Orange Harp Pairs Socially Conscious Shopping With The iPhone

Some people do not just want to shop, they want to do it responsibly.  They want products made with either natural or recycled materials, that are environmentally friendly and that come from brands who support fair working conditions.  For those socially conscious shoppers with iPhones (who are apparently unconcerned about notoriously poor working conditions in Foxconn’s manufacturing plants where iPhones are built) there is now San Francisco-based Orange Harp—a service titled after an idiosyncratic nickname for the Golden Gate bridge that helps shoppers connect with  a variety of high-quality, socially conscious goods.

Orange Harp co-founder and engineer Anbu Anbalagapandian explains that the service hopes to take this dense concept of sustainable shopping and break it down to a simpler experience.  Primary to that effort is storytelling to help consumers connect to the whole life of the product

“For instance,” Anbalagapandian explains to TechCrunch, “cotton is the dirtiest crop in the world, because of how people use pesticides…and modern-day slavery is happening in the garment industry. These are serious topics, but people want to digest them in an easier way.”

The five-person team in San Francisco is still in the process of raising angel funding from a number of investors.  The site works mostly with U.S. companies and brands, and makes its money by taking a cut of the sales made through their app.  At launch, Orange Harp featured 19 brands offering over 1,800 products.  The goal is to add one or two more brands to the service each week for the immediate future.

 

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