product’s sustainable credentials (such as source, materials and manufacture) but also its extended value beyond first play. Similarly, we have worked with Toy Industries of Europe


and its Play for Change Awards to establish a framework for its Sustainable Toy category. Celebrating business for the good it does – for people and planet – is paramount in this fight for a regenerative future. The yardstick by which success within business is


measured needs to change. The world is not meant to sustain an unbridled growth model. Sustainability is the process of striking a harmonious balance between business and nature. And if craftsmanship is the measure of time, labour, and regenerative practice, then that seems a pretty good place to start the conversation.


“How do we end ‘take, make, break and throw away’ thinking when it comes to toys?


And how can we emphasise a product’s true value way beyond its first life?”


Rob Hutchins is the editor and community manager of the educational hub Products of Change, a platform geared towards driving positive and sustainable change across the consumer product industries. Contact Rob@productsofchange.com for more information.


10 | ToyNews| Spring/Summer 2022


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