Jillian Still, a 30-year-old eco-friendly entrepreneur from South Jersey who owns the online children’s clothing boutique Julianna Wynn Company, believes in tying her zero-waste lifestyle into her business.
As a single foster mom and plant lover, she searched for a material that met her standards for both comfort and quality, and found organic bamboo.
Still has gained a following of over 16k followers on her Instagram business account, selling children’s pajamas, dresses, blankets, and adult pajamas. She aims to share her personal life with her followers, which highlights her commitment to sustainability.
“I think having those values of trying to be zero waste and being into things like composting in my personal life makes me want to bring it over to my business as well,” said Still. “In different ways, I can share with customers what I’m doing to make my business more eco-friendly and sustainable.”
When opening up her virtual shop in 2020, Still’s original designs were handmade and sewn by her. By 2024, Still had begun outsourcing bamboo since it is not manufactured in the U.S.
“I know bamboo is generally more sustainable because it is biodegradable, and bamboo is something that grows a lot more frequently,” said Still. “They don’t have to use pesticides and a whole bunch of water and other stuff to maintain it.”
Items shipped from Julianna Wynn Co. are packaged in biodegradable mailers, and the online store prioritizes adding minimal inserts into each parcel to reduce waste. All of the brand’s items are sold on the platform Shopify, which allows the boutique’s customers to enable carbon-neutral shipping options to reduce environmental impact.
“If I want to write a note, I’ll kind of already write it on the little insert I have on there instead of wasting the extra paper and labels and things like that,” said Still. “I try to do as much as I can and reuse each package if they come in separate plastic bags. If I do have to take it out of the plastic bag for any reason instead of just throwing it away and getting a new one, I’ll make sure to put it back.”
As she continues to grow her business, Still has found her brand’s quality and longevity to be the key reason families continue placing orders from her.
“What is eco-friendly and sustainable is really just what is in right now because it lasts so long,” said Still. “Sustainability and things like that are super important right now, and it’s not something that’s talked about as much.”
