There are thousands of small, sustainable brands doing things the right way, sourcing better materials, creating products responsibly, and caring about people and the planet. But for me, finding them was time-consuming and overwhelming.
I started OtterList.com with this mission: to make it easy to find and support small, sustainable brands. I then went one step further by adding clear tags that highlight what each brand is doing sustainably and ethically, as well as what formal certifications they have, so it’s easier to shop in a way that aligns with your values.
After just 7 months, we’ve onboarded almost 100 brands that meet our standards and added nearly 2000 products to our directory.
Which brings me to phase 2…
Now that we’ve built a platform to bring these great small brands together, it’s time to focus more on the shopping experience and convenience. I’ve realized that while most of us want to shop more intentionally, convenience usually wins.
Fortunately, improving the shopping experience is the easy part, it just takes a little time and money. I have a background building websites and working with developers, so I know what needs to be done and how to get us there, the only question will be how fast.
Next up is building out a checkout system so brands can sell directly through the OtterList website. This is already underway, with my team integrating checkout and developing new product pages and product cards that include “Buy Now” and “Add to Cart” buttons.
We’re also working on a powerful search feature (now that we have enough products for it to be needed!), to help users quickly find what they’re looking for.
Once the foundation for Phase 2 is complete, we’ll be able to onboard brands much faster. Right now, our team adds all products manually, which has been a grind (a labor of love!), but in Phase 2, products will be synced directly from partner brand websites or added by brands themselves. This will free up our time to focus on researching, reviewing, and approving more high-quality brands and products.
The takeaway here is if you don’t see exactly what you need just yet, don’t worry. A lot more options are coming soon, and the more support we receive along the way, the faster we’ll be able to build and expand.
A HUGE thank you to everyone who’s already become a paid subscriber here on Substack, your support truly means a lot. A lot of OtterList’s early momentum has come through TikTok, and with how quickly platforms can change, having paid subscribers here helps create stability and makes it possible to keep building no matter what happens elsewhere. For me to reach my goal of going full time in 2026 (so I can spend every waking minute building OtterList!), we’d only need a few hundred more people to join for a few bucks a month. And no pressure! If subscribing isn’t your thing, simply shopping through OtterList.com occasionally is another great way to support both the brands we feature and the continued growth of OtterList.
— Kyle