From a sea of plastic waste to an ethical empire, the inspiring journey of Thomas Panton, Hugo Douglas-Deane, and Abrar Rauf, co-founders of Canopey, showcases the power of sustainable shopping and the impact of big ideas.
Thomas Panton, Hugo Douglas-Deane and Abrar Rauf are proof that big ideas can sprout from small beginnings. While working together at a music festival in 2019, the trio stood amid a sea of plastic waste and decided enough was enough. They dreamed of a world where sustainable shopping was easy and accessible for all. From that field, Canopey was born.
Canopey is the home for verified, sustainable products, giving customers access to powerful data to measure and track the impact of their shopping over time. In just two years, Panton, Douglas-Deane and Rauf have built a community of over 6,700 people and partnered with 215 sustainable and ethical businesses. Through Canopey, they’ve already helped reduce an astonishing amount of waste and emissions, saving 417kg CO2e, 204kg plastic waste, and more than 63,000 litres of water, as well as planting more than 11,000 trees.
The team’s biggest achievement to date has been launching the Canopey platform, which makes sustainable shopping simple by bringing together ethical brands and providing an industry-leading calculator to track environmental impact. Looking ahead, they aim to onboard hundreds more brands, grow their community, and launch campaigns highlighting important sustainability issues. Their platform will also gain new features to help people transition to more eco-friendly lifestyles.
Panton, Douglas-Deane and Rauf prove that with determination and vision, entrepreneurs can change the world for the better. As finalists in the 2023 Great British Entrepreneur Awards, known as “The Grammys of Entrepreneurship,” they are well on their way to building an ethical empire. To learn more about these inspiring entrepreneurs and Canopey, visit https://canopey.com/. Their story demonstrates how a field of dreams can blossom into real and lasting change.
