Flip

Flip’s mission is to help people distinguish between sustainable consumption alternatives and options subject to greenwashing. In its bi-weekly newsletter, Flip provides in-depth, investigative reports on products and processes with sustainability claims. Its community can then decide the validity of these claims on a scale of 1 to 10.

The organisation also helps in identifying possible ideas, topics, or products. It aims to promote promising, impactful ideas and call out those who are not doing what they claim - thus having a long-term impact on the environment and giving power back to people over marketing.Its most in-depth, successful investigation was on the recycling of sneakers: with two established media partners (the private Zeit and public-sector NDR), the newsroom tracked the recycling journey of 11 prominent people.

The result showed that nearly none of the recycling promises were held - with many sneakers ending up in large dumps on the streets of Kenya. The investigation allowed Flip to bring to life its first product: a sustainable sneaker (GRND), in collaboration with a sustainable production company. Through crowdfunding, the organisation raised 78,489 euros from 530 contributors to produce the sneakers.

The co-production of genuinely sustainable alternatives to its reviewed products is one way the four founders hope to cross-finance their investigative work. With all its information free to access, the media outlet is thus far reliant on start-up funds, grants, and angel investors.

The information in this media profile was collected through desk research.