Tiger flying high on sustainability’s wings
In any number of our shopping meccas like Bonifacio High Street, Glorietta, TriNoma, Galleria, Eastwood, Alabang Town Center, and more, you may have already come across a whimsical shop called Flying Tiger. Its colorful wares would have surely drawn you in, with fun and fanciful items that can spark a smile without emptying your wallet.
With September around the corner and the Philippines’ official Christmas season about to begin, it’s good to add this Danish chain to the usual suspects on your shopping go-tos.
Ito Kish Food, a stylish cafe in Salcedo Village, was the perfect venue to introduce
Flying Tiger’s collection of sustainable products addresses every facet of life. Both the cafe and the collection used warm woods, glass, natural fibers, and greens to convey a planet-friendly lifestyle.
That lifestyle would include working out, cooking, beauty rituals, keeping kids entertained sans gadgets, and decorating or supplying your work and home space with fun yet functional items.
How did this eco-conscious store come about and how did it get its curious name? I went to their website to find out and got this interesting tale.
“Flying Tiger Copenhagen traces its roots back to a stall at a flea market in Denmark where founder, Lennart Lajboschitz, sold umbrellas with his wife, Suz. Then, in 1988, Lennart and Suz opened their first brick-and-mortar store in a local neighborhood of Copenhagen.
“Its name was Zebra, and it sold umbrellas, sunglasses, socks, and surplus goods. The first store called Tiger opened in Copenhagen in 1995, and everything in it cost 10 Danish kroner. The Danish word for a 10-kroner coin is pronounced tee’-yuh, which sounds just like the Danish word for tiger.
“Things that make you smile, gifts you’ll want to give. Stuff you feel the urge to try and desperately want to share with others.
Real value lies not in the products we own, but in the experiences we share. Every month, Flying Tiger Copenhagen launches an array of new products.”
Those products, which looked especially inviting against the equally sustainable-looking Ito Kish Food, included eye-catching and colorful toys for kids. So effective was the display that a young guest, Tori Lucas, immediately began to explore and handle the toys in front of her.
My daughter Hannah approved of the workout items, feeling the texture of their exercise mats while I glanced over the kitchen gadgets.
Raissa Barzaga, general manager of Flying Tiger Copenhagen (and Payless) told me that the goal of Flying Tiger is “to be the global leader in sustainable retail.”
They can achieve this because they control every aspect of production and packaging,
“There are currently 900 stores around the world,” Raissa added, so there is excitement as to who will open the 1,000th store. In the Philippines alone the goal is to open 20 stores, and this Tiger seems bent on flying towards that aim. Two new ones located at UP Town Center and Ayala Mall by the Bay would have opened by the time you read this.
Filipinos should know that Flying Tiger wares are actually cheaper in the Philippines than in Europe, being closer to its manufacturing base of China. The local stores also carry 90 to 95 percent of all Flying Tiger merchandise.
Surrounding yourself with fun products made sustainably might inspire you to go further and think of what else you can do, in your own way, to live a planet-friendly life. We each have to do our own part. Now imagine if more and more humans thought this way—what a better place this could be for our children and those who would come after us.
