Whenever someone offers me a drink of unfiltered tap water, I flinch just a little. My tongue still remembers the overwhelming taste and odor of chlorine from the treated Lake Erie water I drank growing up.   For decades, I’ve used a Brita pitcher to filter tap water for drinking and making tea. Now, we keep a large pitcher in the fridge for filling aluminum water bottles before hiking or running errands in the summer heat. We keep adding to our water-bottle collection so there are extras for the dogs and guests, too.   Every time I go grocery shopping, I notice other customers loading their carts up with bottled water. I’ve bought bottled water before, but only for emergency provisions in case of a blizzard or other natural disaster. I often wonder why people spend their hard-earned money on water in single-use plastic bottles.   According to How Stuff Works, a family of four should drink about two gallons of water a day. If they drink bottled water that costs $6 per case, the annual cost could be more than $3,000. In comparison, if the same family drank filtered tap water instead, they would spend less than $250 on pitchers, filters, reusable water bottles, and water for the entire family for a year.   Curious about what’s actually in that bottled water you’ve been drinking?   Consumer Reports publishes a list of water-quality reports that includes more than 120 brands. Costco’s Kirkland Signature water comes from Niagara.   On the other hand, most drinking water (about 10.5 million gallons a day) for the city of Wenatchee, the East Wenatchee Water District, and Chelan County PUD comes from the Eastbank Aquifer, just north of Rocky Reach Dam. The aquifer naturally filters water from the Columbia River and stores it underground. Chlorine, which protects against potential bacteria, is all that’s used to treat the water.   For me, a filtration pitcher has been most important for improving the taste and removing calcium from hard water. I never worried too much about the safety of tap water; local water providers send out annual reports showing how they measure up to federal standards for drinking water.   For the first quarter of 2019, both Wenatchee and East Wenatchee met federal standards. Of the 14 contaminants found in both cities’ water, however, eight exceeded the Environmental Working Group (EWG) Health Guidelines. While those don’t necessarily pose any health risks, the good news for me is that activated-carbon filters like Brita’s can remove at least five of those contaminants.   Reverse-osmosis filtration systems can remove most contaminants and are available locally from companies such as Central Washington Water. These can be installed under your kitchen sink, so there’s no extra work for you.   Worried about the garbage that comes from filtering water at home? Once you’ve collected at least five pounds worth of Brita filters, you can send them off to TerraCycle to be recycled.   So, what’s in your water bottle?   Betsy Dudash is a landscape horticulturist and designer. She is the board treasurer of Sustainable Wenatchee, a nonprofit that promotes a culture of environmental stewardship and social sustainability in the Wenatchee Valley.      

  During a precarious time for small retail bricks and mortar stores, Koru Eco Brand’s business model takes a different approach to the use of retail space. COCOA BEACH, FL, October 23, 2020 /24-7PressRelease/ — Koru Eco Brand opened its’ flagship store in downtown Cocoa Beach, Florida. One of the first retail stores of its kind in the area, Koru Eco Brand offers its own sustainable swimwear, apparel, accessories and home goods along with other sustainable lifestyle brands. In one of the most precarious times for a retail company to open a bricks and mortar, Founder and CEO of Koru Eco Brand, Julie Stine, decided to take advantage of a particular retail space that could also offer warehousing for online shipping and a production area for its products. In 2012, when the company first entered the market, it was primarily a high-end sustainable swimwear brand called Koru Swimwear. As the company grew, it expanded into eco-friendly apparel and accessories in addition to selling its swimwear. “Our mission to be a sustainable swimwear and apparel brand grew to be more of a lifestyle brand with added beauty and home products, so we decided to rename the company from Koru Swimwear to Koru Eco Brand. It made more sense to do that with the expansion of our products,” stated Julie Stine, Koru Swimwear and Koru Eco Brand Founder and CEO. She continued, “We really feel it’s important to incorporate education in our ads and in our store so people can understand the importance of making conscious purchases that have a lighter footprint on our earth. We depend on our earth to provide us with a healthy environment for our survival, so it’s important we take care of it.” Koru Eco Brand store offers shoppers eco-friendly products, but also has started a partnership with TerraCycle to provide recycling programs to the local community. The first recycling program available is the Brita recycling program where you can bring your Brita filters and Brita pitchers into the store for recycling and receive a dollar off your purchase for each Brita product brought to the store for recycling. “We plan on expanding our recycling program to other types of recyclables including Styrofoam and cigarette butts that can be recycled into plastic products. Those are just to name a few,” Julie stated. Koru Eco Brand flagship store, debuting just since September of 2020, opened its doors during one of the most difficult times for small bricks and mortar retails stores. Julie Stine explains why this time was chosen to open and how the store is navigating during this pandemic. “We understood that opening a physical store during, not only a slow time of the year, but in the middle of a pandemic, was not what most businesses would gamble on. Our approach was a little different when moving into this space. We felt the retail portion of the business was just icing on the cake. Not only is the location in downtown Cocoa Beach a high foot traffic location, it’s helping to expose our brand to more people with our signage. The business model was not just to rely on walk-through store sales, it was to be a place to offer the community sustainable education and also a hub for warehousing our products, shipping out online orders, and a place for product production.” She goes on to say how the store is handling in-store patrons during this time, “We do request patrons wear masks in our store and only allow up to six patrons at a time in the store. We also are giving away hand sanitizers to all visiting patrons to help reduce any risks. We are hopeful things will make a big turn in a positive direction for retail and other industries suffering when this virus can be successfully prevented and treated, but only time will tell. Right now, we can all only do our best to help reduce the spread by taking the proper precautions.” ABOUT KORU SWIMWEAR / KORU ECO BRAND Koru is the New Zealand Maori word for “spiral” and is symbolic for new life, hope, spiritual growth, purity, and peace. Koru Swimwear / Koru Eco Brand is inspired by the Kiwi lifestyle, best described as a relaxed attitude with a love of the environment and great outdoors. Founder, Julie Stine, wanted to share her Kiwi heritage with others around the world by epitomizing the active Kiwi lifestyle into earth-friendly swimwear and apparel that offers environmentally conscious women a combination of fashion and function. Koru Swimwear / Koru Eco Brand aspires to be a leader in eco-responsible manufacturing practices by using only sustainable fabrics and materials. In addition, it’s important to work with like-minded companies and be as transparent as possible. “We extend our environmental approach into everything we do, from using recycled paper hangtags, to packaging our swimwear in compostable clear bags made from plant materials. It’s important that if we’re going to talk the talk, we must walk the walk,” Julie stated.

During a precarious time for small retail bricks and mortar stores, Koru Eco Brand’s business model takes a different approach to the use of retail space. COCOA BEACH, FL, October 23, 2020 /24-7PressRelease/ — Koru Eco Brand opened its’ flagship store in downtown Cocoa Beach, Florida. One of the first retail stores of its kind in the area, Koru Eco Brand offers its own sustainable swimwear, apparel, accessories and home goods along with other sustainable lifestyle brands. In one of the most precarious times for a retail company to open a bricks and mortar, Founder and CEO of Koru Eco Brand, Julie Stine, decided to take advantage of a particular retail space that could also offer warehousing for online shipping and a production area for its products. In 2012, when the company first entered the market, it was primarily a high-end sustainable swimwear brand called Koru Swimwear. As the company grew, it expanded into eco-friendly apparel and accessories in addition to selling its swimwear. “Our mission to be a sustainable swimwear and apparel brand grew to be more of a lifestyle brand with added beauty and home products, so we decided to rename the company from Koru Swimwear to Koru Eco Brand. It made more sense to do that with the expansion of our products,” stated Julie Stine, Koru Swimwear and Koru Eco Brand Founder and CEO. She continued, “We really feel it’s important to incorporate education in our ads and in our store so people can understand the importance of making conscious purchases that have a lighter footprint on our earth. We depend on our earth to provide us with a healthy environment for our survival, so it’s important we take care of it.” Koru Eco Brand store offers shoppers eco-friendly products, but also has started a partnership with TerraCycle to provide recycling programs to the local community. The first recycling program available is the Brita recycling program where you can bring your Brita filters and Brita pitchers into the store for recycling and receive a dollar off your purchase for each Brita product brought to the store for recycling. “We plan on expanding our recycling program to other types of recyclables including Styrofoam and cigarette butts that can be recycled into plastic products. Those are just to name a few,” Julie stated. Koru Eco Brand flagship store, debuting just since September of 2020, opened its doors during one of the most difficult times for small bricks and mortar retails stores. Julie Stine explains why this time was chosen to open and how the store is navigating during this pandemic. “We understood that opening a physical store during, not only a slow time of the year, but in the middle of a pandemic, was not what most businesses would gamble on. Our approach was a little different when moving into this space. We felt the retail portion of the business was just icing on the cake. Not only is the location in downtown Cocoa Beach a high foot traffic location, it’s helping to expose our brand to more people with our signage. The business model was not just to rely on walk-through store sales, it was to be a place to offer the community sustainable education and also a hub for warehousing our products, shipping out online orders, and a place for product production.” She goes on to say how the store is handling in-store patrons during this time, “We do request patrons wear masks in our store and only allow up to six patrons at a time in the store. We also are giving away hand sanitizers to all visiting patrons to help reduce any risks. We are hopeful things will make a big turn in a positive direction for retail and other industries suffering when this virus can be successfully prevented and treated, but only time will tell. Right now, we can all only do our best to help reduce the spread by taking the proper precautions.” ABOUT KORU SWIMWEAR / KORU ECO BRAND Koru is the New Zealand Maori word for “spiral” and is symbolic for new life, hope, spiritual growth, purity, and peace. Koru Swimwear / Koru Eco Brand is inspired by the Kiwi lifestyle, best described as a relaxed attitude with a love of the environment and great outdoors. Founder, Julie Stine, wanted to share her Kiwi heritage with others around the world by epitomizing the active Kiwi lifestyle into earth-friendly swimwear and apparel that offers environmentally conscious women a combination of fashion and function. Koru Swimwear / Koru Eco Brand aspires to be a leader in eco-responsible manufacturing practices by using only sustainable fabrics and materials. In addition, it’s important to work with like-minded companies and be as transparent as possible. “We extend our environmental approach into everything we do, from using recycled paper hangtags, to packaging our swimwear in compostable clear bags made from plant materials. It’s important that if we’re going to talk the talk, we must walk the walk,” Julie stated.

During a precarious time for small retail bricks and mortar stores, Koru Eco Brand’s business model takes a different approach to the use of retail space. COCOA BEACH, FL, October 23, 2020 /24-7PressRelease/ — Koru Eco Brand opened its’ flagship store in downtown Cocoa Beach, Florida. One of the first retail stores of its kind in the area, Koru Eco Brand offers its own sustainable swimwear, apparel, accessories and home goods along with other sustainable lifestyle brands. In one of the most precarious times for a retail company to open a bricks and mortar, Founder and CEO of Koru Eco Brand, Julie Stine, decided to take advantage of a particular retail space that could also offer warehousing for online shipping and a production area for its products. In 2012, when the company first entered the market, it was primarily a high-end sustainable swimwear brand called Koru Swimwear. As the company grew, it expanded into eco-friendly apparel and accessories in addition to selling its swimwear. “Our mission to be a sustainable swimwear and apparel brand grew to be more of a lifestyle brand with added beauty and home products, so we decided to rename the company from Koru Swimwear to Koru Eco Brand. It made more sense to do that with the expansion of our products,” stated Julie Stine, Koru Swimwear and Koru Eco Brand Founder and CEO. She continued, “We really feel it’s important to incorporate education in our ads and in our store so people can understand the importance of making conscious purchases that have a lighter footprint on our earth. We depend on our earth to provide us with a healthy environment for our survival, so it’s important we take care of it.” Koru Eco Brand store offers shoppers eco-friendly products, but also has started a partnership with TerraCycle to provide recycling programs to the local community. The first recycling program available is the Brita recycling program where you can bring your Brita filters and Brita pitchers into the store for recycling and receive a dollar off your purchase for each Brita product brought to the store for recycling. “We plan on expanding our recycling program to other types of recyclables including Styrofoam and cigarette butts that can be recycled into plastic products. Those are just to name a few,” Julie stated. Koru Eco Brand flagship store, debuting just since September of 2020, opened its doors during one of the most difficult times for small bricks and mortar retails stores. Julie Stine explains why this time was chosen to open and how the store is navigating during this pandemic. “We understood that opening a physical store during, not only a slow time of the year, but in the middle of a pandemic, was not what most businesses would gamble on. Our approach was a little different when moving into this space. We felt the retail portion of the business was just icing on the cake. Not only is the location in downtown Cocoa Beach a high foot traffic location, it’s helping to expose our brand to more people with our signage. The business model was not just to rely on walk-through store sales, it was to be a place to offer the community sustainable education and also a hub for warehousing our products, shipping out online orders, and a place for product production.” She goes on to say how the store is handling in-store patrons during this time, “We do request patrons wear masks in our store and only allow up to six patrons at a time in the store. We also are giving away hand sanitizers to all visiting patrons to help reduce any risks. We are hopeful things will make a big turn in a positive direction for retail and other industries suffering when this virus can be successfully prevented and treated, but only time will tell. Right now, we can all only do our best to help reduce the spread by taking the proper precautions.” ABOUT KORU SWIMWEAR / KORU ECO BRAND Koru is the New Zealand Maori word for “spiral” and is symbolic for new life, hope, spiritual growth, purity, and peace. Koru Swimwear / Koru Eco Brand is inspired by the Kiwi lifestyle, best described as a relaxed attitude with a love of the environment and great outdoors. Founder, Julie Stine, wanted to share her Kiwi heritage with others around the world by epitomizing the active Kiwi lifestyle into earth-friendly swimwear and apparel that offers environmentally conscious women a combination of fashion and function. Koru Swimwear / Koru Eco Brand aspires to be a leader in eco-responsible manufacturing practices by using only sustainable fabrics and materials. In addition, it’s important to work with like-minded companies and be as transparent as possible. “We extend our environmental approach into everything we do, from using recycled paper hangtags, to packaging our swimwear in compostable clear bags made from plant materials. It’s important that if we’re going to talk the talk, we must walk the walk,” Julie stated.

During a precarious time for small retail bricks and mortar stores, Koru Eco Brand’s business model takes a different approach to the use of retail space. COCOA BEACH, FL, October 23, 2020 /24-7PressRelease/ — Koru Eco Brand opened its’ flagship store in downtown Cocoa Beach, Florida. One of the first retail stores of its kind in the area, Koru Eco Brand offers its own sustainable swimwear, apparel, accessories and home goods along with other sustainable lifestyle brands. In one of the most precarious times for a retail company to open a bricks and mortar, Founder and CEO of Koru Eco Brand, Julie Stine, decided to take advantage of a particular retail space that could also offer warehousing for online shipping and a production area for its products. In 2012, when the company first entered the market, it was primarily a high-end sustainable swimwear brand called Koru Swimwear. As the company grew, it expanded into eco-friendly apparel and accessories in addition to selling its swimwear. “Our mission to be a sustainable swimwear and apparel brand grew to be more of a lifestyle brand with added beauty and home products, so we decided to rename the company from Koru Swimwear to Koru Eco Brand. It made more sense to do that with the expansion of our products,” stated Julie Stine, Koru Swimwear and Koru Eco Brand Founder and CEO. She continued, “We really feel it’s important to incorporate education in our ads and in our store so people can understand the importance of making conscious purchases that have a lighter footprint on our earth. We depend on our earth to provide us with a healthy environment for our survival, so it’s important we take care of it.” Koru Eco Brand store offers shoppers eco-friendly products, but also has started a partnership with TerraCycle to provide recycling programs to the local community. The first recycling program available is the Brita recycling program where you can bring your Brita filters and Brita pitchers into the store for recycling and receive a dollar off your purchase for each Brita product brought to the store for recycling. “We plan on expanding our recycling program to other types of recyclables including Styrofoam and cigarette butts that can be recycled into plastic products. Those are just to name a few,” Julie stated. Koru Eco Brand flagship store, debuting just since September of 2020, opened its doors during one of the most difficult times for small bricks and mortar retails stores. Julie Stine explains why this time was chosen to open and how the store is navigating during this pandemic. “We understood that opening a physical store during, not only a slow time of the year, but in the middle of a pandemic, was not what most businesses would gamble on. Our approach was a little different when moving into this space. We felt the retail portion of the business was just icing on the cake. Not only is the location in downtown Cocoa Beach a high foot traffic location, it’s helping to expose our brand to more people with our signage. The business model was not just to rely on walk-through store sales, it was to be a place to offer the community sustainable education and also a hub for warehousing our products, shipping out online orders, and a place for product production.” She goes on to say how the store is handling in-store patrons during this time, “We do request patrons wear masks in our store and only allow up to six patrons at a time in the store. We also are giving away hand sanitizers to all visiting patrons to help reduce any risks. We are hopeful things will make a big turn in a positive direction for retail and other industries suffering when this virus can be successfully prevented and treated, but only time will tell. Right now, we can all only do our best to help reduce the spread by taking the proper precautions.” ABOUT KORU SWIMWEAR / KORU ECO BRAND Koru is the New Zealand Maori word for “spiral” and is symbolic for new life, hope, spiritual growth, purity, and peace. Koru Swimwear / Koru Eco Brand is inspired by the Kiwi lifestyle, best described as a relaxed attitude with a love of the environment and great outdoors. Founder, Julie Stine, wanted to share her Kiwi heritage with others around the world by epitomizing the active Kiwi lifestyle into earth-friendly swimwear and apparel that offers environmentally conscious women a combination of fashion and function. Koru Swimwear / Koru Eco Brand aspires to be a leader in eco-responsible manufacturing practices by using only sustainable fabrics and materials. In addition, it’s important to work with like-minded companies and be as transparent as possible. “We extend our environmental approach into everything we do, from using recycled paper hangtags, to packaging our swimwear in compostable clear bags made from plant materials. It’s important that if we’re going to talk the talk, we must walk the walk,” Julie stated.

During a precarious time for small retail bricks and mortar stores, Koru Eco Brand’s business model takes a different approach to the use of retail space. COCOA BEACH, FL, October 23, 2020 /24-7PressRelease/ — Koru Eco Brand opened its’ flagship store in downtown Cocoa Beach, Florida. One of the first retail stores of its kind in the area, Koru Eco Brand offers its own sustainable swimwear, apparel, accessories and home goods along with other sustainable lifestyle brands. In one of the most precarious times for a retail company to open a bricks and mortar, Founder and CEO of Koru Eco Brand, Julie Stine, decided to take advantage of a particular retail space that could also offer warehousing for online shipping and a production area for its products. In 2012, when the company first entered the market, it was primarily a high-end sustainable swimwear brand called Koru Swimwear. As the company grew, it expanded into eco-friendly apparel and accessories in addition to selling its swimwear. “Our mission to be a sustainable swimwear and apparel brand grew to be more of a lifestyle brand with added beauty and home products, so we decided to rename the company from Koru Swimwear to Koru Eco Brand. It made more sense to do that with the expansion of our products,” stated Julie Stine, Koru Swimwear and Koru Eco Brand Founder and CEO. She continued, “We really feel it’s important to incorporate education in our ads and in our store so people can understand the importance of making conscious purchases that have a lighter footprint on our earth. We depend on our earth to provide us with a healthy environment for our survival, so it’s important we take care of it.” Koru Eco Brand store offers shoppers eco-friendly products, but also has started a partnership with TerraCycle to provide recycling programs to the local community. The first recycling program available is the Brita recycling program where you can bring your Brita filters and Brita pitchers into the store for recycling and receive a dollar off your purchase for each Brita product brought to the store for recycling. “We plan on expanding our recycling program to other types of recyclables including Styrofoam and cigarette butts that can be recycled into plastic products. Those are just to name a few,” Julie stated. Koru Eco Brand flagship store, debuting just since September of 2020, opened its doors during one of the most difficult times for small bricks and mortar retails stores. Julie Stine explains why this time was chosen to open and how the store is navigating during this pandemic. “We understood that opening a physical store during, not only a slow time of the year, but in the middle of a pandemic, was not what most businesses would gamble on. Our approach was a little different when moving into this space. We felt the retail portion of the business was just icing on the cake. Not only is the location in downtown Cocoa Beach a high foot traffic location, it’s helping to expose our brand to more people with our signage. The business model was not just to rely on walk-through store sales, it was to be a place to offer the community sustainable education and also a hub for warehousing our products, shipping out online orders, and a place for product production.” She goes on to say how the store is handling in-store patrons during this time, “We do request patrons wear masks in our store and only allow up to six patrons at a time in the store. We also are giving away hand sanitizers to all visiting patrons to help reduce any risks. We are hopeful things will make a big turn in a positive direction for retail and other industries suffering when this virus can be successfully prevented and treated, but only time will tell. Right now, we can all only do our best to help reduce the spread by taking the proper precautions.” ABOUT KORU SWIMWEAR / KORU ECO BRAND Koru is the New Zealand Maori word for “spiral” and is symbolic for new life, hope, spiritual growth, purity, and peace. Koru Swimwear / Koru Eco Brand is inspired by the Kiwi lifestyle, best described as a relaxed attitude with a love of the environment and great outdoors. Founder, Julie Stine, wanted to share her Kiwi heritage with others around the world by epitomizing the active Kiwi lifestyle into earth-friendly swimwear and apparel that offers environmentally conscious women a combination of fashion and function. Koru Swimwear / Koru Eco Brand aspires to be a leader in eco-responsible manufacturing practices by using only sustainable fabrics and materials. In addition, it’s important to work with like-minded companies and be as transparent as possible. “We extend our environmental approach into everything we do, from using recycled paper hangtags, to packaging our swimwear in compostable clear bags made from plant materials. It’s important that if we’re going to talk the talk, we must walk the walk,” Julie stated.

During a precarious time for small retail bricks and mortar stores, Koru Eco Brand’s business model takes a different approach to the use of retail space. COCOA BEACH, FL, October 23, 2020 /24-7PressRelease/ — Koru Eco Brand opened its’ flagship store in downtown Cocoa Beach, Florida. One of the first retail stores of its kind in the area, Koru Eco Brand offers its own sustainable swimwear, apparel, accessories and home goods along with other sustainable lifestyle brands. In one of the most precarious times for a retail company to open a bricks and mortar, Founder and CEO of Koru Eco Brand, Julie Stine, decided to take advantage of a particular retail space that could also offer warehousing for online shipping and a production area for its products. In 2012, when the company first entered the market, it was primarily a high-end sustainable swimwear brand called Koru Swimwear. As the company grew, it expanded into eco-friendly apparel and accessories in addition to selling its swimwear. “Our mission to be a sustainable swimwear and apparel brand grew to be more of a lifestyle brand with added beauty and home products, so we decided to rename the company from Koru Swimwear to Koru Eco Brand. It made more sense to do that with the expansion of our products,” stated Julie Stine, Koru Swimwear and Koru Eco Brand Founder and CEO. She continued, “We really feel it’s important to incorporate education in our ads and in our store so people can understand the importance of making conscious purchases that have a lighter footprint on our earth. We depend on our earth to provide us with a healthy environment for our survival, so it’s important we take care of it.” Koru Eco Brand store offers shoppers eco-friendly products, but also has started a partnership with TerraCycle to provide recycling programs to the local community. The first recycling program available is the Brita recycling program where you can bring your Brita filters and Brita pitchers into the store for recycling and receive a dollar off your purchase for each Brita product brought to the store for recycling. “We plan on expanding our recycling program to other types of recyclables including Styrofoam and cigarette butts that can be recycled into plastic products. Those are just to name a few,” Julie stated. Koru Eco Brand flagship store, debuting just since September of 2020, opened its doors during one of the most difficult times for small bricks and mortar retails stores. Julie Stine explains why this time was chosen to open and how the store is navigating during this pandemic. “We understood that opening a physical store during, not only a slow time of the year, but in the middle of a pandemic, was not what most businesses would gamble on. Our approach was a little different when moving into this space. We felt the retail portion of the business was just icing on the cake. Not only is the location in downtown Cocoa Beach a high foot traffic location, it’s helping to expose our brand to more people with our signage. The business model was not just to rely on walk-through store sales, it was to be a place to offer the community sustainable education and also a hub for warehousing our products, shipping out online orders, and a place for product production.” She goes on to say how the store is handling in-store patrons during this time, “We do request patrons wear masks in our store and only allow up to six patrons at a time in the store. We also are giving away hand sanitizers to all visiting patrons to help reduce any risks. We are hopeful things will make a big turn in a positive direction for retail and other industries suffering when this virus can be successfully prevented and treated, but only time will tell. Right now, we can all only do our best to help reduce the spread by taking the proper precautions.” ABOUT KORU SWIMWEAR / KORU ECO BRAND Koru is the New Zealand Maori word for “spiral” and is symbolic for new life, hope, spiritual growth, purity, and peace. Koru Swimwear / Koru Eco Brand is inspired by the Kiwi lifestyle, best described as a relaxed attitude with a love of the environment and great outdoors. Founder, Julie Stine, wanted to share her Kiwi heritage with others around the world by epitomizing the active Kiwi lifestyle into earth-friendly swimwear and apparel that offers environmentally conscious women a combination of fashion and function. Koru Swimwear / Koru Eco Brand aspires to be a leader in eco-responsible manufacturing practices by using only sustainable fabrics and materials. In addition, it’s important to work with like-minded companies and be as transparent as possible. “We extend our environmental approach into everything we do, from using recycled paper hangtags, to packaging our swimwear in compostable clear bags made from plant materials. It’s important that if we’re going to talk the talk, we must walk the walk,” Julie stated.

Koru Eco Brand opens its’ flagship store in downtown Cocoa Beach, Florida. One of the first retail stores of its kind in the area, Koru Eco Brand offers its own sustainable swimwear, apparel, accessories and home goods along with other sustainable lifestyle brands. In 2012, when the company first entered the market, it was primarily a high-end sustainable swimwear brand called Koru Swimwear. As the company grew, it expanded into eco-friendly apparel and accessories in addition to selling its swimwear. “Our mission to be a sustainable swimwear and apparel brand grew to be more of a lifestyle brand with added beauty and home products, so we decided to rename the company from Koru Swimwear to Koru Eco Brand…it made more sense to do that with the expansion of our products,” stated Julie Stine, Koru Swimwear and Koru Eco Brand Founder and CEO. She continued, “We really feel it’s important to incorporate education in our ads and in our store so people can understand the importance of making conscious purchases that have a lighter footprint on our earth. We depend on our earth to provide us with a healthy environment for our survival, so it’s important we take care of it.”