What does Sourceful mean?

One of the earliest uses of the word “sourceful” was in 1796, in a book of poems by an English author named Jane Elizabeth Moore. It’s not completely clear what she meant by the sentence, “Of Friendship’s sourceful spring”, but there it was — sourceful. Today, if you look up “sourceful”, you’ll find two things. One, the Collins English Dictionary definition, “Offering useful things”. And two, you’ll find us, Sourceful, the all-in-one platform for more sustainable packaging.

In many ways, we’re not far from the dictionary definition. After all, we believe what we’re doing really is useful. But Sourceful’s name came from two other words: source and resourceful. A source is a place where something originates from or can be obtained. A spring, for example, is the source of a river. The sun is a source of energy. Or a person might be a source of inspiration. And being resourceful is about using creativity and ingenuity to find effective solutions to difficult problems. We chose these two words because they sit at the heart of what we do, build and strive for every day.

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Source

Today, our supply chains are broken; an outdated, complex and fragile system that doesn’t meet the needs of businesses or the planet. What’s needed is a better, smarter, more efficient source of supply. And that’s what we’ve built; a single platform for businesses to find, create, order, deliver and manage more sustainable packaging.

Sourceful isn’t a better source just because everything is in one place though. We’ve also formed close relationships with every supplier in our network, and vetted each one to build resiliency and accountability into our products. We’ve written a ground-breaking methodology for estimating carbon footprints that’s been verified to ISO standards by industry experts. We’ve spent months developing and testing products so they align with a net-zero trajectory. We’ve created a pricing engine that allows businesses to see the live price of their product as they customise it online. And we’ve built an intuitive design studio where businesses can bring their ideas to life.

We’ve done all of this so companies can source better products from a better source and make informed decisions about every choice. This, we believe, is what ultimately makes Sourceful a source of good.

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Resourceful

Resourcefulness drives everything at Sourceful, from how we organise our teams to every one of our sustainable packaging products. Our platform is perhaps the best example of this, a place where businesses can, for the first time, see the carbon footprint of their product and design in real-time. And they can customise products such as mailer boxes online in ways they couldn’t before, like choosing the exact length, width and height they need. This empowers businesses to eliminate wasted space, drive costs down and reduce their carbon footprint.

We’ve also moved proofing, a traditionally slow and offline process, into our design studio, minimising costly revisions and removing the need for sampling. As a result, businesses can reduce their carbon footprint even further. It’s these things that help businesses solve real problems in a measurable way. Or in other words, it’s what makes our platform resourceful.

Whilst being resourceful can be talked about through real-life examples, it’s just as much a mindset and an approach. It’s a mindset that makes the most of the resources you have and uses them in new, innovative ways to achieve your goals. That’s what we’re doing with sustainable packaging: working with the best suppliers and leveraging science, data and teamwork to create better, more efficient products for every business.

As you can see, being resourceful and creating a better source are fundamental to Sourceful — which is why they’re the building blocks of our name.

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Wing Chan, Co-founder

If you’re a business looking for a better way to create more sustainable packaging, we can help. Discover more at sourceful.com