Slowood

Our beginnings

It all started when my wife and co-founder, Dora, was pregnant back in 2018. For us, it was important to provide organic and sustainable products for our daughter. It spurred us to think about how we can leave a better future for the next generation.

In Hong Kong, options were limited and far from one another. It was simply unfeasible to shop from multiple locations as new parents. On one of our nightly walks, an idea came to us – to create a one-stop shop in Hong Kong that will sell sustainable, organic alternatives to everyday household and grocery items affordably. We drew inspiration from a zero-waste community store we once visited in New Zealand, which consolidated and sold zero-waste products from various business owners.

Today, we’re doing our best to influence consumer behaviour – we want to reduce single-use plastic through education, promote a refill-and-reuse mindset, and encourage bulk buying to reduce waste. Every bottle we divert away from the landfill is a small win that keeps us going!

Co-founder of Slowood – Kai-Ping Chen

The work we do

Slowood has built a new image for sustainability in Hong Kong. From our store concept to off-the-shelf products, we demonstrate that being sustainable can also be aesthetic. Since our first store at Kennedy Town, we have noticed that more of our customers are making a concerted effort to reduce their consumption of single-use plastics and are aware of the harmful environmental impact of single-use plastics.

Today, we operate five sustainable grocery stores across Hong Kong with a single-minded mission to promote the zero-waste movement. Slowood hopes to play our part towards influencing a more sustainable way of living by providing our customers lifestyle and grocery product alternatives. We are also working hard to lower prices of organic products and exploring vending machines model to ensure greater affordability and accessibility.

Impact created

We work to slow down the damage done to our planet, and hope that through our philosophies and stores, we can build greater environmental awareness. Since 2020, we have,

• Saved 6,000 kg of single-use plastic across our 4 physical stores.
• Educated 480,000 individuals on the harmful effects of single-use plastics.

How we partner with DBS Foundation

The DBS Foundation Social Enterprise Grant will be used to develop a prototype refill vending machine that will eventually be available across multiple residential areas in Hong Kong. Slowood is also planning to expand overseas to continue our mission to reduce single-use plastics and leave behind a better world for generations to come.

Get to know Slowood better!  

Related pages

2021 Grant Awardees

Live a sustainable lifestyle